Bali Bound - Need Advice

[amadeus00]

Headed to Bali in early March. What are some recommendations on dive operators? We probably won't do any live aboards. Just day trips. We have our own equipment, so equipment rentals are not important. We are looking for a catered diving experience. This is going to be our honeymoon. We'll be staying in a villa for a couple of days to get over jetlag. Then for the next 10 days, we'll either be diving or doing land activities.

 

[alcina]

Do a search in the UW Photo section for LukeRob user name started threads. He recently did a great trip report series and I'm pretty sure it's in that section.

 

[Wisnu]

You can rent a car + driver and get good guide such as wally siagian, best for macro UWp, and ten days will be short.

 

[Allison Finch]

Gosh, the north shore has tulumben with OK diving. I stayed at the Tauch (German for dive) Terminal. Interesting area that was dealt a blow by a volcano a while ago. It's weird watching the women carrying dive gear down the rocky beach for the divers.

Mangangan Island (Spelling?) on the North west shore has some awesome diving! It also has some channel dives where dynamite has been used for fishing with disasterous results. Stayed at the Tamin Sari resort. It is a bit of a drive to the diving, but what a beautiful (and romantic) place! Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins left just before I got there. They're divers too.

On the south shore is lombogan Island. WOW!!!!! Bali Hai runs the ferry there. You can stay at a resort that has charming individual thatched huts (with AC!!) that are on stilts. I LOVED this place! Blue corner there is NOT for the faint hearted. It will really take you on the ride of your life.

Although Bali doesn't have diving that is even close to PNG, the touristing is incredible! well worth a little less in the diving dept IMHO.
Have fun!

 

[Wisnu]

Small correction for Allison post, in case to use as keywords on search engine; ie:
1. Tulamben - I prefer Mimpi Resort, seem more suitable for honeymoon than Tauch Terminal, both separated +/- 100m. Just jump to dive at Coral garden after dinner, in front of the resort restaurant,
2. Menjangan (deer) Island
3. Taman sari Resort
4. Nusa Lembongan, water temp. 21 - 23 C so bring 3 mm suit will be convenient

 

[birdchua]

I dive with Baliscuba in sept. pretty good and you can find them at www.baliscuba.com. And remember not to bring 100 US dollar bill printed before 1996.

 

[scubashooter]

I would recommend Scuba Seraya for the Tulamben area. They have semidetached villas which have private entrances and outdoor sleeping areas for a very reasonable rate. It's a very relaxed dive resort and not big at all, unlike Mimpi and to an extent Tauch Terminal. Mimpi is also very nice but less intimate being such a big place. SS is only 7 minutes boat ride from the liberty wreck and their housereef is a very nice critter site.
When you move from diving to land activities, go to Ubud. What sort of budget do you have in mind?There is a range of hotels all over Bali, with the highest priced ones with great locales and good food as well as very exclusive and serene accomodations for privacy.There are a few lower budget places which have great character and quite quiet surroundings for honeymooners/couples. You can private message me if you want the list.
I use Bali International Diving Professionals(BIDP) http://www.bidp-balidiving.com/ exclusively for all my boat dives in Bali. They have the best boat and best of all, locally owned and professionally run. There are a few less dived sites like Padang Bai and the Gilies off Bali (not lombok) for the drift dives but for advanced divers only.

 

[Abopp]

I had one of my most memorable dives on Tulamben....and I also thought that the wreck beat all of the other diving that I did in Bali hands down. I was a bit disappointed with Menjangan (Deer) Island...but maybe I was a bit spoilt since I had just come from Sipidan....

I went to Ahmed on the guidance of my guidebook and was very disappointed with the diving up that way...however the people around there are absolutely lovely (I stayed at Wawa-Wewe II) and I had a lovely time all the same!

Have a great time!

 

[amadeus00]

Thanks for all your inputs. It's been helpful! I guess this thread could be broken down into two parts. One for dive operators and the other is must see sites. I have about 80+ dives and I consider myself intermediate to advance. I was thrown in to Blue Corner in Palau with just 18 dives under my belt and survived. I guess you can say that was the dive that made me a "man" but that's for another post. My fiance however is a beginner with maybe 20 dives. So diving will be limited. We plan on staying in Ubud to recover Jetlag and then move to somewhere closer to shore for diving convience. We have a pretty high budget for accomindations. We can rough it out on another trip but not this one. Please feel free to add to the list below.

Diver Ops:
1. BaliScuba
2. Scuba Seraya
3. Bali International Diving Professionals

Places to stay for diving:
1.

Must See Dive Sites:
1. Tulamben
2. Padang Bai
3. Liberty Wreck

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Headed to Bali in early March. What are some recommendations on dive operators? We probably won't do any live aboards. Just day trips. We have our own equipment, so equipment rentals are not important. We are looking for a catered diving experience. This is going to be our honeymoon. We'll be staying in a villa for a couple of days to get over jetlag. Then for the next 10 days, we'll either be diving or doing land activities.

My ex and I did a similar trip through Aquamarine Scuba ... http://www.aquamarinediving.com/ ... and had an awesome time! We put together our own itinerary, based on their input and recommendations. They met us at the airport in Denpasur, provided a van, driver, DM, and most of our gear, for a four-day tour of the island. We were similarly experienced at the time ... I had about 75 dives, and my ex had maybe 25-30.

Two places really stand out ...Menjangen Island and Tulamben ... that I would say don't miss. Tulamben remains to this day my all-time favorite dive site ... with a wall, a WWII wreck (the USS Liberty), and a sloping "coral garden" easily accessible from the beach.

Prices were very reasonable, and service was excellent. I would enthusiastically recommend Aquamarine ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)