StanleyCup
Registered
Written May 2, 2010 - sorry, I forgot to post this earlier.
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Now we are in Bangkok after a nice 9 days in Indonesia. After flying Thai Air from Bangkok on 21 April (on a widebody that only had 1 passenger for every 3 rows), we landed in DPS and taxied (90,000, ignore touts and buy a coupon at the airport) to Sanur. We spent the night in Sanur in order to go to one of my favorite restaurants in the world Resto Ming. This was followed by listening to the Indonesian band at the Wicked Parrot play Irish Music - actually, not too bad, considering we're thousands of miles away from County Mayo. Bintangs were flowing.
The next AM, we took the fast boat (Ocean Explorer I think)) from Benoa Harbor to Gili Trawangan. Spent 4 nights there and went diving for 2 days. The first day of diving, we went on what is advertised as the Pirate Ship. It is booked from the office next to Scallywags. It was $109 per person for the whole day on the ship, lunch, and 2 dives including equipment. We were the only two passengers. Kinda cool to have a big sailing boat. The day was enjoyable, and the crew on the boat was good. Diving? Hans Reef was first and visibility was poor. Meno Wall was in the afternoon and visibility was a little better. Some current on both dives. Quality of dive guide? My father once told me if you have nothing good to say then smile and say nothing. So .... I'm smiling and speechless.
2 days later, we went with Big Bubble on a morning dive at Shark Point. Good Equipment, good briefing, good guide, no sharks but turtles, and lots of fish. Enjoyable dive. Diving on Gili T is expensive ($38/dive) and every shop charges the same price. The "value" of diving here is not good, in my opinion. But what you get on Gili T is nightlife. Tons of people that look like they start their day at 1pm and go until the middle of the night or later. It's actually a cool scene, and we spend each night having a few beers at Sama Sama for the reggae band at 9:15pm. But come about 8:15pm, there is a guy that plays acoustic that is very, very good.
A slight pet peeve of mine is that the diving is quoted on Gili T in USD, but if you want to pay with Rupiah, it is charged at a rate almost 10% higher than the real exchange rate (which is just over 9000/1). Want to use a credit card? The USD rate is converted to the Rupiah at the same unfair rate, THEN they add 5% to the credit card charge. I know, I know, it's only 15% higher than the quoted price. Play by their rules - accept it. Or better yet, bring USD to cover all your diving cost and if you stay at a hotel that quotes in USD (like Scallywags) then pay it is USD. All dive shops quote in USD and they accept USD as payment for dives. Contrary to what we read, there are two ATMs on Gili T, although sometimes they are out of money. They are just south of Villa Ombak hotel.
We stayed at Scallywags and it was great. Super clean rooms. Awesome pool. Free wifi that mostly worked (a bit slow). Scallywags also has a "beach club" on Gili Air that anyone can go to for the day on their free boat shuttle. We went over there for dinner one night.
From Gili T, we took the new speed boat service from Amed Sea Co from Gili T to Amed. Boat holds about 16 passengers, there were 5 of us that morning. It was 45 minutes to Amed Beach then about a 15 minute car ride to Tulamben. Cost for this is quoted as 500,000 / 650,000 per person (low season / high season) which includes pickup or drop off at hotel in Amed. Add 100,000/car from Tulamben. You can book on Bali by calling Mr. Apel (let me try and find the phone number). On Gili T, there is an office that sells tickets about 20 meters north of Sama Sama Restaurant. In asking around on Gili T, not too many people knew about this service, or they wanted to steer you to the boats that go to Padang Bai.
At Tulamben, our home for 3 nights and 4 days of diving was Liberty Dive Resort. This is a brand-new, 12-room resort with eager and accommodating staff. Room was great, pool was beautiful, and for two of the nights, we were the only guests in the resort. Room cost was 350,000 / night including breakfast. Diving was $30 for the first dive of the day, $20 for the 2nd or subsequent dives. Everything is discounted 10% if you stay there AND dive there. Restaurant food was good and very reasonable, wifi is free in the restaurant (Internet is pretty slow in Tulamben, though). No add-ons or "mistakes" on the bill and they used the actual bank exchange rate to convert USD diving prices to Rupiah. Refreshing. I recommend them wholeheartedly. The only slight negative is that it is about a 500 meter walk to the other restaurants in town. If doing it at night, bring your torch.
Our 6 dives were spread out over 4 days. We dove the Liberty wreck 3 times, did Coral Garden twice and another site once (it was boat dive). For the dives at Coral Garden, we were taken by motorbike to the south part of Tulamben beach (near Mimpi) and then the dive ended back at the Liberty wreck. For the dives on the Liberty wreck, we just walked down the hill and swam in from the beach. The first dive at Coral Garden gave me some great video. Lots of things to see and most of the dive was at 6-10 meters so the sunlight overhead brightened everything up. Dives at Coral Garden were 60-70 minutes. We did not have a lot of current on any of the dives. Other things we saw on the dives was a school of bumphead parrotfish, blue-spotted eel, morays, and lots more. Water temp was 28-30 degrees, I wore only a rash guard and shorts.
At NO point with Liberty Dive Resort did we ever carry any weights or tanks. The dive guide knew the sights well and he was fine. It was only the two of us with the dive guide on all the dives. Equipment was newish and abundant.
Tulamben town is small and relaxed. We ate at Wayan and a couple of other places as well. Liberty has good food too. Nights, we had drinks at the Safety Stop, owned by a fun German guy named Ralph. Food at Safety Stop looked good too. Food and drink in Tulamben are very cheap.
Transport back from Tulamben to Sanur was 2.5 hours (350,00) by private car. We stayed at a place called Swastika Bungalow back in Sanur - which is near the German consulate.
We ate again at Resto Ming and also had lunch at an awesome Balinese restaurant named Warung Pregina. Best meal of the trip, check this place out. It is roughly across from the Wicked Parrot Bar and has a bright red sign. Taxi the next day (80,000 on the meter) from Sanur to DPS airport for the return to Bangkok.
All in all, a good trip.
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Now we are in Bangkok after a nice 9 days in Indonesia. After flying Thai Air from Bangkok on 21 April (on a widebody that only had 1 passenger for every 3 rows), we landed in DPS and taxied (90,000, ignore touts and buy a coupon at the airport) to Sanur. We spent the night in Sanur in order to go to one of my favorite restaurants in the world Resto Ming. This was followed by listening to the Indonesian band at the Wicked Parrot play Irish Music - actually, not too bad, considering we're thousands of miles away from County Mayo. Bintangs were flowing.
The next AM, we took the fast boat (Ocean Explorer I think)) from Benoa Harbor to Gili Trawangan. Spent 4 nights there and went diving for 2 days. The first day of diving, we went on what is advertised as the Pirate Ship. It is booked from the office next to Scallywags. It was $109 per person for the whole day on the ship, lunch, and 2 dives including equipment. We were the only two passengers. Kinda cool to have a big sailing boat. The day was enjoyable, and the crew on the boat was good. Diving? Hans Reef was first and visibility was poor. Meno Wall was in the afternoon and visibility was a little better. Some current on both dives. Quality of dive guide? My father once told me if you have nothing good to say then smile and say nothing. So .... I'm smiling and speechless.
2 days later, we went with Big Bubble on a morning dive at Shark Point. Good Equipment, good briefing, good guide, no sharks but turtles, and lots of fish. Enjoyable dive. Diving on Gili T is expensive ($38/dive) and every shop charges the same price. The "value" of diving here is not good, in my opinion. But what you get on Gili T is nightlife. Tons of people that look like they start their day at 1pm and go until the middle of the night or later. It's actually a cool scene, and we spend each night having a few beers at Sama Sama for the reggae band at 9:15pm. But come about 8:15pm, there is a guy that plays acoustic that is very, very good.
A slight pet peeve of mine is that the diving is quoted on Gili T in USD, but if you want to pay with Rupiah, it is charged at a rate almost 10% higher than the real exchange rate (which is just over 9000/1). Want to use a credit card? The USD rate is converted to the Rupiah at the same unfair rate, THEN they add 5% to the credit card charge. I know, I know, it's only 15% higher than the quoted price. Play by their rules - accept it. Or better yet, bring USD to cover all your diving cost and if you stay at a hotel that quotes in USD (like Scallywags) then pay it is USD. All dive shops quote in USD and they accept USD as payment for dives. Contrary to what we read, there are two ATMs on Gili T, although sometimes they are out of money. They are just south of Villa Ombak hotel.
We stayed at Scallywags and it was great. Super clean rooms. Awesome pool. Free wifi that mostly worked (a bit slow). Scallywags also has a "beach club" on Gili Air that anyone can go to for the day on their free boat shuttle. We went over there for dinner one night.
From Gili T, we took the new speed boat service from Amed Sea Co from Gili T to Amed. Boat holds about 16 passengers, there were 5 of us that morning. It was 45 minutes to Amed Beach then about a 15 minute car ride to Tulamben. Cost for this is quoted as 500,000 / 650,000 per person (low season / high season) which includes pickup or drop off at hotel in Amed. Add 100,000/car from Tulamben. You can book on Bali by calling Mr. Apel (let me try and find the phone number). On Gili T, there is an office that sells tickets about 20 meters north of Sama Sama Restaurant. In asking around on Gili T, not too many people knew about this service, or they wanted to steer you to the boats that go to Padang Bai.
At Tulamben, our home for 3 nights and 4 days of diving was Liberty Dive Resort. This is a brand-new, 12-room resort with eager and accommodating staff. Room was great, pool was beautiful, and for two of the nights, we were the only guests in the resort. Room cost was 350,000 / night including breakfast. Diving was $30 for the first dive of the day, $20 for the 2nd or subsequent dives. Everything is discounted 10% if you stay there AND dive there. Restaurant food was good and very reasonable, wifi is free in the restaurant (Internet is pretty slow in Tulamben, though). No add-ons or "mistakes" on the bill and they used the actual bank exchange rate to convert USD diving prices to Rupiah. Refreshing. I recommend them wholeheartedly. The only slight negative is that it is about a 500 meter walk to the other restaurants in town. If doing it at night, bring your torch.
Our 6 dives were spread out over 4 days. We dove the Liberty wreck 3 times, did Coral Garden twice and another site once (it was boat dive). For the dives at Coral Garden, we were taken by motorbike to the south part of Tulamben beach (near Mimpi) and then the dive ended back at the Liberty wreck. For the dives on the Liberty wreck, we just walked down the hill and swam in from the beach. The first dive at Coral Garden gave me some great video. Lots of things to see and most of the dive was at 6-10 meters so the sunlight overhead brightened everything up. Dives at Coral Garden were 60-70 minutes. We did not have a lot of current on any of the dives. Other things we saw on the dives was a school of bumphead parrotfish, blue-spotted eel, morays, and lots more. Water temp was 28-30 degrees, I wore only a rash guard and shorts.
At NO point with Liberty Dive Resort did we ever carry any weights or tanks. The dive guide knew the sights well and he was fine. It was only the two of us with the dive guide on all the dives. Equipment was newish and abundant.
Tulamben town is small and relaxed. We ate at Wayan and a couple of other places as well. Liberty has good food too. Nights, we had drinks at the Safety Stop, owned by a fun German guy named Ralph. Food at Safety Stop looked good too. Food and drink in Tulamben are very cheap.
Transport back from Tulamben to Sanur was 2.5 hours (350,00) by private car. We stayed at a place called Swastika Bungalow back in Sanur - which is near the German consulate.
We ate again at Resto Ming and also had lunch at an awesome Balinese restaurant named Warung Pregina. Best meal of the trip, check this place out. It is roughly across from the Wicked Parrot Bar and has a bright red sign. Taxi the next day (80,000 on the meter) from Sanur to DPS airport for the return to Bangkok.All in all, a good trip.
