Tulamben: Diving without a Guide

[AceszHigh]

My girlfriend and I each have 500+ dives and dont really want to pay $30 (LDR Prices) per dive for a guide to do shore dives. Does Liberty Dive resort (or any other operation there) allow you to simply rent a tank and go diving? Anyone done this before and can recommend a good place to stay there for this? We won't have our own car so it'd have to be a tank rental on the beach basically.

 

[Luko]

You'll be missing out the good sites and the critters. No personal offence but I am not sure you'll be able to find any Tiger shrimps by yourself, also I wonder how yo're going to get to Kubu, Seraya, Melasti etc... or even to the drop off, certainly not with your tank on your back.
And also how are you gong to dive Alamanda, Batu Kelebit, etc. Do you speak sufficient bahasa to rent a jukung? Do you know the tides and the currents?
If you're ony focused of going with the flow around the LIberty wreck, then you can rent tanks at Matahari.

 

[Crowy]

I use Tulamben Wreck divers for tanks, accom and local guides if needed.

3 very accessible (right out front) shore dives, Liberty Wreck, Coral Garden & Drop off.

I totally agree with above statement

 

[clownfishsydney]

As others have stated, you can dive without a guide, but you will never find all the really great things to see.

 

[frogfish]

But for a dive on the wreck focusing on the atmosphere and shooting wide angle, or maybe just the bump heads in the morning you don't really need a guide. For critter as others have pointed out, you'll get so much more with a guide...

Puri Madha right in front of the wreck will rent tanks at a reasonable rate.

 

[cool79]

you would need to have a car at least to explore the rest of the dive site. like the drop off and sleeping buddha.

that was how i did my diving at tulamben.

i would be heading over again, but this round, most likely would be getting a guide to show me the rest of the dive site.

for the wreck, just rent the tank and shortly explore around. hehe. it isn't that hard for the wreck.

 

[adventureswithwill]

You can rent tanks/weightbelts and get a porter for 100,000RP at Matahari which is pretty close to the wreck. Honestly even with guides the price difference isn't that much, two dives with your own gear would be 400,000 RP at Matahari, so you are only paying like $20 more each to have a guide with you. These people know the area so much, you're not going to get the same out of it without a guide.

I would honestly try with guide first and if you're not happy then go again by yourself.