Tulamben Advice Needed

[mrrworld]

We will be diving Tulamben in a few weeks with Liberty Divers. In arranging the diving, Liberty mentioned diving at Seraya Secrets, Segara, Melasti, Big Tree, Kubu Reef for a few extra bucks. I dove Tulamben 15 years ago and remember great shore diving in addition to the wreck but do no recall any boat dives offered to these places. We only have two full days of diving there. Are these dive sites worth the effort or should we maximize our time diving the wreck and other shore dives?

Thanks

Michael

 

[Tortuga68]

For only2 days I would definitely say stick to the shore dives/Liberty

 

[jake11]

We stayed at Scuba Seraya and dove Seraya Secrets about 4x. It was amazing every time and it would be well worth your time to do that dive! There were so many ghost pipe fish and tons of different kinds of nudis it was amazing!!! Tiger shrimp.. crabs and shrimp of all kinds..barracudas etc etc. We loved it!!! Have fun!

We will be diving Tulamben in a few weeks with Liberty Divers. In arranging the diving, Liberty mentioned diving at Seraya Secrets, Segara, Melasti, Big Tree, Kubu Reef for a few extra bucks. I dove Tulamben 15 years ago and remember great shore diving in addition to the wreck but do no recall any boat dives offered to these places. We only have two full days of diving there. Are these dive sites worth the effort or should we maximize our time diving the wreck and other shore dives?

Thanks

Michael

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Michael--You'll have a great time w/ Liberty Dive. If you only have 2 days of diving you probably won't need to go anywhere else, the reefs to the north of the Liberty wreck or Coral Garden just to the south are easily available w/ a short walk if you tire of doing Liberty (as if!).

Wayan & crew would drive you to Serya (a great muck site maybe 10-15 min. away by car) or Kubu (15-20 min.?), Amed (45 min.?) etc. While I'm sure they could get a hold of a local boat they hadn't really been doing boat dives previously.

Kind of depends on how you like to dive but figure you only have 6-8 dives over 2 days. I would maximize them by staying put in Tulamben, do a night dive, dawn too if you can manage. A guy we dove with on the SMY Ondina last fall in RA, Don Silcock, has a great website with some solid "insider" info on diving the Liberty. If you need to get more amped about going back, here you go: Diving Indonesia: Bali ? Insiders Guide to the Liberty Wreck // ww

 

[lamarpaulski]

I did a night dive on the Liberty last September that was amazing. Huge eels, sleeping Napoleon ? Wrasse, giant Bumpheads etc... no other divers either.

 

[Luko]

If you're diving with LDR, check out the Liberty wreck for 2 dives then the Liberty slope (50m east of the Liberty), a black sand slope with hosts some of the best macro you can imagine (harlequin, tozeuma, tiger, saron shrimps + lots of small frogfish). Melasti is home to one of the most unusual nudibranch if you're into that, Seraya is first class for other nudis or cowrie shells, finally the Drop off is another great macro dive.

If I were you i'd do
1st day : Dropoff then Liberty wreck, Liberty slope in the afternoon, one more Liberty wreck dive at night (or Liberty wreck early morning on the day after).
2nd day : Seraya then Melasti (same area), Liberty wreck in the afternoon.

 

[Foxtrot16]

Heading to Tulamben in Sep for my third visit - Liberty Divers are great - great service and dive guides.

My advice is do an early morning - 6:00am - on the wreck before anyone else does and it is a fantastic dive.

If you are into macro and underwater photography then Malaste and Seraya are absolutely fantastic but they are true muck dives - i.e. no pretty corals etc but the macro life is fantastic. Malaste is about 10 min from Tulamben and Seraya about a further 5 mins on. Both of these sites are double dive sites to get the best out of them.

If you stick to Tulamben Bay only there is the Drop Off which is great with corals etc and as it name says is a big drop off at the southern end of the bay.

Coral Gardens is around from the Drop Off and is a nice dive with a cleaning station at the 30m mark. Then there is Wreck Slope which is between Coral gardens and the wreck.

Kubu is to the north of Tulamben - about a 5 min drive and is a double dive as well.

Batu Kelibit and Allam Anda are two sites just out of the bay and you have to pay the fishermen to take you out on their Junkungs - about a 5 min ride - and are well worth it. Cost is about $10USD which goes to the fishermen and LDR will arrange the fishermen. If you do Batu Kelibit make sure they drop you on the rock otherwise it is a bit of a swim

Every site is different and has something to offer almost every diver.

Here is an article that I wrote and had published in Sport Diving Magazine here in Australia - hopefully it gives you some good info - http://www.divetheblue.net/pdf/148Tulamben.pdf

Enjoy Tulamben it is a great place and LDR are great.

Karl

 

[clownfishsydney]

Here is some information about Tulamben on my web site Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site.

 

[mrrworld]

Thanks everyone, this is great info. Only problem now is I want to do it all but need more days!

 

[flylow47]

I'm in Tulamben now and have 1 more day of diving. Great variety. Have done liberty twice now and will dive it again at dawn. Did a night dive on it first, then day today (and ridiculously crowded). Coral garden is decent--good muck diving. Enjoyed drop off today and will dive it again after liberty tomorrow am. Really enjoyed drop off

The bow canon has fallen, if anone is interested. I didn't see it when it was mounted so I guess I don't know what I missed.

This comes following 5 dives at Menjangan, which I recommend if you find time. It is 2.5 hrs by car west. Visibility is superb. Sea life is really good, coral is excellent.

Tips for Tulamben.
lots of walking on black rocks, so booties are a must if you're one of those foot flipper folks. Trade up.
no ATM here so stock up on cash in DPS area for massages, tshirts, goodies
1-mil or thicker is recommended. I typically dive the tropics in a skin suit but here the water is 27-28 and just a bit cool for that. My full length 1-mil is great. My wife wears a 1.5 shorty over a skin suit.
get a nitrox card if you don't have one. All of my dives here and in Menjangan have been 25-30m with 1-hour SA's and yesterday I got to within 2 mins of an Ndl. So get the card. Lots of nx diving here.
Expect plenty of yahoo's diving the wreck and making a mess of the silt. Even at 15-18m. At least that's what I saw this afternoon. Not last night. I think there is a fire sale on discover scuba or something.