Amed for Odd group

[Ardy]

Hi All, I stupidly suggested to my partners sister that we were going to Bali diving in March for a week, and they wanted to come with their teenage child = 5 people.

Then a female friend of theirs wants to come and a male friend of ours insisted on coming - Total = 7 people.

I am planning to go to Amed as I have dived a lot in Tulamben and if the diving isn't so great in Amed, I can get to Tulamben.

I am thinking of 2 villa's (one 3 BR and one 2 BR) close together. Alternately a hotel with mixed accommodation for this group.

A few questions:

1. Any ideas about accommodation for a group in their 50-60's. ie Prefer very clean accommodation with A/C and a pool?

2. 3 of us are divers - whats the diving like and who to dive with?

3. 3 of us are snorkellers only - what is Amed like for snorkelling?

4. What are the beaches like?

Sorry to dump this on you guys but I am going crazy trying to work out what is close, what suits etc.

 

[DesertEagle]

Let me give this a try! I returned from Bali a month ago.

Like you, I considered Amed and Tulamben. I chose Tulamben because it is fairly quiet and easy to get around. After reading a lot of TripAdvisor reviews I choose a place called Minabali Bunga'lo. It has five air conditioned rooms and costs about US $45 per night. If I went with a group I would try to rent the whole place. They have a beautiful pool and the food was great. And very little motorbike noise! The Liberty Wreck is a short walk. There are also a pharmacy and small market within walking distance. I borrowed the hotel's scooter and did a little exploring on my own, too.

In general, I think the diving at Tulamben offers a great amount of large and small creatures in one area. If you dived the Liberty wreck then you would be familiar with the big parrotfish and the resident sweetlips. I was awed by that wreck because surprises lurk in every corner. From seeing cleaning stations to a big turtle to the garden eels. I also thought the reef at Batu kalabit was beatutiful. Just a disclaimer, my trip was in November so I did not have to share the wreck with a lot of other divers.

Diving in Amed actually was more colorful. There were huge numbers of reef fish, huge clouds of basslets and damselfish. I also encountered a lot of soft corals, more so than I saw in Tulamben. The reef bottom was sandy compared to mostly rocks in Tulamben. The area has some spectacular color but not much in the way of large animals.

Sorry I can't advise on hotels in Amed. Keep in mind that the area consists of several villages and the roads wind up down the hills.

You may also want to look at staying in Candidasa. The beaches may be better for the non divers.

 

[Ardy]

Thanks DE - Sounds like Tulamben for the divers and Amed for the snorkellers, cafe dwellers and beach goers. Is that a fair assumption?

I have never stayed in Amed so I have no idea.

If it was just my partner and I, it would be Tulamben for a short stay then somewhere else for her. The snorkelling/beaches is not so great at Tulamben for the group. My partner does not dive and she has been to Tulamben before and spent most of the time around the pool and reading which she enjoyed, with a couple of very average snorkel trips.

It is never easy to make a group with different expectations happy and as the old Abe Lincoln saying goes 'You can make some of the people happy some of the time etc'.

---------- Post added December 18th, 2015 at 06:26 PM ----------

Think I will start a new thread aimed at Amed diving and accomodation.

 

[billt4sf]

Ardy, I think Amed or Tulamben makes no difference, in the sense that the operator will likely take you around the various dives sites in the region. I think there is more from a recreation perspective (restaurants) in Amed. I thin it took 20 minutes for the operator to drive groups to Tulamben from our base near Amed. We were with Adventure Divers Bali, who I recommend.

- Bill

 

[Ardy]

Thanks Bill that sounds like one problem solved now I need to find some good accomodation.

 

[Marquito]

I replied to your other thread with a +1 for Adventure Divers Bali. Lisa and David who run the place are incredibly helpful, so you may want to reach out to them for suggestions on accommodation. They have a few bungalows themselves, but can also direct you to other places nearby. My wife and I have also had pretty good luck with AirBnb in Bali; you may even be able to find a house to yourselves for a reasonable rate. We'd stayed a few nights at Double One Villas II when in Amed, and while it was fine for us (couple in our 30's that were on a budget) it was a bit decrepit.

I would agree that Amed has more of a beach than Tulamben, and you can do some shore snorkeling. Don't necessarily agree on better beaches in Candidasa specifically. When we were there the beach was non-existent. From what we heard, the beaches used to be beautiful, but eroded away from the dredging of the reef that was used to construct resorts, which were built because the beautiful beaches attracted tourists... That being said, near Candidasa, White Sand Beach is supposed to be pretty nice and I can vouch for Virgin Beach (which I'd actually thought was White Sand Beach until recently).

Cheers,

Mark

 

[Ardy]

Thanks Mark that is helpful. I have been thinking about it now that we have locked in the flights and I think a resort would be better as opposed to a villa. That way the single travellers can have their own area away from the rest and the group of three can take a two bed.

So I will start looking for that, as opposed to villa's where we all share or live in two villa's.