Into the future: Diving in Bali or Gili T for Chinese New Year

[charlier]

Here is my attempt at long-term planning, a trait that is not my strong point. My wife and I want to visit Bali or Gilli T (or...) for a dive trip during Chinese New Year 2014. In general, we prefer to dive in low season, less people and crowds. Given the number of travelers during the holidays, are we crazy to consider a trip to Bali or Lombock? FYI, we live in Singapore. Perhaps its too late to book tickets, so we will be stuck in Singapore again.

One plan is to stay in Nusa Lembongan for Nusa Penida dives, or we could commute from Padang Bai or Candidasa to Nusa Penida et al. Alternatively, we could fly to Lombok and go to Gilli T., and try to stay on the quiet (is this possible) side of the island. Suggestions or comments always welcome.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I have escaped the searing heat ( not ) of February in Europe and have dived in Indonesia , Thailand and the Philippines over the last few years. I am not sure that everywhere would be booked out at this stage , but might be wrong.

NL is awesome with mantas almost guaranteed and the area around the Liberty wreck is also fantastic. We have also been to Gili Air which is fabulous.

Speaking personally only I would say that topside the Gilis is nicer Than topside Bali , no traffic , extremely beautiful beaches and wonderful ambiance. There are huge turtles everywhere on the Gilis , lots of fish life but alot of the coral is dead. I would however say that underwater is better in Bali , better coral, lots of fish too and mantas of course ...we have only ever seen a few turtles. However topside on Bali obviously has lots of traffic, but on the other hand there is much more to do in terms of temples etc etc.

On Gili Air have stayed and dived with Manta Divers who are truly fantastic. We stayed and dived with World Diving on lembongan , and tauch tulamben in tulamben , both were outstanding particularly world diving.

At that time of year I would definitely not commute between NL and Candidasa , pick ones area and stay here.

i hope that this helps a bit.

 

[charlier]

good point - so perhaps the best choice is a resort on Nusa Lembogan for Chinese New Years, rather than commute by boat. It seem that the corals off Gilli T are not in good shape. suggestions for NL resort? charlie

 

[zivva]

What's your budget ?

 

[8u88les]

Gili is a beautiful island, but the diving stinks. Amed, Bali has the best diving in Bali by far and it is also a nice quiet little town with no traffic or noise, nice restaurants, friendly people, black sand beach front rooms, and babi guling. we dived with adventure divers bali. they have over a hundred reviews on tripadvisor and all of them 5-star! pygmy seahorses right off the beach too!

 

[divewench1]

I agree that Amed diving is good, but not the best in Bali. Amed does not have the coral coverage and colour of the dives along Amuk Bay (Blue Lagoon, Tanjung Sari, Tanjung Jepun, Gili Tepekong, Gili Mimpang, Gili Biaha etc)

I would stay in Padang Bai or CandiDasa and take the boat ride over to Nusa Penida.

And, as for being fully booked for CNY 2014 already..........no chance. You will have no problems finding places to stay. Some of the dive centres (although mostly in the South) even offer special deals for CNY, shop around.

Happy, safe diving

 

[8u88les]

np mite have a tiny bit more coral and fish than amed but thats really splitting hairs. amed also has strange macro critters which np either doesnt or you cant look for them anyway because of the fast moving freezing cold currents. np does have manta point though!

 

[zivva]

np mite have a tiny bit more coral and fish than amed but thats really splitting hairs. amed also has strange macro critters which np either doesnt or you cant look for them anyway because of the fast moving freezing cold currents. np does have manta point though!

If I may ...

1. There is not a tiny bit more coral & fish around NP, there is way more !
2. There is no freezing water at this time of the year, water is just a bit colder than North Bali (28°C in average against 30°C) ;
3. There is no fast moving currents at this time of the year when dives are planned with some very basic principles ;
4. There is a bit less of macro life around NP than around North Bali for sure, but still enough to totally satisfy a few days of spotting and it can be spotted quite easily anywhere from NP north side to Crystal Bay (= 9 dive sites), Manta Bay & Manta Point or Mangrove @ Nusa Lembongan.

 

[pughio83]

I agree with zivva, the diving is 10 times better around Bali vs gilli. Don't get me wrong I love the gillis, the beaches and island setup is lovely, but the diving is average for indo. Heavy coral damage, but you will see turtles and maybe bumpheads at gillis. NP coral is some of the best I have seen, though out of season with No mola mola and less current maybe I'd be inclined to dive only a few days there. The macro is better in gillis than NP however so depends what u r after. However tulumben, amed, seraya etc on bali has better macro than both places. Though few weeks ago they had a blue ring on a lembongan dive so there is stuff!

 

[8u88les]

zivva, i sugest you go dive both locations because you obviously have no clue what you are talking about or you are just trying to promote the bali shop you obviously work at.