Tidal Waves in Bali?

[DiverAussie]

Hi,

There are reports of kinds waves in Bali. How bad is this and has this affected the diving around the east coast?

I'm visiting bali from 25th June.

 

[AlMitch]

Great question! I read about Ku De Ta and Ayana getting smashed!
I'm in Tulamben at the end of the month and hope all the critters haven't been washed away.

Any news about the diving in Tulamben?

 

[DiverAussie]

Yeah.

I'm going to be in Tulamben from June 25 - June 27th and padang bai after that.

Anyone has an update on the conditions?

 

[gekodivebali]

So here is what I can say, not being a tidal expert, but an observer on the ground:

We had some extremely high tides towards the beginning of the month. These spring tides peaked around the 9-10th June. In Padang Bai, we had some waves reaching the beachside road for about 3 days. Some pavement and sidewalk got damaged. The sand on the beach has shifted, but nothing too bad happened in the village. We did have to cancel some trips to Manta Point around that time as the Indian Ocean swell would have made these trips very unpleasant and manta-less.

Now, we're told there will be higher spring tides coming on 6-7 July. Definitely, not planning a trip to Manta Point on these days and keeping divers away from South Penida. That being said, I expect that diving at most other sites will be just as pleasant as last month. Menjangan, Pemuteran, Tulamben, Amed, Candidasa and Padang Bai areas should be fine, but caution is still needed.

In June, I saw some much more scary images taken in Sanur, Kuta and Lembongan with loss of property and, unfortunately life, in a few incidents. Dramatic events occurred in Sydney simultaneously with massive erosion in coastal areas.

 

[Cali_diver]

Thanks for the update!

 

[billt4sf]

What is this about? What was the cause of these tides ? Just higher-than-usual tides?

 

[Wingy]

They are being driven by a weather system in the southern ocean creating larger than usual swells- not Tidal waves as in the Tsunami style scenario.

 

[gekodivebali]

Yes, there was a conjunction between exceptionally high tides and a very distant large storm.
Actually, we also had a 6.2 earthquake just before the peak of one of the spring tides. Some people have been discussing on the internet whether there is causality there. I personally believe it's just a coincidence.

 

[frogfish]

Video at Kudeta:

 

[Mike Veitch]

As Cedric mentioned, it was simply a combination of Perigean Spring Tides (New moon was the 4th) and a distant storm which was bringing a big swell this way. Biggest tidal exchange happens around the full and new moons so we had a pretty nasty combo. Mostly it was the south that was affected, not so much up north. We get these sort of big tides washing on shore from time to time when that combo happens.

Simply bad luck that there was a big storm driven swell at the same time as the larger than normal spring tides.

From Wikipedia:
Lunar altitude


The changing distance separating the Moon and Earth also affects tide heights. When the Moon is closest, at perigee, the range increases, and when it is at apogee, the range shrinks. Every 7 1⁄2 lunations (the full cycles from full moon to new to full), perigee coincides with either a new or full moon causing perigean spring tides with the largest tidal range. Even at its most powerful this force is still weak[10] causing tidal differences of inches at most.[11