PEMUTERAN, N.W.BALI..Is this a good choice??

[cruisensnooze]

Hi, We are returning to Bali again this November 2017 and want to spend some days in the N.W. of the Island. We like the look of The Adi Assri Beach Resort and Spa at Pemuteran. After reading loads of reviews it looks like there is an attached Dive Shop...Sea Rovers. We love muck diving and mainly do macro photography. So my questions are: Is this a good hotel to pick and has anyone just hired equipment and done shore diving in front of this hotel. We will of course be visiting Menjangen while we are up there. We will be leaving here to go onto Tulamben.
Thanks for any help, Chris

 

[Lorenzoid]

I dived with Sea Rovers in June 2016 and had a good experience with Paul and his crew. They are no longer located at the Adi Assri, as they have relocated to their own brand-new building on the main road. (Well, they were just about ready to move when I was there, so I assume they have moved.) The Adi Assri is a lovely resort, and you could certainly stay there. Being thrifty people, we opted for the Taruna Homestay nearby. There are several homestays (guesthouses) in the area.

We did do some shore diving from their old location, right in front of the hotel. I'm sure that even with Sea Rovers in their new location, which is not on the water, they can set you up for shore diving. I would rate the shore diving there as super-mucky, only for the truly muck-mad. We did a pretty good night dive there. Not quite teeming with life, but factoring in how ridiculously easy the shore dives were, I would say they were worth it.

I didn't post a full trip report, but I would be glad to try to answer any questions. This was my first Bali dive trip, though I had visited Bali before to see the topside sights. In my opinion, Tulamben was much better diving than Menjangan/Pemuteran, but my thinking was that I would never know for sure until I gave it a go myself.

On the way from Pemuteran to Tulamben, we stopped at Zen Dive Bali on the north coast to dive the Puri Jati muck site. We had read a couple of glowing reports about Puri Jati, but in our (admittedly only one) dive, we failed to find much of interest. Someone on SB later wrote that they thought Puri Jati has gone downhill for whatever reason and is no longer the muck mecca it once was.

 

[jcclink]

PJ is not what it used to be as a macro/muck diving area. Between global warming & a local village drag netting the area, the critter count is way down from 4-5 years ago. I used to dive PJ every year in Oct/Nov, but have not visited the past 3 years.

 

[temas]

I can only confirm what Lorensoid have said. Hotel is nice we stayed there for 4 night and did dive with SeaRovers from there new establishment on the main road (the hotel has new diveshop but I cant say anything specific except the building is nice on the left side of the premises, Searovers used to be on the right one). The hotel territory is big and from what i got it is now combined from two parts the "old" right down from reception and "new" - down and left. we stayed at old one - nothing to complain, the new part looked nice too (may be little smaller suits but not sure)

As we stayed at the hotel there was just 2 min walk to the beach (through the liitle village near the hotel) to the point were we boarded the boat. And all our diving gear were brought in and out by a small searovers truck so just dive and have fun (and rinse your gear after at their place). We again really liked the night dive in front of this village i mentioned, nice and relaxing dive but i advise to first try it during the day to get familiar with the place especially around the jetty part. We again ) dove Pury Jatti (2 dives) and it was good despite very bad vis (end of july 2016) made some nice photos.

As for diving to my surprise the pemuteran dive sites are more memorable (close encounters for ex.) for me than menjangan but the latter is really really good wall diving . Be ready for a garbage on the beaches of pemuteran (not the hotel territory of course).

Tulamben is an another whole story ).

 

[Lorenzoid]

I agree with @temas that some Pemuteran Bay sites can be at least as good as Menjangan. Temple Garden sounded like it was going to be a goofy tourist sort of dive--among the Buddha statues, etc. Yet we saw all kinds of marine life that had made it their home. It turned out to be a fascinating dive.

As for Puri Jati, well, at least we only wasted an afternoon. It's too bad that it has gone downhill. It's clear from the dive facilities they erected on the shore--patio, changing tables, showers, cafe, etc.--that someone had believed PJ was going to attract an increasing number of visitors.

 

[cruisensnooze]

Thank you all for your replies. Add Assri Resort is still top of our list for accommodation and found it cheapest on Agoda.com I am waiting for a reply from Sea Rovers which I posted over 2 days ago but not heard yet. We will spend a day at Secret Bay, day at Menjangen and the rest at the local house reefs. Can any of you tell me if we can dive independently on the House reefs or do we have to have a guide. We love Matahari at Tulamben as we can dive on our own and spend whatever time we want taking photos. Thanks all again for your info....Chris

 

[Lorenzoid]

Please report back what Paul advises about Secret Bay. Despite that Sea Rovers' website mentions Secret Bay, Paul strongly dissuaded us from diving there. I see this sentence has been added to the website description: "Not what it used to be due to the expansion of the Bali Java ferry terminal." We were quite willing to pay for the trip, so that wasn't the issue. No, rather, Paul felt that Secret Bay just wasn't worth it anymore. I suppose we could have been insistent, but we backed off.

 

[cruisensnooze]

Please report back what Paul advises about Secret Bay. Despite that Sea Rovers' website mentions Secret Bay, Paul strongly dissuaded us from diving there. I see this sentence has been added to the website description: "Not what it used to be due to the expansion of the Bali Java ferry terminal." We were quite willing to pay for the trip, so that wasn't the issue. No, rather, Paul felt that Secret Bay just wasn't worth it anymore. I suppose we could have been insistent, but we backed off.

Hi Lorenzoid, Will let you know when I hear back. He emailed me back some other questions earlier, but have now said what we want to do. We have heard Secret Bay has gone down hill a bit but don't want to go all that way and always wonder, should we of done it. Chris

 

[AlMitch]

We love Matahari at Tulamben as we can dive on our own and spend whatever time we want taking photos

"By your own" do you mean diving with no guide or with a private guide??
If it is the latter ignore my rant below, if it is the former, WHY WHY WHY would you want to dive on your own???
At basically all the resorts in Tulamben you get a private guide who knows exactly where every single tiny weeny critter is hiding. There is no way you will find them! Just no ways! And because he is a private guide you can still take as long with any one critter as you like. At my last trip to Tulamben there was a couple that dove without a guide, and I honestly could not understand why?!? And he got absolutely pulverized by the large surf onto the rocks when he tried to surface and get up onto the beach because he was on his own.....I laughed (yes that makes me a tad evil)!