Bali

[Aquamaniac]

Cary.
Many thanks for that wonderful report, Im so glad you decided to stick it out and continue your trip to Bali.

Its that positive attitude and defiance of terrorist's actions that will be the end of them.

I lost friends in Kuta on 10/12, and still have friends and Family in Indonesia.
What they need more than anything else right now is support. Tourism is a mainstay of the Balinese economy, and if we all just desert the island, it will be detrimental to everyone.

Our prayers are still with everyone effected.
Dave

 

[RSdiver]

GO STRAIGHT TO MENJANGEN ISLAND

While there is good diving in many areas of Bali, like Padang Bai near the Ferry Pier that goes to Lombok, I found Menjangen to be the best in my experience.

The accomodations and dive shops are based out of the town of Lovina on the North side of Bali, so you'll need to get there. As a previous posters said, you should negotiate on the price. The Kuta Holiday Inn concierge quoted me 250,000 Rupiah to take the Bus to Lovina, but one backpacker told me he paid 25,000 Rupiah from Ubud. So prices vary.

I found Menjangen to be extremely diverse as it seemed that I never saw the same anemone, sponge or soft coral twice. Wall dives were effortless with tightly packed healthy reefs that would end in sloped sandy areas where fields of garden eels could be viewed.
It was easy to dive 5 days in a row and not get bored.
Some of the dive gear in Bali is suspect, so I would recommend you at least bring your own regulator.

 

[davidlkh]

jnylaw once bubbled...
I am going to Bali this x'mas (my first time). Any sugguestion on where to dive (for beginner)? Thanks!- Jackie

You should mention how long is your trip for.

By the way, Dec is the wet monsoon. This means rain rain rain and more rain.

This happpened to me in one of my Bali trips, but I stayed south in Nusa Dua and dived Nusa Penida in 2000.

Dryers parts maybe Tulamben during December, but still it does rain.

Then again this is El Nino year, and Bali is in a drought at the moment. Maybe the dry season may extend well into December.

 

[seamonster]

Heard that a flood left the Tulamben shore dive sites covered in silt/mud. Anybody dived there the last few days? Was planning to dive there next week and would like to find out the diving conditions.

 

[erwin.kodiat]

Yes, that's correct, last week end I just had lunch there. I saw in front of Mimpi there's a new "land" of mud. It is because heavy rain somewhere higher than that area and bring some landslipped material to Tulamben. As we aware, Tulamben had a river mouth next to Mimpi resort. We can not find any ghost pipefish anymore in Tulamben, unless somebody find new place where they live.
Drop off and ship wreck are not really affected by the mud but the visibility these days are worse than ever.

 

[erwin.kodiat]

It's better for you to dive Nusa Penida, Padang Bai or Gili Tepekong these days. Since Tulamben is not on its best. However, avoid the new moon (January 3rd, 2003) since the combination of west winds and new moon tide will be a disaster especially in terms of current.
Just contact me if you go to Bali, maybe we can have a trip together.

 

[divedivedive!]

Was in Tulamben at the start of December, got there in the middle of the flooding. There is a lot of silt on the sandy portions at the rivermouth, but is not really a factor at the dropoff. However as Erwin said vis was terrible. The worst hit site would be the drop-off, which was barely dive-able. At the Liberty wreck vis was better but much worse than normal I'm told, maybe 8 to 12m. The sites further east, at Kelebit and Emerald, were alright. Water temps at Tulamben a comfortable 28-30 degrees C, at Nusa Penida 20-24, yikes.

The ghost pipefish have indeed all disappeared, is this a seasonal thing? On the plus side, a new baby pygmy seahorse has appeared in the sea fans off the Liberty.

Have fun there... which op are you diving with in Bali?

 

[davidlkh]

Was there in end November 2002 before the mud slide.

They told me Ghost Pipefish season is over. But I found a black one on the Mimpi House Reef side of the lava flow. You must drop in from the eel garden side and head down into about 60 to 70 feet of water towards the cleaning station. There is one very unusual shaped sponge with crinoids all over, I normally will find the ghost pipefish there.

For the red and clear type of ghost pipefish, look around the cleaning station and drop off area. Particular in dark holes during the day. But the recent trip, did not find any of this type.

 

[erwin.kodiat]

Will have a Christmas diving at Tulamben. Also want to check the coral. Heard that some on the top has been starting to bleach
Especially on coral the shallow part of the Drop Off (7-9 meters) has been buried by the mud, viz degraded to 4 meters. Patches in front of Mimpi which happened to be house of some ghost pipefish has been changed into stack of mud. Coral on the shipwreck still left untouch except the mud on the sandy bottom reach 30 cm of thickness. However, that's all the info I got from some local guide who has been there lately. Will let you know once I got back from my Christmas diving. Best wishes to you all.

seamonster once bubbled...
Heard that a flood left the Tulamben shore dive sites covered in silt/mud. Anybody dived there the last few days? Was planning to dive there next week and would like to find out the diving conditions.

 

[Jonathan Starr]

I was in Tulumben last week. Vis was about 10 meters at the Liberty.

We couldn't get to Amed. The river was running across the road just past the first entrance to Amed Beach, and vehicles couldn't cross at the time. I heard that there was no vis at all at Amed.

Aloha,

JOnathan