Diving Bali

pelagic tour little fish

Our expertise is the result of 10 years of sailing, diving, snorkeling and trekking in the Indonesian archipelago. We know how to help you find the perfect destination for your dream vacation and organize a customized safari program. We specialize in tailor-made adventure holidays for families and small to medium-sized groups, that focus on the exploration of the underwater world, both for divers and non-divers, in combination with island excursions.

 

Dive spots in Bali

Bali looks fabulous with his rice paddy terraces and his volcanoes poking through the cloud, but it’s even better when you go diving. Coral reefs along the coats are healthy and diverse, with a great variety of marine life from small and unusual like seahorses, ghost pipefish, frogfish to big fishes like manta rays, oceanic sunfish or the Pelagic thresher shark. Bali offer a variety of exiting diving options for all levels of divers such as shipwreck, vertical drop-offs, or black volcanic slopes.

There are five main diving areas in Bali.

Tulamben area

(2.5 hours drive from Kuta)

Tulamben is undoubtedly the scuba capital of the island.
Situated on the northeast coast, the bay receives very plankton-rich water from the major ocean current that moves from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean and vice versa.

 

Old Fish

The US Liberty wreck is a 120 m American warship who was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-166 in the morning of January 11th, 1942. the Liberty did not sink. Two destroyers tried to tow the ship toward Singaraja where it was hoped she could be repaired, however, the ship was taking in too much water so she was beached at Tulamben.

In 1963, Bali’s highest volcano, Gunung Agung, erupted creating a powerful earthquake that rolled the ship into the deeper water and broke her at the bow and stern. The Liberty now lies almost parallel to the beach, the shallowest part of the wreck touches the sandy slope at 7-9 meters and the deepest part is at 28-30 meters.

It’s an easy wreck dive that is popular for photographers as it is totally encrusted with anemones, colorful sea fans & corals. Tulamben’s black sand provides an excellent color contrast for the incredible variety of fish species including some very rare specimens and a huge ball of swirling big eye Jacks.

Long Fish

The wreck makes also an excellent night dive. Today, the Liberty is considered like one of the most beautiful wrecks in Asia Seraya is an exceptional critter dive, regularly home to multiple frogfish, seahorses, boxer crabs, nudibranch or the rare harlequin Coleman shrimp.

The drop-off is a wall coral covered lava spur. the slope is a reef with very impressive topography, becoming a vertical wall from 15 metres and descending to below 60 metres
The wall is covered with gorgonians, back coral-sand big sponges, with many varieties of fishes.

 

Amed Area
Beautiful Coral

(2.5 hours drive from Kuta)

From a landscape point of view, Amed with his sandy beaches is much prettier than Tulamben. The main dives site are located near Jemeluk bay. The huge reef along the coast start with a beautiful wall who become a deep slope covered with black corals with a lot of tropical fish.

Fish varieties include Black Snapper, Triggerfish, Surgeonfish, Unicornfish, Parrotfish, Damselfish, Cardinalfish, Whitetip Reef Sharks and many larger varieties such as Dogtooth Tuna and Blue Finned Trivially 2 dives can be made here including night dive.

Diving Boat

Just about 6 km from Jemeluk lies the wreck of a small steel Japanese freighter. It rests in very shallow water and is nicely encrusted with gorgonians and soft coral bushes. The reef next to the wreck is also very rich with soft corals, gorgonians and sponges and table corals. It makes a calm wonderful dive, although this dive site is very easily affected by visibility.

 

Menjangan area
Yellow Fish

(3 hours drive from Kuta)

Menjangan island, (Bali Barat National Park) is an uninhabited island located in the northwest of Bali. The island is reached by a 30-minute boat ride from Labuan Lalang.

The colorful walls around Menjangan drop vertically to between 30-60 meters, the reef surface is very rugged with caves and crevasses. Gorgonians of many kinds reach large sizes here, and huge barrel sponges are abundant. There are sites all around the island that are worth exploring. With good conditions and excellent visibility. Menjangan is one of the best diving areas in Bali.

Baby Shack
Secret Bay is a shallow bay name Gilimanuk. It`a fantastic spot for the macro photographer. The Site is home to exotic critters like gobies, frogfish, dragonets, nudibranchs, seahorses, juvenile Batavia batfish. Night diving at Secret Bay is a truly magnificent experience! You will see some unique creatures that you won’t see on the day dive. This is a shallow dive site with no rich coral growth and limited weed and coral beds. The water can be cold and visibility can be very low due to the dark mud/sand bottom.

 

Padang Bai area
Corals

(1.5 hours drive from Kuta)

Blue Lagoon is white sandy slopes with bommies and beautiful coral garden. there are frogfish, leaf scorpion fish, moray eels, scorpion & stonefish, blue spotted stingrays and lots of nudibranch species. Sharks and turtles are also common.

Critters fans will have fun diving in Blue Lagoon, and it is also an excellent night dive. The relative lack of currents and maximum depths of around 1-18m offer a pleasant combination of an uncomplicated dive site but with plenty to see. Tepekong. This little Island is one of East Bali’s most famous sites.

Padang Bai Diving Coral
Exploring the canyon you’ll be able to see an area with huge schools of sweetlips, batfish, snapper, bumphead parrotfish, unicornfish, and big-eyed trevally. Sharks are relatively common in this area, usually white tip reef sharks and sightings of Mola Mola is possible. It is very rare not to have a current here, that’s why this site can only be dived under good conditions.

Mimpang also known as Shark Point is remarkably varied, combining wall and sloping reefs. The reefs here are amongst the richest in the whole of Bali. The scenery is nice and alive, with big gorgonians and barrel sponges. The fish life is exceptional, including schooling fish, sharks, and even sunfish. A very fine dive site.

 

Nusa Penida
Blue Fish

(40 min boat from Sanur)

Nusa Penida and its two small sister islands, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan, offers the best diving to be found in Bali. Most of the dive sites around will be drift dives and the current can be strong.

Upwellings from the deep water south of Bali keeps the visibility in these areas good but it can also form thermoclines with temperatures dropping down to 22°.

Big Manta
Pelagics are the main attraction here and you have a good chance of seeing jacks, mackerel, tuna, turtles and mantas. Sharks are also common and big mantas are frequently sighted. Perhaps the most unusual pelagic visitor to Nusa Penida is the Pelagic thresher shark and the unique mola mola (sunfish) that come close to the reef to visit cleaner stations. The best months to see sunfish is August and September.

 

Toyapakeh

Big Fish
Has to be the best of all Nusa Penida’s dive sites. It is a very nice underwater topography made up of great coral boulders and pillars. The fish life is excellent and the deeper areas offer chance encounters with mola mola and other pelagics. A must dive site for anyone diving the Nusa Penida region.

Crystal Bay

Beach View
Is aptly named due to its fantastic visibility. This site consists of a fantastic little bay in shallow water that offers excellent opportunities for photos, before sliding down into deep drop-offs. Superb coral is only matched by the equally superb marine life. This is another excellent place to find the Sunfish, sometimes in large numbers from August to September.

Blue Corner

Bali Diving
On the northwest of Nusa Lembongan is a very popular drift dive location. The current can be strong here and can try to pull you downwards. The dive starts on a slope at 10 m where you are swept in a drift towards the corner. At this point, there is a vertical wall with a depth of around 30 metres plus. Experienced divers only.

Bali Coral Diving
On the right day, at the right time, you will be amazed at the marine life. Mola Mola, in season, Marble rays, Eagle rays, nurse sharks, dogtooth tuna love to hang out here.

 

SD and Ped

Yellow Fish
Are beautiful dive sites. The most part the topography consists of a slope covered with large coral heads and a huge variety of marine life. Terraces at varying depths, towering bommies swarming with huge unicornfish, batfish and a veritable snowstorm of orange and pink anthias.

Coral View
The normally gentle currents here wind you past Turtles, Manta Rays, Sea Snakes, Octopus, White Tip Reef Sharks, barracuda, tuna and jacks. During the season (July to September) it is also possible to see the Sunfish drifting along the reefs.

 

Manta point

Manta Point
Is a cleaning station off the southwest coast of Nusa Penida. Above water, the scenery is dramatic with limestone cliffs that descend straight into the ocean. Year round Mantas gather in the shallows for regular cleaning often in huge numbers. The visibility at best reaches 10 meters.

Mini Fish
Although Manta point is a relatively easy dive, protected from the current, but not protected from the swell and so not always dive-able.

 

 

Getting To Bali

Most visitors will arrive at Ngurah Rai International Airport who is located between Kuta and Jimbaran, roughly 20 mins away from Sanur and 45 mins away from ubud. In addition to national carrier Garuda Indonesia, major international airlines that serve Bali directly include:

Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong:

  • China Airlines  and Eva Air  from Taipei
  • Japan Airlines  from Tokyo
  • KLM  from Amsterdam (direct, with a stop in Singapore)
  •  Malaysia Airlines  from Kuala Lumpur
  • Qatar Airways  from Doha and Singapore
  • Singapore Airlines  from Singapore
  • Thai Airways  from Bangkok
  • SkyWest  from Australia
  • Strategic Aviation  from Australia

 

Low cost or budget carriers serving Bali internationally include:

  • AirAsia  from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Australia and Singapore
  • Pacific Blue  from Australia
  • Jetstar  from Australia and Singapore

 

All passports must be valid for a minimum of six months from the date of entry into Indonesia and have at least two blank pages available for stamps. If you are flying internationally into Indonesia, most nationalities are required to purchase a visa on arrival (VOA) at US$25 for 30 days.
As of January 2010, the only type of visa on arrival available is US$25 for 30 days, extendable once to up to 60 days.

Flying out of Bali, you are subject to the airport departure tax which can be paid in cash in Indonesian Rupiah only, so save some bills for the trip out. The airport departure tax is Rp 200,000 for international departures and Rp 75,000 for domestic departures.

 

Where to Stay in Bali

If you need a good place to stay here is a list of places to stay around Bali

Kuta

Kuta

Is the most popular beach in Bali and the island’s number one party zone. The beach stretches as far north as the eyes can see, all the way from the airport to Legian.
It is a shopping mecca with its lines of shops, boutiques, restaurants and hotels ranging from a small inexpensive home stay to a luxurious resort.
Kuta still remains one of Bali’s best surfing beaches and a great place to enjoy a beach lifestyle

Legian and Seminyak

Were small villages a few years ago a short distance from Kuta. Over the last few years, the accommodation has expanded around Legian with many simple family-owned guest houses upgraded; complemented by boutique style hotels and first class hotels.

Now part of the greater Kuta area, both offer quieter alternatives and a more sophisticated nightlife scene focusing on dining-out and socializing rather than full-on partying. If you are coming for diving, we recommend Sanur for your base because it s closer to the dives sites

Sanur

Is a small town on the east coast of South Bali about 20 minutes drive from Ngurah Rai International Airport Most of the Hotels in Sanur are located directly on the beach.
A natural reef protect the beach against the waves, which provides calm waters making it a safe environment for families with young children and make it popular for water sports like windsurfing or kite surfing.

There are also many excellent open air restaurant and café offering a variety of food imaginable. Sanur keep its Balinese character and old style village ambiance who makes the life style here is fare different from Kuta and Legian with an accent on relaxation.

Ubud

Is probably the best place to sample Balinese culture. Up in the hill, Ubud is cooler and frequently wetter than the quiet dive resorts on the north coast. But it offers a host of attractions such as local art galleries, shopping, spa treatments, fine restaurants and elegant hotels.

It is also a great place to catch an entertaining Barong dance, or take a stroll through picturesque and verdant rice terraces.

Nusa Dua

Is a safe and rather sterile tourist enclave at the southern tip of Bali. That does not change the fact though that the beaches here are glorious, long and safe for swimming.

As well as a host of luxury hotels, Nusa Dua is home to the most popular golf course in bali and the main convention center on the island.

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