Bali Trip Planning Help

[camkole]

Hey guys, my partner and I are wanting to visit Bali in December this year. We are very ignorant as to what we should do/what is affordable to do.

We enjoy easy/medium level dives. I'd love to see something unique that I would not be able to see in the Caribbean.

Please, if you have favorite dive ops and locations to see post them!
I'm open to anything as of now. Thanks in advance.

 

[Lorenzoid]

There are a ton of posts on Bali. As you may know from what you have already read, a big draw of Bali is "muck diving" and seeing tiny ("macro") critters, which is right off the bat different from much of the Caribbean. Tulamben, on the east coast, is the most popular spot, for good reason. The Liberty Wreck there hosts all kinds of marine life, big and small. Liberty Dive Center gets rave reviews, but there are a number of good ops to choose from. Padangbai and Candidasa, also on the east coast, seems a popular area, too. A year or so ago I did a "dive safari" around the island, starting at the northwest corner and making my way down to the popular east coast. Lembongan island and Nusa Penida, which are closer to Denpasar ("the city"), are renowned for the rare mola mola. Read up on these places, see what sounds appealing to you, and post some more specific questions. I am not a Bali expert by any means, but I think I got a good feel for the place from my trip last year.

 

[billt4sf]

What Dan said.

We have used Adventure Divers in Jemeluk (Amed) and Geko divers in Padang Bai. Amed is generally very calm waters and they can take you to Liberty, although it's not as convenient as staying in Tulamben, there are more restaurants and a good vibe, and good diving (but not as good as Liberty).

From Padang Bai you can hit excellent muck diving on Bali, or take the boat to Nusa Penida (my fav) or Manta Point. The diving is more challenging there.

If you go to Adventure Divers tell Lisa that "Liam sent you".

Depending on how much time you have, you might want to get up to Ubud for relaxation. It gets VERY crowded there during peak periods.

- Bill

 

[Manneca]

I've dived Lembongan/Nusa Penida with Two Fish several times. I've just booked with them for Amed and Gilli Air for the end of September. I'll be headed back to Lembongan in early December, again with Two Fish. At Lembongan there are two options: looking for mantas/mola molas or reef diving. The variety of fish in the Indo Pacific far exceeds anything in the Caribbean. In fact, I rarely dive the Caribbean anymore because it pales in comparison to the Indo Pacific. And there are more critters there than I've found in the Caribbean.

 

[UFOrb]

If you're in Bali you must dive the Liberty. Very easy if you stay in Tulamben. We loved
Liberty Dive Resort, and it gets a lot of good feedback here on SB. You have your own guide and set your own dive schedule.
The only other area I dived on Bali was Candidasa. I just did the local sites of Gili Mimpang & Gili Tepekong, which are outstanding. Appently currents can be tricky at certain times of the month. I experienced "moderate" currents on Mimpang which was fun, as well as a thermocline with the temp reducing to 23C but I was fine in a 3mil full length wetsuit and rash vest. That was May so not sure about conditions in Dec (start of their summer). I used Benthos and was happy with them.
We also stayed on Gili Air, Lombok for more of a relaxed family vibe with a nice sandy beach, decent snorkelling and easy-going diving. The sites were not as good as Bali but still enjoyable

I wrote a trip report (I noticed the typo in the title too late to correct it!):
Trip resort – Gili Air & Bali with young kids (1 & 4 years), May 2017

There's a lot of other useful info if you search. I've never dived in the Caribbean so can't give you a comparison but I'm sure you'll be diving happy

 

[Dan]

What Dan said.

We have used Adventure Divers in Jemeluk (Amed) and Geko divers in Padang Bai. Amed is generally very calm waters and they can take you to Liberty, although it's not as convenient as staying in Tulamben, there are more restaurants and a good vibe, and good diving (but not as good as Liberty).

From Padang Bai you can hit excellent muck diving on Bali, or take the boat to Nusa Penida (my fav) or Manta Point. The diving is more challenging there.

If you go to Adventure Divers tell Lisa that "Liam sent you".

Depending on how much time you have, you might want to get up to Ubud for relaxation. It gets VERY crowded there during peak periods.

- Bill

What did I say?

Ya, there are plenty of info here to browse over about Bali diving. @camkole I'll highly recommend you to go to Tulamben. My dive guide for the past 10 years is Today (short for Ketut Gede Somadhyana) from aqua cat bali, the best travel to scuba diving / dive / diving in Bali, Indonesia He'll give you the best price, service & guide there, including some land tours.

Let those Tulamben ladies carry your tanks & gears to the beach for you. That's how some of them make their living. I went to Bali after 2 years of diving in Caribbean. I was blown away with what I saw there and keep coming back there year-after-year for the last 10 years.

I'll be there on December 2-5 with 5 of my dive buddies from Texas (after 12-day trip to Ambon, Banda Sea & Raja Ampat), if the time is coincide with yours, we may dive together.

Take care,
Dan

 

[billt4sf]

What Dan said.

- Bill

 

[Centrals]

As far as I know, never ever offer any help to those ladies carrying your equipment/tank. They get pay for doing just that(piece by piece). Your "friendly" assistance will actually deprive them of earning money.

 

[Dan]

Here are some common fish & critters that you may see there that definitely are not found in Caribbean:

I almost stepped on this Blue-ring octopus when I was walking around in Pandawa beach during low tide. I took the picture with my iPhone.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Here are some common fish & critters that you may see there that definitely are not found in Caribbean: . .

"Common" is a bit of a stretch for, say, the mola mola, but yeah, dive there enough and you can see all of these creatures.

Weighing the quality of diving along with the ease of getting to and from Bali from just about anywhere in the world against minor negatives like the crowding and floating trash, and I think Bali wins. There is better diving in Indonesia, but it involves another hop on a plane. So many divers seem to think of Bali as an airport transit stop on their way to such other destinations, but the reality is Bali is very much worth diving.