drewh1
Contributor
Just wanted to give a brief trip report on a recent trip to Bali. I normally dive and spearfish the north california coast with 46 F water and 5 - 15 ft of vis, so keep that in mind . I have dived plenty in the Caribbean: Belize, Roatan, Mexico, as well as Maui. This was my first diving in Indonesia.
We flew into Densapar and spent a night in Sunor prior to taking the boat to Lemboghan. If I did it again, I would go as quickly as possible to Nusa Penida. I liked Lembongan although it is quite busy in parts, it is fun and has an interesting bunch of surfer/divers hanging out there. There are plenty of dive concessions and it was easy and relatively cheap to boat dive. We used Lembongan Divers. If I went again, I would try another shop. they are right on the beach and have decent boats. We just had a less than adequate DM for our first dives.
First dives on Nusa Penida were the Manta Cleaning Station and Crystal Cove. Although crowded we had a fabulous spectacle at the Manta Point with 8 or 9 large Mantas swimming and circling all around. Go early if you can because it gets quite crowed with divers (and not very good ones). Next dive was on the South side. It turned out to be a poor dive due to the dive masters lack of judgement but I won't say much more here.
The second day we had a new dive master and went to the north shore of Nusa Penida. Two drift dives later I felt I had really experienced how great Indonesian diving can be: fantastic coral and fish everywhere. Vis was not spectacular but for a California Diver, 20 to 30 meters is about 10 times what I usually get. Water temp was around 86f/27c at surface but with colder currents and thermoclines so a long sleeve shorty or 3/2 is worthwhile.
We then went over to Amed, a different experience. Not much coral but still lots of fish to see. you can rent tanks and dive off the beaches but beware of currents, there is the possibility of strong currents in many places. Nobody told us we could just get tanks and in fact one dive center wouldn't rent them with out charging for a DM. We found a local shop, got some tanks and transport and went up to see the LIberty wreck. i had low expectations but was really surprised at how great the diving was on the wreck. Lots of interesting fish, coral, and some very active cleaning stations. We did two great dives from the beach for the coast of transport and tanks. Highly recommended and easy diving here. We then went on and did the tourist thing in Ubud and surrounds.
If I did this trip again, I would skip Bali completely, just fly in and take a boat to Nusa Penida or even better, Lombok and the Gillis. Or start at Nusa Penida and then go on to Lombok. Boats are pretty cheap and easy.
We flew into Densapar and spent a night in Sunor prior to taking the boat to Lemboghan. If I did it again, I would go as quickly as possible to Nusa Penida. I liked Lembongan although it is quite busy in parts, it is fun and has an interesting bunch of surfer/divers hanging out there. There are plenty of dive concessions and it was easy and relatively cheap to boat dive. We used Lembongan Divers. If I went again, I would try another shop. they are right on the beach and have decent boats. We just had a less than adequate DM for our first dives.
First dives on Nusa Penida were the Manta Cleaning Station and Crystal Cove. Although crowded we had a fabulous spectacle at the Manta Point with 8 or 9 large Mantas swimming and circling all around. Go early if you can because it gets quite crowed with divers (and not very good ones). Next dive was on the South side. It turned out to be a poor dive due to the dive masters lack of judgement but I won't say much more here.
The second day we had a new dive master and went to the north shore of Nusa Penida. Two drift dives later I felt I had really experienced how great Indonesian diving can be: fantastic coral and fish everywhere. Vis was not spectacular but for a California Diver, 20 to 30 meters is about 10 times what I usually get. Water temp was around 86f/27c at surface but with colder currents and thermoclines so a long sleeve shorty or 3/2 is worthwhile.
We then went over to Amed, a different experience. Not much coral but still lots of fish to see. you can rent tanks and dive off the beaches but beware of currents, there is the possibility of strong currents in many places. Nobody told us we could just get tanks and in fact one dive center wouldn't rent them with out charging for a DM. We found a local shop, got some tanks and transport and went up to see the LIberty wreck. i had low expectations but was really surprised at how great the diving was on the wreck. Lots of interesting fish, coral, and some very active cleaning stations. We did two great dives from the beach for the coast of transport and tanks. Highly recommended and easy diving here. We then went on and did the tourist thing in Ubud and surrounds.
If I did this trip again, I would skip Bali completely, just fly in and take a boat to Nusa Penida or even better, Lombok and the Gillis. Or start at Nusa Penida and then go on to Lombok. Boats are pretty cheap and easy.
