KRL1973
Contributor
1st trip to Bali and had a great time there with my family.
In Tulamben stayed and dove with Ocean View. I really liked this place. Perfect location to the liberty, nice rooms and grounds, restaurant was pretty good too but got a bit bored with the breakfast menu after a couple days. The onsite dive shop and guide was very good as well. They didn't seen keen to just rent equipment and dive without a guide, but they offered just $25 per dive inclusive of guide and full equipment rental so just took them up on that and no regrets. They weren't very busy, in fact with the exception of the Kuta /South area, Bali didn't seem very busy at all considering it was the peak season. The consensus was that the volcano eruptions a couple months ago made lot of people change their plans. Lucky for us it seemed everywhere we went never had to make appointments or wait in line for anything. It always seemed like everyone was waiting around just for us. We were able to check-in to our hotels hours early with no problem.
Tulamben diving was great. 1st couple days the swell was up making for difficult entry/exit and reduced vis, but it mellowed and improved. Did the Liberty a couple times and a night dive on it too. It is a nice dive as described in other reports. It does get crowded with divers late morning to mid-day. Coral gardens and the drop off were equally as good in my opinion in their own way. I think my favorite though was the newer wreck dive in Kubu. The intact wreck was more impressive to behold and I appreciated the surrounding reef and the staged underwater motor bikes were fun too. That was a deeper dive and it did cross into a deco dive requiring a longer safety stop so it was good to do that one after some experience and make sure to be using a dive computer that you are familiar with.
After Tulamben continued North to explore Sekumpul waterfall among others and then around to Ubud for a couple days before ending in Padangbai staying at Puri Rai. The 'family room' there felt like a palace. It has its own walled off courtyard and the rooms are enormous. I did not find it dark and musty at all as I had read others report. It was perfect for us and the best accommodation we had on the whole trip. The hotel restaurant does a pretty good pizza. Bu Jero Grill down the street was our favorite and we ate there or got take-out from them several times. Also recommend Lotus spa for massage just down the street.
Had just 1 full day to dive in Padangbai and went with Widana dive. Very laid back operation and competitively priced. The owner is super friendly and casual. They have just a small boat but it suited us just fine and we did a 2 dive trip to Mimpang and Tepekong islands just my son and I with a guide. Good dives there, saw a few white tip reef sharks and in the shallower areas of the dives there was very nice coral and abundant fish. Nothing really big other than the sharks but very enjoyable. There was some current to fight in a couple spots but they also provide a guide and he helped my son get around one corner that was especially tricky and they had briefed us on. Our last day before flying out, went to Blue lagoon for snorkeling with high hopes but it was a disappointment as during the day it gets crowded with day snorkel and dive boats. The boats literally maneuver under power and park right on top of the site making it scary for my family to try to snorkel there. Most used a provided mooring but 1 boat I saw anchored right on the live coral and I saw the anchor was an old paint can filled with cement drag over live coral -not cool. Readers, please do not patronize the snorkel tours that are on offer, just walk 5 minutes to the beach rent gear there and walk in. It will make the site much more enjoyable and protect it from damage.
One other note for those planning their 1st trip to Bali. Transportation is super easy and cheap to arrange here. I had originally planned to rent a car for the family and drive around and I am very glad I did not do that. You do not need to arrange any transportation in advance, every hotel you stay at will happily get a driver for you to go anywhere with a day's notice or even less sometimes. It does help if you have the time to look up a couple drivers ahead of time so you can price shop but for the most part prices were comparable for everyone we employed with distance and time being the primary price variables.
Another tip. Don't plan on staying in south bali and make day trips to scenic places elsewhere. Traffic is awful in that area. Instead actually move where you are staying to the region you want to visit. That is what we did and so glad we did as we travelled from the North to Ubud for example saw bumper to bumper traffic for miles heading from Ubud north (the opposite direction we were heading). Similarly, we were in traffic for 2 hours going from Kuta to Ulawatu on our 2nd day in Bali.
We look forward to visiting again
