Tulamben - where to stay? Mimpi, Liberty, Seraya, TWD, Tauch...which is best?

[Leejnd]

Thanks Musicalbadger. Glad to hear you too had a good experience with TWD. In Padang Bai I'm going with AquaMarine Diving, because I dove with them last time I was in Bali and they did a fabulous job. I did check to confirm they are still getting excellent reviews, and yup, they are. I also checked out Gekko, and they too get fantastic reviews, so I'm sure it would be great with either one.

 

[UrbanJungle1966]

I've been to Tulamben twice so I thought I would add this bit just for reference for anyone interested. Two resorts that have not been mentioned are Paradise and Matahari. Both are I guess 2-3 star so the rooms are basic but they are clean and comfortable and have aircon. Food is good too.

The big bonus of these resorts as they are right in the middle or the coral garden. So basically get up in the morning, kit up and walk into the water. 200 meters one way is the USS Liberty wreck 200 the other is the dropoff. Both have excellent dive shops.

So for convenience I use Matahari just because I can get out of bed, walk to the waters edge which is 15 meters away, scratch my head and go hmm which one. Then I usually turn around, walk 3 meters to the dive shop where my kit is hanging, chuck it on, walk back the 3 meters to the water and I am diving. It is that close .

 

[charlier]

Hi Leejnd - We have used Aquamarine and Gekko Diving for our trips out of Padang Bai. Both companies were excellent Alghough we have never meet Cedric, he was always helpful for our needless emails and questions (so was Aquamarine). Something to consider - if you stay in or near Padang Bai, Gekko Diving provides a shower/changing facilities, diving gear cleaning tanks and hangers as well as a nice lunch facing the beach after the morning dives.

Let us know where you are staying at Padang Bai, we are always looking for new and cool resorts. Have fun!

 

[gekodivebali]

Thanks for that Charlier. Sorry to have missed you, what with the baby & all... I meant to ask you for feedback via private message, but I'm glad you enjoyed the experience! See you on your next visit!

 

[Leejnd]

Hi,

I was really quite torn between Aquamarine and Geko Dive for this trip. Geko gets such fabulous reviews, both here on SB and elsewhere, and I really appreciate the presence on Scubaboard. (That's always a big plus in my book -- if a dive op is willing to step up to the plate and talk with us here, they HAVE to be good!) But in the end I went with Aquamarine, only because they did such a great job for me on my last trip. And the communication has been really good. Unless I had a really compelling reason, I didn't feel right switching dive ops.

We're staying at The Watergarden Hotel in Padang Bai, which I'm pretty excited about. We walked through it last time and it looked really beautiful, can't wait to spend a few days there!

 

[charlier]

Hi,

We're staying at The Watergarden Hotel in Padang Bai, which I'm pretty excited about. We walked through it last time and it looked really beautiful, can't wait to spend a few days there!

Leejnd, let us know how you like the Watergarden Hotel. I always nice to find out about new places. charlie

 

[Leejnd]

I promise to provide a full report on my trip once we return, including how we liked the various places we stayed.