Diving in Bali

[Riki]

Hi,

I have 10 days in Bali before heading to Raja Ampat for a diving trip, I have my advanced diving certification. I have been to Indonesia a couple of years back and have already dived in Nusa Penida, Gili T, Komodo and Raja Ampat.
I am after suggestions for places to go for good quality diving experiences.

Thank you.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Are you a fan of macro critters?

Tulamben has excellent macro diving if that's your thing. And if it's just you diving at most resorts you will have your own guide and make your own schedule. It is concierge diving at its best and can spoil you for schedules.
My go to resort is Liberty Dive Resort, as I say I can make my own schedule so if my non-diver wife is on the trip with me, I get to plan around us and our prefrences.

Tulamben has the Liberty Wreck and loads of other amazing muck-macro sites, and is world class.
Buyer beware, you may end up being a macro-muck fanatic and then have to dive all the other must do muck locations.

 

[Centrals]

Padangbai.

 

[DownUnderwater Dan]

Hi,

I have 10 days in Bali before heading to Raja Ampat for a diving trip, I have my advanced diving certification. I have been to Indonesia a couple of years back and have already dived in Nusa Penida, Gili T, Komodo and Raja Ampat.
I am after suggestions for places to go for good quality diving experiences.

Thank you.

Hei Riki. I've been to the same places you've mentioned. Nusa Penida, Komodo, Raja Ampat are some of the world's best diving.

But one of my personal favourites is Bira, Sulawesi. It's not a protected marine area, but the diving is amazing. The visibility on one day there was +50-60m!...like a swimming pool! It's supposedly the shark capital of Indonesia, and on 1 dive I seen +20 sharks. Whale sharks, Mola Mola, White tip, black tip, bull sharks, guitar sharks and so forth I have & have been seen here. It's about 4-5 hours drive from Makassar. And great snorkeling too. Pantai Pasir Putih aka White Sand Beach, the sand is like white talcum powder and when the small waves come in, dissolves like milk powder!

If you're only staying in Bali, about a week ago I went to Padangbai and stayed at OK Divers resort and dive centre. I've been to Padangbai a fair few times and OK Divers is definitely the best quality accommodation and location.

I suprisingly had one of my best ever night dives there. I thought the dive was just going to be a shore dive in the harbour, but instead it was a boat dive at the "Blue Lagoon" site. I seen a Mimic Octopus, 2 super rare walking sharks!—almost blueish-grayish with black spots, giant snail and heaps of other critters!

I enjoyed the Blue Lagoon night dive more than Tulamben, Liberty & Coral Wall night dives. But Nusa Penida night dives are a must have experience also, as well as Bira night dives.

Hope you enjoy your time!

 

[Blackcrusader]

Hi,

I have 10 days in Bali before heading to Raja Ampat for a diving trip, I have my advanced diving certification. I have been to Indonesia a couple of years back and have already dived in Nusa Penida, Gili T, Komodo and Raja Ampat.
I am after suggestions for places to go for good quality diving experiences.

Thank you.

If you have the experience and want fast current dives in a pristine location the look up Wild Scuba Indonesia in Lombok. I was just there and already itching to get back. It's worth doing 5 days of diving there.

 

[coder_underwater]

Are you a fan of macro critters?

Tulamben has excellent macro diving if that's your thing. And if it's just you diving at most resorts you will have your own guide and make your own schedule. It is concierge diving at its best and can spoil you for schedules.
My go to resort is Liberty Dive Resort, as I say I can make my own schedule so if my non-diver wife is on the trip with me, I get to plan around us and our prefrences.

Tulamben has the Liberty Wreck and loads of other amazing muck-macro sites, and is world class.
Buyer beware, you may end up being a macro-muck fanatic and then have to dive all the other must do muck locations.

I'm going to be there in November. I'm a new diver (certs this coming weekend). My wife also does not dive, so I'm going to try to stay near to Denpasar. Do you know of any reputable places nearby that do equipment rental, guided dives etc?

 

[Blackcrusader]

I'm going to be there in November. I'm a new diver (certs this coming weekend). My wife also does not dive, so I'm going to try to stay near to Denpasar. Do you know of any reputable places nearby that do equipment rental, guided dives etc?

Pretty much all the dive centers in Bali offer complete dive kits and of course as a new dive you will have guided dives.
Padang Bai has good diving as does other areas near Denpasar. Some dive ops will offer to pick you up and bring you to the dive op for the days diving. Search the FB groups for Bali Diving lot's of information on there. Does your wife like to snorkel? Also some places have strong currents at the beaches as well. Some dive sites you won't be taken to as not enough experience but the dive guides in Bali are well known for taking care of divers.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I have gone diving from that area but All 4 diving in Sanur I would recommend as they run the Mermaid 1 and 2 liveaboards and those are well run so if I was diving from that area I would choose them.

 

[dirtfarmer]

@coder_underwater are you really set on staying aonund Denpaspar?
How long are you staying on Bali?

I and my non-diving wife much prefer Gili Air for a developed but much more lost tropical island vibe than Sanur or Kuta. Gilli Air has everything you want plenty of places to choose to stay, and restaurants to eat at, great beaches, and best thing no cars just a sandy road circling the island.
It has some for a beginning diver excellent diving, you'll see loads of turtles, and and lots of other sea life. I highly recommend it over staying close to Denspasar. You can catch a fastboat ferry there from Sanur.

I've done lot's of travel with my non-diving wife and I got to keep her happy the best I can. She has yes taken one, actually many for the team and put up with me diing 3 dives a day for 10 days or so but after that it's time for me to make the wife extra happy and spend more time with her instead of underwater. Glli Air is a great combination of diving and chilling on a beach.

 

[coder_underwater]

@coder_underwater are you really set on staying aonund Denpaspar?
How long are you staying on Bali?

I and my non-diving wife much prefer Gili Air for a developed but much more lost tropical island vibe than Sanur or Kuta. Gilli Air has everything you want plenty of places to choose to stay, and restaurants to eat at, great beaches, and best thing no cars just a sandy road circling the island.
It has some for a beginning diver excellent diving, you'll see loads of turtles, and and lots of other sea life. I highly recommend it over staying close to Denspasar. You can catch a fastboat ferry there from Sanur.

I've done lot's of travel with my non-diving wife and I got to keep her happy the best I can. She has yes taken one, actually many for the team and put up with me diing 3 dives a day for 10 days or so but after that it's time for me to make the wife extra happy and spend more time with her instead of underwater. Glli Air is a great combination of diving and chilling on a beach.

It's still a bit in the air at the moment because my wife is Indonesian and her family will have a large presence. Given their interests, their presence means the vacation will be more centered on restaurants and tourist sites (I'd imagine). I'd LOVE to see these authentic villages and islands.

But my whole diving excursion is more like I'm "sneaking away" for a day to do diving. My wife mentioned one of her friends is a diver over there and suggested we could maybe go together. She suggested Tulamben which is possible to do as a day trip from Denpasar. I won't be able to go down to the actual shipwreck there as I'll only be certified down to 60 ft I think it is for OWD, but there's other stuff there as I understand.

I've heard good things about Lombok (I guess Gili Air is very near). We've discussed going there a couple times. Who knows, maybe she'll be interested in visiting one of the other islands.

It seems you figured out the formula "happy wife, happy life."
I will let you know where we end up diving if you're interested... bringing my gopro so hopefully can get a few good pics.