Bali in late February?

[GirlonFire]

Looking at 3 nights to spend diving in Bali. I originally was going to eat, love pray for the 6 nights before my flight home but decided to get more diving in haha.

I will be coming off of 10 days in Lembeh and Bangka followed by a 10 nt Raja Ampat LOB. My first thought was Tulamben or Amed since I was in Padangbai in August.

I know its not the best time for Bali, but I'll give it a shot.
So far, I am looking at Matahari, Liberty Dive Resort and Bluehill Dive Resort in Tulamben. Matahari and Bluehill are cheaper for diving and lodging looks nice. LDR is most expensive all around but has great reviews. I am ok with not having to leave the resort for food but like to venture out to other places if convenient.

As for Amed, I haven't zeroed in on lodging or dive shops yet.
I like to max out my diving and am ok with 4-5 dives /day (including night dive) so someplace that offers night diving would be a bonus.

Is there another location I should consider? I prefer to stay on Bali.

I plan on heading to either Ubud or Canggu after to off gas for a few days.

Thanks all.

 

[Bump_Head]

Personally I would look for a private guide. Easily available at most any dive shop and within the diving prices offered at most hotel/resort based shops. No other divers with you and set your own schedule.

BTW...Ubud is Eat, Pray, Love central. Everybody there seemed broken in one way or another

 

[Luko]

Blue Hill is away from it all not even on the shoreside, I have no idea of the quality of the dive guides in their resort since I haven't seen any guide of this op on the places I go diving with my freelancer guide.
Matahari is central Tulamben the hotel is a bit crammed with no grounds, their main guide Yansu has gone and founded his own op. I wouldn't stay there because of the rooms.
Liberty is really great, they provide an own private guide for free; ask for Wayan Jhon or Gede Ardha they're two of the best.
If you want cheap, diver oriented op with nice rooms I would opt for Utama Villas which is downtown Tulamben, Komang Agus is one of the best guides in town.

 

[GirlonFire]

Personally I would look for a private guide. Easily available at most any dive shop and within the diving prices offered at most hotel/resort based shops. No other divers with you and set your own schedule.

BTW...Ubud is Eat, Pray, Love central. Everybody there seemed broken in one way or another

lol yes, I've been a few times. I like to eat, shop and massage while there.

 

[GirlonFire]

Blue Hill is away from it all not even on the shoreside, I have no idea of the quality of the dive guides in their resort since I haven't seen any guide of this op on the places I go diving with my freelancer guide.
Matahari is central Tulamben is hotel is a bit crammed with no grounds, their main guide Yansu has gone and founded his own op. I wouldn't stay there because of the rooms.
Liberty is really great, they provide an own private guide for free; ask for Wayan Jhon or Gede Ardha they're two of the best.
If you want cheap, diver oriented op with nice rooms I would opt for Utama Villas which is downtown Tulamben, Komang Agus is one of the best guides in town.

Great info.
I saw in another post you recommend Chops & Hops. Do you know anything about resort/dive op its a part of- Ocean Sun? The lodging looks quite nice...

 

[Wisnu]

On our last three visit, we stayed and dived with Puri Madha - best location for diving the wreck, particularly the early morning dive;
Very short walk to the water from the dive shop, less than 30m. The rate is also pocket friendly. They have 2 swimming pools. The lower ground yards can be very crowded for OW class and south dwellers.
They have 3 in-house dive guide. We always get our private guide for both of us. very flexible, in fact we always use our own (rental car) to dive the location around Tulamben and Amed.(note I don't like sitting on the back of small pick-up car and will do the best to avoid car without safety belts).
If you like something very small, ask Bagong as your guide. I'm impressed how can he immediately spot lady bug from meters away.

 

[Wisnu]

Great info.
I saw in another post you recommend Chops & Hops. Do you know anything about resort/dive op its a part of- Ocean Sun? The lodging looks quite nice...

Ricardo Tom, the owner of Ocean Sun is very professional - good guy. He is the Instructor when my younger daughter Jr. OW when she was 10 years old, almost10 years ago.
We took our SSI Nitrox class with him as well. Their resort and restaurant is very nice but a bit away from the wreck.

 

[Luko]

Great info.
I saw in another post you recommend Chops & Hops. Do you know anything about resort/dive op its a part of- Ocean Sun? The lodging looks quite nice...

I just go there for dining, Martin is the best cook in town. It's quite centrally located in Tulamben although and despite what Wisnu says, leaving apart his obsession for diving the wreck (sorry Wisnu couldn't help that one ) .
Tulamben is not all about diving the wreck, certainly not now with corals getting hit, and for diving the worthwhile places around, i'd really suggest you get a flexible op, Liberty dive, Matahari and Utama are operations I've met this week diving the very few still worth divesites which are Batu Ringgit and Kuanji. The rest is really getting poor critterwise !

Ocean Sun looks good I wouldn't say otherwise but the dive centre is focused on technical and deep diving with everything that goes with, if you can cope with heavy middle aged divers dressed in black speaking german about bailouts and helium mix, drinking bathloads of beer that might be your fit.
On the rest I don't know about their flexibility, I have not seen any diver of this shop going to the places I mentioned, probably because they're too shallow for twin tanks, I'm afraid you'd be diving the dropoff then the dropoff and maybe the dropoff in the afternoon.

 

[Wisnu]

I agree Tulamben is not all about the wreck.
I don't think scuba diving (incl. in the Liberty wreck) or UWP is my obsession. When in Tulamben, I just enjoy easy diving the wreck every early morning similar as I enjoy my back yard garden. The next two dives, could be muck diving around the area from Kubu to Amed, up to me, or just sitting there with a bottle of Bintang.
Since 2004, other than Puri Madha, I've dived with Mimpi, Paradise, Joe, Matahari, Ocean Sun, TWD, Liberty - happy, or at least no complain - but, hey I'm not very demanding, easy to please.
Don't know how bad the condition of the wreck now; wish not too misery. Will see end of January 2020, hopefully not too lazy to write a report.

 

[GirlonFire]

I did dive the wreck in August. I came up with OK Divers from Padangbai for a day.

We did not dive any other sites in Tulamben though.

Seems Tulamben May be the better than Amed?