Bali March 8-17. Tips?

[matts1w]

I have no dog in this fight, but will add my two cents anyway.

Qualifications beyond online travel reviews...
I have been a dive instructor for twenty years, although that is not my primary occupation.
I have lived in Indonesia for ten years.
I have dived pretty much everywhere there is to dive in Indonesia multiple times.
I pay close attention to the industry here.
I have a house in Canggu, Bali. I dive Bali a lot.

Basic conclusions: Bali is a very complex place full of wonderful people, and also full of very shady people. If you deal with the scuba industry or renovate an old villa in Canggu, you will regularly encounter both.

Therefore at present...

In Tulamben, I only dive with Liberty.
In Padang Bai, I only dive with Geko.
For the exact same reasons Luko mentioned above, I never dive out of Sanur.
If you follow these three guidelines, I am 100 percent confident you will have a solid first time diving in Bali.

FWIW- I have never met Luko, but I consider him incredible wealth of information concerning diving in Indonesia- more so than anyone else on this board. He is right about everything....except cold a$$ Alor. He is bat-sh-t crazy when it comes to Alor.

 

[UFOrb]

I have never met Luko, but I consider him incredible wealth of information concerning diving in Indonesia

Yep, +1 on that. We’ve only visited Indo twice so far but I’ve received what turned out to be excellent advice from Luko for both trips.

 

[jbb]

Luko,
Do you have a recommendations of Dive Shops and Hotels in Sanur to dive Nusa Penida with? I am working on an Itinerary in April/May for Nusa Penida then up to Lembeh Straits with NAD. My last trip was to Tulamben diving with Liberty Dive Resort - best dive resort I've stayed at. Just wish they pointed out critters larger than 10mm more often despite having the camera gear to capture them with ;-)

Indo dive experience; Raja x2 (live aboard), Komodo (live aboard), Ambon, Bunaken, Lembeh Straits x4, Tulamben.
thanks.

 

[Neptune Scuba Diving]

Luko,
Do you have a recommendations of Dive Shops and Hotels in Sanur to dive Nusa Penida with? I am working on an Itinerary in April/May for Nusa Penida then up to Lembeh Straits with NAD. My last trip was to Tulamben diving with Liberty Dive Resort - best dive resort I've stayed at. Just wish they pointed out critters larger than 10mm more often;-)
thanks.

Hey hey, Julian here, just dropping a hello about diving in Penida out of Sanur

 

[howswedeofme]

Yep, +1 on that. We’ve only visited Indo twice so far but I’ve received what turned out to be excellent advice from Luko for both trips.

I fired my travel agent and booked my own trip to Komodo and Bali based on Luko's recommendations (with a couple hotel deviations)

 

[Luko]

I fired my travel agent and booked my own trip to Komodo and Bali based on Luko's recommendations (with a couple hotel deviations)

Jeeze... such responsability weighing on my shoulders ...
I will be under major stress until you come back and report ("How come you advised for such a crappy boat? I hated the diving in Bali! etc".) scary!

I'll be interested by your feedback regarding your hotel in Tulamben

 

[howswedeofme]

Jeeze... such responsability weighing on my shoulders ...
I will be under major stress until you come back and report ("How come you advised for such a crappy boat? I hated the diving in Bali! etc".) scary!

I'll be interested by your feedback regarding your hotel in Tulamben

Don't stress! We have historically had much better trips going off of recommendations from other divers through SB. We have done two trips through a travel agent, and the travel agent portion was ho-hum. I was reluctant to use one this time but being our first time in Indonesia, I thought we could use some help. It turned out he was of no help because he had never even been to Indonesia! So far, Liberty Dive, Geko Dive, and DDK have all been great and causing me far less stress than the travel agent was.

 

[Luko]

Luko,
Do you have a recommendations of Dive Shops and Hotels in Sanur to dive Nusa Penida with? I am working on an Itinerary in April/May for Nusa Penida then up to Lembeh Straits with NAD.

Nope. My experience lodging in Sanur has always been an epic failure, so I won't recommend anywhere. I now just use Sanur as a stop to Hardy's supermarket en route to Tulamben for buying treats or snacks you can't find in the east of Bali.
As for the dive shops in Sanur, like I said i don't use them because it's not convenient. Bali Breizh may have my favor since they are small and good guys, -only based on my discussion with the owner-.
There's also a franchise of Twofish divers that has opened in Sanur, Twofish usually never disappoints, the owner Nigel has a point of satisfying his customers. in complete ignorance I would always look for TwoFish operations.

What prevents you from going to Padang Bai and dive with Geko which i would strongly recommend anytime? That would provide you a lrger array of dive sites in addition to Nusa Penida's (Gili Tepekong, Gili Mimpang, the jetty, etc.).

 

[jbb]

I must have misread/misconstrued some posts then. Thanks for making your preference clear.

 

[Luko]

I must have misread/misconstrued some posts then. Thanks for making your preference clear.

Sorry if my previous replies misled you.
i was replying to the OP with regards to his constraints, as he was booking his hotel in Sanur : what i was saying is that Sanur is only good/convenient for diving Nusa Penida if you need to settle there BUT Padang Bai is as convenient as Sanur in this respect, PLUS Padang Bai broadens the selection of dive sites outside Nusa Penida. ( or you can select lodging on Nusa Lembongan if you are only diving Nusa Penida)
If you need more specifics, you can PM me too.