Following on from my trip overview blog of diving in Bali and Lombok, I wanted to focus on the area that I was most impressed in Bali: the east coast diving. I visited several resorts around the region, including Siddhartha and Scuba Seraya resort, but what really stood out to me was the quality of the diving in Tulamben. I'd like to pick out two dives sites that I thought were incredible:
Liberty Wreck in Tulamben
The first is a Tulamben dive site, the US Liberty wreck, which is a located just a few metres from the black sandy shores of Tulamben. It rests on the sandy slope ranging from 30m at the depths to 5m in the shallows so is well within recreational depth. I had heard so much about this wreck in Tulamben so I was ready to be a bit underwhelmed but I have to say it was completely the opposite. Although it is not as in tact as the wrecks you might find in Chuuk Lagoon, it is overflowing with soft corals and has a huge amount of life associated with it including turtles and fish aplenty! Yes there are many divers there but if you can head out early in the morning you can have a bit more peace and quiet with Mount Agung towering over you: a very beautiful and dramatic sight.
Seraya Secrets
The other spot that really grabbed my attention was Seraya Secrets dive site which is located just a little further down the coast from Tulamben. If you are staying at Scuba Seraya resort, which is a simple but lovely place, you literally walk straight in to the water from the resort into a 'muck diving' or macro heaven. This dive site is not about the coral or the big stuff; it's all about the critters which can be found amongst the black sand. Within minutes of being in the water I had seen a frogfish, several different types of nudibranch and a honeycomb eel at its cleaning station, drenched in shrimp busy as work. A real gem and one that is not the secret it used to be, as the name suggests, but still relatively unknown. In the past few years at Original Diving, we have very much focused on the remote parts of Indonesia: Komodo, Sulawesi and Raja Ampat. And while there a few destinations that can rival the quality of diving at these locations, Bali diving still has a lot to offer and should not be forgotten. I had some very memorable dives here.
Have you been to Bali or experienced either of these dive sites? Post a comment if so and let us know what you thought. And if you want to find out more, please contact us.
