Another itinerary post - Bali

[Dan]

.....Sorry about my crabbyness I'm in a mood and quickly becoming a hated member of scubaboard.

You are in a mood alright, but a hated member of Scubaboard? Not in my book

 

[billt4sf]

If you stay at Padang Bai/ Sanur/ Nusa Lembongan/ Candidisa you will be away the whole morning for your dives.

Agree.

And if you want to dive Tulamben from Amed then you will be gone most of the day.

At least until 1 or 2pm. We dove Tulamben from Jemeluk and got back by 2pm if we went out at 8, and back around noon IIRC if we went out for a sunrise entry.

The boat trip out is far far safer than any second you spend on the road!

Agree.

 

[matts1w]

It really is that simple. Sanur is good for kids as the beach is nice and the water is gentle because the break is protected by reef. The other side of Bali is not and the big waves for surfing come right onshore and will beat up little kids. There is much to do in Sanur for adults, and the lack of waves keep the brogans away (My students call Sanur "Snore"). Downside is diving is very, very far away...as in gone for hours and hours and hours.

The other option is Gili Air or Gili Meno. You can stay extra close to the dive operator, do surface intervals back with your little ones, and head out again in the afternoon. The beach is sandy and the water calm and shallow. There are no cars or motor bikes, just keep you eyes open for bicycles and ears open for horse carts. Again, the diving isn't the best Indonesia has to offer, but the Gili Islands are a special place. It is always my "go to" when traveling with non diving friends. The attitude is super chill, you can find a bit of a party, the locals (at least on Gili Air) are awesome, you will find good food, massages, yoga, room to go for a run, SUPs, amazing sunsets.

There are some days, and I stress SOME, where perfect water washes over the Gilis and the bigger dives (Shark Point, Simon's Reef, Deep Turbo) are absolutely amazing. You will see more turtles than you care to. Black tips and white tips are fairly common. Macro is solid. All of these pics were taken last fall during a week on Gili Air. Yes- that is a 20 foot whale shark we encountered surfacing on Shark Point. Yes- the whale shark pics suck. I was a little shocked and was desperate to just get evidence. He hung around for about five minutes then went on his way. Anyway, don't let anyone tell you Gili diving is subpar; it ain't.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Can I listen in? I promise I won't say anything politically correct.

Thanks for your edits, Luko. (Oooops! Was it wrong to say that?)

- Bill

Hell No!
That's what clubs are for, keeping people out...oh that's the 7 year old me talking...

You can join on a trial basis. Once you renounce your hatred for muck...And post a video of you freaking out over a tiger shrimp ( they are frickin cool but what would you care) but any spreadsheet building and your out in my book. Luko might approve and if he does it has to be non all tongue in cheek) ((I can take it and serve it up))

Of couse Luko must approve your membership and is free to add any conditions as the other charter member.

You are in a mood alright, but a hated member of Scubaboard? Not in my book

My mood has improved some, nothing like a couple of great dives and 2 beers . And a boat ride back that teetered on the boat capsising, bringing me the sweet sweet ahh I'm dry and warm and not washing up on the rocks attitude.

Dan you also must overlook my horrible grammer there are probably grammar freaks that I must drive crazy. I'll bet Luko's grammer is better than mine and English is probably his second language.
(Thank god for spell check... it does drive me crazy though trying to enter some slang)

 

[AlMitch]

Matt.... OK FINE!!! I will go to the Gilli's!!!

 

[billt4sf]

Hell No!
That's what clubs are for, keeping people out...oh that's the 7 year old me talking...

You can join on a trial basis. Once you renounce your hatred for muck...And post a video of you freaking out over a tiger shrimp ( they are frickin cool but what would you care) but any spreadsheet building and your out in my book. Luko might approve and if he does it has to be non all tongue in cheek) ((I can take it and serve it up))

Of couse Luko must approve your membership and is free to add any conditions as the other charter member.



My mood has improved some, nothing like a couple of great dives and 2 beers . And a boat ride back that teetered on the boat capsising, bringing me the sweet sweet ahh I'm dry and warm and not washing up on the rocks attitude.

Dan you also must overlook my horrible grammer there are probably grammar freaks that I must drive crazy. I'll bet Luko's grammer is better than mine and English is probably his second language.
(Thank god for spell check... it does drive me crazy though trying to enter some slang)

WELL then! I'll just start my own Club -- NorCal's gone to Bali!

 

[UFOrb]

Oh geez you've driven in Thailand? I've rode scooters there when on some island but a car seems almost suicidal. Actually not totally it's just that westerners don't seem to get the share the road concept.

It's actually not that bad once you're off the highways surrounding Bangkok and the major Route 1 going north to Saraburi. We hired a car to do the Mae Hong Son loop in the north a few years back, which was great, and we generally hire a car from either one of the Bangkok airports to visit my wifes family 4-5 hours north of Bangkok.
I drive defensively, esp on the highways ...you have to kinda get into the mind-set - no lane discipline! They don't tend to be that aggressive (unlike many here in England) but the driving test leaves a lot to be desired from what my wife said, and it shows (not my wifes driving of course!), you get some very iffy vehicles & there are a few idiots in flash cars who think they're Lewis Hamilton

 

[UFOrb]

It really is that simple. Sanur is good for kids as the beach is nice and the water is gentle because the break is protected by reef. The other side of Bali is not and the big waves for surfing come right onshore and will beat up little kids. There is much to do in Sanur for adults, and the lack of waves keep the brogans away (My students call Sanur "Snore"). Downside is diving is very, very far away...as in gone for hours and hours and hours.

The other option is Gili Air or Gili Meno. You can stay extra close to the dive operator, do surface intervals back with your little ones, and head out again in the afternoon. The beach is sandy and the water calm and shallow. There are no cars or motor bikes, just keep you eyes open for bicycles and ears open for horse carts. Again, the diving isn't the best Indonesia has to offer, but the Gili Islands are a special place. It is always my "go to" when traveling with non diving friends. The attitude is super chill, you can find a bit of a party, the locals (at least on Gili Air) are awesome, you will find good food, massages, yoga, room to go for a run, SUPs, amazing sunsets.

There are some days, and I stress SOME, where perfect water washes over the Gilis and the bigger dives (Shark Point, Simon's Reef, Deep Turbo) are absolutely amazing. You will see more turtles than you care to. Black tips and white tips are fairly common. Macro is solid. All of these pics were taken last fall during a week on Gili Air. Yes- that is a 20 foot whale shark we encountered surfacing on Shark Point. Yes- the whale shark pics suck. I was a little shocked and was desperate to just get evidence. He hung around for about five minutes then went on his way. Anyway, don't let anyone tell you Gili diving is subpar; it ain't.

Thanks Matt. Very nice pics, but I'll let you off the whale shark photos actually I'd say they're pretty good snaps that I'd be happy with. My only sighting of a whale shark was from a boat during a SI at Koh Haa nearly 3 years ago. I managed to get my mask & snorkel on in time for a few moments in the water with it before it disappeared again. I didnt have a camera then but did get a couple photos from Nick Hope of BubbleVision who was on the trip that day. We were lucky enough to see Mantas at Hin Daeng / Hin Muang a couple of days later too...no photos though, which is why I now have a new compact camera with housing (cant justify a nice SLR set up with the amount of diving I do). We were lucky enough to have babysitters in the form of my parents with us on that trip.

For this trip, it sounds like it'll be best to travel up the east coast to Tulamben for the Liberty & 1 or 2 other sites, with a few days stop in PadangBai or CandiDasi to break the travel, some pool time with the kids, sight-seeing & nice food; but may need to reign in the diving. Then head to Gili Air for up to a week from either Amed or PadangBai. Could then fly back to Bali from Lombok, I've heard its a nice drive to Lombok airport too. Prob not bother with Sanur...

I'd definitely welcome any other suggestions for locations with direct flights from Bangkok offering good diving and surface intervals back at base. We visited Koh Lipe last year which was very nice and certainly gave us short trips so could take turns diving each day but its a bit of a pain to get to, esp considering risk of horrible boat crossing in low season and overall so-so diving.

I know a few on here have said they're still looking for that Holy Grail of straightforward access to nice beaches with snorkelling and good dive sites nearby!!

Cheers,
Rob

 

[UFOrb]

UFOrb as a regular Indo traveler with a 1 & 4 yr old my suggestion is to pick two or max three places to stay. You really dont want to be jumping from place to place.
My number 1 requirement is that the dive sites are super close to the resort and that they do the SI at the resort. If you stay at Padang Bai/ Sanur/ Nusa Lembongan/ Candidisa you will be away the whole morning for your dives. And if you want to dive Tulamben from Amed then you will be gone most of the day.

Thanks for the info AIMitch. Sounds like we may have to reign in the diving a bit on Bali and do most of it from Gili Air (or Meno).

 

[UFOrb]

Given your requirements Gili Air/ Meno should be top of the list. It really does tick pretty much all of your boxes. The boat trip out is far far safer than any second you spend on the road

So I take it your kids were ok with the speedboat?
Thanks, Rob