Diving Indonesia in January

[WetPup]

I apparently just seem to have exceptionally bad luck with the Liberty wreck? I've dived it on a number of separate occasions, and not one of those dives has been particularly noteworthy. On all of those occasions it's been supposedly "uncrowded" at 5am. At that time, there are still 20-25 divers in the water though. The viz still isn't great. And I still never saw any particularly noteworthy marine life. I will probably dive it again, by virtue of the fact that I regularly have to transit in Bali for work trips, and I hope I'm not disappointed again...But I'm not holding my breath.

Also, the Yongala is on my doorstep. I'm probably spoiled

 

[Freewillow]

Ah the Yongala wreck. One of the nicest wreck I have ever dived. Not to speak about the safety stop during a night dive with sharks circling around us, lid up by our dive lights. FANTASTIC

 

[mikeycanuk]

Hmmm, I was planning on splitting my post Komodo cruise between Tulamben/PadangBai.


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[WetPup]

I actually quite like the dive on the reef at Tulamben near the southern end of the beach. Just not a big fan of the wreck itself.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Wingy, I did much of your plan a year and 1/2 ago. When I got home there was no place to sell sunglasses and no one will put money in my tin cup.

 

[Wingy]

Wetpup.....5am 20 divers....sounds like we had the same plan. Perhaps the Yongala does spoil us - I also did like the slope and another site just further up the road (Coral Gardens?? - why is there a coral gardens site everywhere?) way more than the Liberty. You sure you werent one of those 20 people who got in my way ?

Chilly LOL - dammit ive been practicing my you buy, sunglass, very good, polareyeeezed madam, you like, only $500AUD for years.......gonna have to think of another business venture now. I could buy a Roti cart in Thailand and end up broke and fat - id eat all the profits.

 

[Luko]

I apparently just seem to have exceptionally bad luck with the Liberty wreck? I've dived it on a number of separate occasions, and not one of those dives has been particularly noteworthy. On all of those occasions it's been supposedly "uncrowded" at 5am. At that time, there are still 20-25 divers in the water though. The viz still isn't great. And I still never saw any particularly noteworthy marine life. I will probably dive it again, by virtue of the fact that I regularly have to transit in Bali for work trips, and I hope I'm not disappointed again...But I'm not holding my breath.

Also, the Yongala is on my doorstep. I'm probably spoiled

5 to 7 AM are not a good time at all to dive the wreck, best being 9 AM ... funnily that's what I was explaining on another board a few minutes ago.
Spme people rave on the bumpheads, yeah... well that's only bumpheads right?
On my side, I am fascinated with colors and light, I personally think -given my photographer's eye- that the best light you have is either 9-10 AM or 3-4 PM and that's funnlily enough when you will find the less divers. The Bumphead followers from Tulamben and Amed are already out of the water, and the Sanur zombies are still daysleeping in their coach somewhere in the traffic jam between Kusamba and Candi Dasa, under water you will find only a couple of the best freelance guides with their photographer clients.
Going to the water from the LIberty slope at 9AM you will come across the bumpheads that are leaving the wreck on their way to Alamanda, so you get the bumpheads, the wreck, less divers, better light and often better viz.

Once again I have never dived Yongala, hence not able to compare. From the video I've seen, it's packed with schooling fish of all sorts and covered with soft corals, that's why I put it on my list.
Then what's next on the lively wreck list? From the ones I have dived I don't see any that would come close the Liberty. What did I see special I could write on my logbook since I regularly dive it : Bumpheads of course, Jackfish school (But now gone, fair enough), barracudas, lots of glassfish and sweeper schools, turtles, a whaleshark that swam over me while I was looking for pygmy seahorses and hence never actually noticed it, blacktip reef sharks on the way back, two types of pygmy seahorses, loads of ghostpipefish, juve frogfish, rare phyllodesmium nudibranches, blue ring octopus at night, a couple of Dragon shrimp and now if I extent it to the slope any type of interesting shrimp you name it (Harlequin, Tiger, Tozeuma, Saron marble shrimp, donald duck, etc.),.
Hence I have hard times to imagine what you call "particularly noteworthy marine iife".... :shocked2:

In fact, I come back everytime to the Liberty because I struggle on capturing the essence of the wreck in my pictures, it's too large, too abounding with life and colors, for instance I realize I don't have any pix of the extremely photogenic glassfish/sweeper school on the lushiest part 25m below because it was always time to come up or I ddin't have a lens wide enough to get all the life around. Hence it gives the chance for another couple more dives at least.

 

[lamarpaulski]

You got unlucky because it can be a great dive. I did night dive and it was just me and guide...saw too many things to list but included huge moray...enormous sleeping napolean ? wrasse, the bumpheads..rays, ghost pipefish, groupers. One of all time best dives inho.

 

[WetPup]

5 to 7 AM are not a good time at all to dive the wreck, best being 9 AM ... funnily that's what I was explaining on another board a few minutes ago.
Spme people rave on the bumpheads, yeah... well that's only bumpheads right?
On my side, I am fascinated with colors and light, I personally think -given my photographer's eye- that the best light you have is either 9-10 AM or 3-4 PM and that's funnlily enough when you will find the less divers. The Bumphead followers from Tulamben and Amed are already out of the water, and the Sanur zombies are still daysleeping in their coach somewhere in the traffic jam between Kusamba and Candi Dasa, under water you will find only a couple of the best freelance guides with their photographer clients.
Going to the water from the LIberty slope at 9AM you will come across the bumpheads that are leaving the wreck on their way to Alamanda, so you get the bumpheads, the wreck, less divers, better light and often better viz.

Once again I have never dived Yongala, hence not able to compare. From the video I've seen, it's packed with schooling fish of all sorts and covered with soft corals, that's why I put it on my list.
Then what's next on the lively wreck list? From the ones I have dived I don't see any that would come close the Liberty. What did I see special I could write on my logbook since I regularly dive it : Bumpheads of course, Jackfish school (But now gone, fair enough), barracudas, lots of glassfish and sweeper schools, turtles, a whaleshark that swam over me while I was looking for pygmy seahorses and hence never actually noticed it, blacktip reef sharks on the way back, two types of pygmy seahorses, loads of ghostpipefish, juve frogfish, rare phyllodesmium nudibranches, blue ring octopus at night, a couple of Dragon shrimp and now if I extent it to the slope any type of interesting shrimp you name it (Harlequin, Tiger, Tozeuma, Saron marble shrimp, donald duck, etc.),.
Hence I have hard times to imagine what you call "particularly noteworthy marine iife".... :shocked2:

In fact, I come back everytime to the Liberty because I struggle on capturing the essence of the wreck in my pictures, it's too large, too abounding with life and colors, for instance I realize I don't have any pix of the extremely photogenic glassfish/sweeper school on the lushiest part 25m below because it was always time to come up or I ddin't have a lens wide enough to get all the life around. Hence it gives the chance for another couple more dives at least.

Yeah, but on 8 separate trips? And still not had what I would call a "good" dive on the Liberty? One might start to think there's a trend happening there...

I appreciate that some people seem to have all the luck on that dive site. In some 20+ dives I've done on it over the years, I've not had any luck. I've also been in the water a little later at 9am (and mid-afternoon, and at night), and every single time the viz has been on the order of 2-3 meters because by that time all the day trippers are in the water and with easily 75+ divers on the wreck by around 8.30am, there is so much crap kicked up that you can barely see a couple of meters in front of you. It's so overcrowded that it's hard to avoid someone kicking you in the face and knocking your mask off. I've yet to have a dive where I would consider it "uncrowded", to the point where I can just relax and enjoy it.

Like I said, I seem to have had exceptionally bad luck with this wreck. That's not to say that other's haven't had amazing dives on it, but my own experience leads me to believe that the "awesome" is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Pedroinspain]

Good for you you liked Bunaken, at least next you'll dive Indonesia you'll be AMAZED with what you will see.

The problem of quoting what the man heard from the man who took it from the man etc. is that it's often quiet a distance for the reality, when you talk about "the solitude of Bunaken Walls" ( ... wow, that should have been such a day to be alone on Likuan ) and people being "buried with novice divers" and for instance I am thinking of Likuan vs. Toyapakeh or SD did you see many divers on Toyapakeh, really?), that makes me smiles a bit and reveals a lot about your friend. Do you how many dive operation there are taking daily trips to Bunaken from Manado? Seriously?

As i didn't know what Vilondo is so I googled and found a site that rents villas in Seminyak or Kuta... what a reference, these people may never have dived of their own life, Vanity Fair or The Bali Gourmet might have been better references.
So yeah, I suppose if you are a vacationer and you have dived Indonesia for the first time, you may have your opinion, but once again given your limited experience, I suggest you keep your eyes open and browse through this board where there are many people who have dived Indonesia more or less extensively (including me) and who may have a different view from their FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE.

What worries me more is that you're giving a very biased overview of Bali diving if anyone that doesn't know read this. And the problem is that you get your conclusions almost out of thin air... this is why I am taking the time to reply.
Otherwise I would have been slightly amused on how you came to such assertive opinions to be honest.

For your slight amusement, and as a self-proclaimed Indonesian dive-trip planning expert, perhaps you can assist me in pointing out where I was patently stupid in my trip 2015 planning, which was as follows:

1) I was hesitant to go to Bali at all because of the well-posted problems of August crowds, but was persuaded by the breadth of attractions.
2) In choosing where to dive, I was guided by Vilondo's book. As a self-proclaimed expert who offers to give advice on Indonesian dive trips to novices, I am surprised that you did not already know about their eBook. Here is a link to help your advice-provision in future: https://www.vilondo.com/things-to-do-in-bali/diving-bali/free-diving-ebook/ It is on the very web site that you found. They rank Menjangan up there with Tulamben.
3) Regarding your comment that "they might never have dived", I was not aware of that possibility at the time. I naively thought that the detail that they provided, and the care that went into their free publication was believable. I did not have your evidence as to their dubious personalities at the time. You have now warned me otherwise, and of course also warned other future novice planners of dive trips to Bali, for which I thank you. BEWARE of this rubbish ebook publication. THE expert from France has said so.
4) I see that Vilongo mentions that most divers choose to stay at Amed, rather than Tulamben. I presume they are incorrect in that also.

Clearly I should have referred to your publications rather than theirs. At the time I did not know of your concise collection of advice. In fact I still do not know where to find it, nor even that you existed? Marketing, marketing, marketing.

But I have been suitably chastised and shown the correct way now. Many thanks.

Since I now know better, let us put your kind offer to the test. I am already planning another trip to Indonesia for mid-2017. So as not to make the fatal errors that I made in 2015, I need to ask for further FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE.

a) Banka: I will arrive in Manado at 13:00. Obviously I would like to be in my residence in Banka before nightfall. Also I would prefer the transfer to be cost-efficient (I used local transport to get to Bunaken - it was fun, cheap and easy). Can I see Spectral tarsiers on Banka, or do I need to route via Tangkoko? If so, what are the transfer options? What is the birding like?

b) Pulau Sangihe seems to offer a departure from a unidimensional trip. Besides brilliantly clear water, I read that it also provides underwater volcanoes and on land, exotic mammals and excellent birding. I would appreciate your advice on trip planning to there to snare these activities. Is Ruang worth visiting? I would be VERY keen to photograph Weedy and Lazy scorpionfish. Seems like June might be the best time to get synergy with Banka.

Many thanks