Where to dive in Bali on short layover

[NYCDiveGuy]

Hi group,

My buddy and I are headed to Alor in late July. We'd like to sample some diving. We fly into/out of Bali and will have 3 nights in Bali with roughly 1.5 days available for diving. We arrive July 24th around 9pm into Bali from USA and fly out to Alor on July 27th at 10:50am.

Question for group - with our limited time, where should we head? Tulamben? Padangbai? Just stay in Sanur and have a day trip? What are chances of seeing Mola Molas ? We've been to Bali several times, are experienced divers, enjoy muck wrecks reef, and have our own camera rigs.

Thanks in advance for the recommendations!

 

[Tippytoes12]

We have stayed and dived with Absolute Scuba in Padang Bai on several occasions. They have nice rooms , a pool and great food. Their dive boats leave from across the road and will get you to some excellent local sites , including Candidasa, or across to Manta Point and Crystal Bay. You have a very high chance of seeing Mola at that Time , their boat Captain is an excellent spotter and the guides are all local. Dive groups all have lunch with their guide and often the managers after the morning trip. This is way more relaxing than sitting in a hot van and lots of traffic also do airport Pickups , so will put a Package together for you.

 

[Wisnu]

Indeed, PB is only 1-1.5 hour drive from airport. If you expect Mola, then PB is a good option. Mola sighting and most of dive site from PB is boat diving at fixed schedule, can be early morning.
If I'm in your position, after very long flight, I'd love to have more flexibility including not wake up too early on the first day. Tulamben require 1 - 1.5 hour more driving time, then sleep, wake-up late and still possible to have 2 - 3 dives incl. night dive on the first day, 2 dives on the second day then move to hotel in Sanur/Kuta/Jimbaran or anywhere to your preference close to airport on the afternoon after you dry your gear.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Fairly aggressive idea but if you're sure you won't suffer from jetlag then I'll second tippytoes12's recommendation.

Then I'll add the recommendation that you spend your last night in Bali at the Novotel at the airport. The convenience is hard to beat from my perspective. I stay there on both first night in and last night, depending on time of flight departure out. Traffic can be a real b, and unless my flight is leaving later in the day, I'd rather not deal with the stress.

 

[GirlonFire]

We have stayed and dived with Absolute Scuba in Padang Bai on several occasions. They have nice rooms , a pool and great.

Did you get to try other restaurants? Anything noteworthy?

 

[chillyinCanada]

Did you get to try other restaurants? Anything noteworthy?

Not speaking for tippytoes12 because she has more experience eating at other places than myself. I was satisfied just to eat at Absolute. Brekkie comes with the room and lunch is included with dives. After a full day of diving, I was happy enough with Absolute's menu to eat there again . . .or was it that I was too lazy to go out elsewhere? LOL

That said, I don't necessarily recommend doing that because there are other places with great ambiance in the very near vicinity. I'm just saying you probably don't need to feel guilty if you don't eat around.

 

[Luko]

Did you get to try other restaurant? Anything noteworthy?

Apart from James' Double Barrel ex-Omang Omang (and his famous weekly live blues night) there are very few noteworthy restaurants in PB.
I'd suggest Ibu Jero for fresh grilled fish (pass around 6PM to check what she has and book the largest red snapper you can), otherwise the restaurant at the Colonial hotel provides edible food that is the closest thing in town to a more elaborate restaurant (you'll weirdly find slovak raviolis on the menu in case you were longing for central european food, but no fish since "fish are their friends"... ya know sort of things...), the Puri Rai restaurant has some really good satay lilit for lunch (even though I get bored after a while).
In the case you are very picky on food like some SFO guy on this board who signs Big Beautiful Bill and hates spicy food, white wine and many other things yes I'm talking about you, Bill !) , you can hire a driver to go eating out in Candi Dasa at Vincent's.

 

[billt4sf]

Let others be the judge: who is the most beautiful?

Vincent's:

 

[chillyinCanada]

Let others be the judge: who is the most beautiful?

View attachment 519454

Vincent's:
View attachment 519455

Which one is which and which restaurant were you eating in please?

 

[Tippytoes12]

Not speaking for tippytoes12 because she has more experience eating at other places than myself. I was satisfied just to eat at Absolute. Brekkie comes with the room and lunch is included with dives. After a full day of diving, I was happy enough with Absolute's menu to eat there again . . .or was it that I was too lazy to go out elsewhere? LOL

That said, I don't necessarily recommend doing that because there are other places with great ambiance in the very near vicinity. I'm just saying you probably don't need to feel guilty if you don't eat around.

On previous visits my hubby and I ate out most evenings. The restaurant in OK Divers is really nice. There are warungs and other restaurants around that are very pleasant, some with live music and the meals we had were lovely. But as was said above Vincent’s and another possibly called Kangaroo in Candidasa were more upmarket and served a mixture of Western and Indonesian food. One had a dance floor with nightly Balinese dancing.