Top divesites in Bali

[juggernutt]

Hi,

I am newbie diver. I have the OWD...about 12 dives.

I was planning to get the AOWC in Bali. I was thinking of doing 7 dives in 3 days time.

What's the best divespots?

1)Tulamban
2)Menjangan
3)Nusa Penida

A instructor told me that Nusa penida is NOT for newbies. And only for expereinced divers. Is this dive site so difficult?


How should I divide my dives?
Frankly I have to decide in diving in Tulamben OR Menjangan.

 

[Albion]

Nice wreck at tulamben, but overall the diving is better at menjangan.

We stayed at taman selini bungalows in permuteran (and dive shop was next door), very nice. Not much nightlife up that part of the island though do your partying down south when youve finished the coruse

Not tried nusa but heard the curents can be tough

 

[warrenwong]

Just leave Bali on July 29.

If you aims at getting your AOW, Tulamban is a good idea but it have strong wave that it is very hard to enter and exit. I hurt my finger when I exit.

I agree Nusa Penida have strong current. But it is also the place you can see large spices. I join ena dive in Bali and see 3 Mola Mola on July 26 and more than 15 Manta Ray on July 27 in Nuda Penida Island because it is Season.

Hope you have a nice trip there.

 

[neve]

Seeing that you have only 12 dives, I'd recommend Tulamben. It's:
- Got little to no current (only the Drop-off has slight current).
- Got a profusion of corals and marine animals
- Easy entry and exit. There is only big waves when 3-4 days before and after a full moon. Otherwise it's as calm as your bath.
- It's got all types of diving (wreck, so you can do wreck specialty, deep at the Drop-off, UW naturalist at Batu Kelebit or coral garden)
- It's got amazing critters (I saw a pygmy seahorse - Chris from www.baliscuba.com knows where it is )

Menjangan is a great dive site, but it's mostly walls, and from experience I know that new divers tend to forget to watch their depth. I saw a newly certified diver who surfaced with 35m on her dive computer simply because she "forgot" that the walls of Manado are bottomless.

If I were you, I'd do AOW at Tulamben, and then head to Menjangan for some leisure dives. At least you can "practise" your wall diving skills at the drop-off in Tulamben, then try your new skills at Menjangan which has much deeper walls.

Hope this helps. Have fun in Bali!

 

[neve]

BTW I agree that Nusa Penida should be left for the more experienced. To tell you the truth, I've got 60+ dives and still hasn't got the guts to try Nusa Penida Especially after "Snoopy" from this board told me about his brush with bad luck - fierce down current - in Penida not long ago.

 

[suzie q]

http://panoramas.dk/fullscreen/fullscreen45.html

 

[juggernutt]

Well the reason why I am daring to dive there..is because with AOW i am doing driftdiving and with a instructor i am in even better hands than with just a divemaster?!?

Or is this not a smart argumant?

 

[Albion]

Trust yourself not the instructor. When i did my AOW deep dive it was in a kind of channel, in the dive group were AOW divers who weren't in training and athe instructor. From the boat he told us as no current all to get in the water and descend to the bottom which was at about 38-40M. I stopped my descent at 37M and looked down at the other divers 10M below me. They followed his instructions exactly and he was now above us frantically waving at them to ascend. Now not all instructors are that un prepared but you got to look out for yourself. When i took my AOW course I had around >70 dives