>> Bali Diving and Dive Sites
GUIDE TO DIVING IN BALI & LUXURY BALI VILLAS NEAR DIVE SITES

There are two clear highlighs in Bali : USS Liberty and Lembongan Island.

Amed

Off the slope, you will come to a steep wall of hydriods, sponges and sea fans, dropping down to over 40 metres. The fish life here is prolific with bluefin trevally, bumphead parrotfish, tuna, black and white snappers, Indian triggerfish cascading down the walls. Dense growths of gorgonian fans and barrel sponges, and large outcroppings dot the reef, harbouring common lionfish and bearded scorpionfish.

The west side of the bay offers some quite contrasting Bali scuba diving. Here, you'll start in the shallow coral flats with scattered bommies and metal artificial reef crates on the grey sand bottom, before making your way to the deeper ocean-facing wall. There are gorgonians here too, colourful soft coral trees and masses of tube sponges. Dozens of blue-spotted stingrays rest in the shallows and red octopus are quite common here too.

Back in the sandy shallows of the bay there is some coral bleaching from the El Nio of 1998, where the natural reef recovery process is slow but gradual. However, keep your wits about you, as this is one of the best places on the island to find shy ribbon eels in the sand, and clown triggerfish.
 

Gili Biaha

Once down it is unlikely to be too much trouble. Good buoyancy and position-awareness will help you enjoy what is one of the best east coast spots for scuba diving in Bali. The dive will start with a visit to cave at about 8 metres. Here the swell seems to disappear remarkably but you may feel its effects as pressure variations in your ears. Concentrating on the sights will reward you with several white-tip reef sharks in this cave. Bali scuba diving is renowned for its sharks so the sight of at least half a dozen together is not uncommon. Lionfish and a few good sized lobsters also call the cave home and combine to make the first few moments of this dive more than entertaining.

Leaving the cave you will re-enter the to-and-fro of the swell as you turn right heading along the wall where above you the waves break against the island's shore. The wall is a tapestry of colours and activity. Sponges, hard and soft corals, whip corals, crinoids and featherstars are among the sessile splashes of colour. Cracks and crevices in the wall provide homes for mantis shrimps, morays, lionfish and octopus. You won't have a dull moment here.
 

Lembongan Island and Nusa Penida

With its adjacent deep water trenches, the main attraction at Lembongan Island is the common encounters with the curious and otherwise very rare oceanic sunfish, or mola mola. Sunfish are pelagic fish growing 2 metres long. They are found in tropical and temperate waters, feeding off large plankton and jellyfish. They have large, blunt heads, heavy bodies and stubbed tails, with elongated dorsal and ventral fins that can span 4 metres. You will never misidentify a sunfish! They can often be seen at cleaning stations with attendant cleaner wrasse. They are most often seen in this area from July to September.

Blue Corner at Lembongan Island can be one of the most exciting dives of your life but you will need to make sure that you listen very carefully to the advice you receive from your divemaster. When you descend to about 18 - 20 meters the current grabs you and you begin the natural rollercoaster ride of a lifetime. There is plenty to see as you race by, as the currents bring with them lots of food for the residents of the reef. The Nusa Lembongan currents also attract pelagic fish so keep an eye out in the deep blue for them and sunfish.

Ped is the most popular site on the nearby Nusa Penida north coast, as it tends to offer currents milder than some of the other sites at Lembongan. Healthy low lying hard coral reef banks slope gently to 20 metres, then down to 40 metres. Occasional manta rays and schools of chevron barracuda add to the rich variety of smaller fish which seem to prefer the calmer waters of Ped. Wonderful barrel sponges and gorgonians can be seen in the deeper waters, and sea snakes can be seen on almost every dive. With the reef extending up to within 5 metres of the surface your safety stop will allow time to spot moray eels, titan triggerfish and the brilliantly coloured emporer angelfish. Be careful not to touch the reef as the local scorpionfish are notoriously difficult to spot.

Crystal Bay is perhaps Nusa Penida's best dive site. It is located in the south west of the island and features a shallow bay, carpeted in corals. The bay provides shelter from current and is a good place to start your dive. Apart from the superb corals in the bay, the big attraction here is that this area is a favourite spot for mola mola, which gather to be cleaned on the slopes of the reef just outside of the bay.
 

Gili Selang

The protected areas in the shallows between the mainland and Gili Selang host large colonies of leather corals and brain corals. Directly to the north of the island lies the most protected section of the site. As you work your way down the black sand reef slope you'll find big black coral bushes and gorgonian fans, hosting Bargibant's seahorse.

However, it's the proximity to deep water channels that makes this Bali scuba diving site popular with adventurous divers. The cobbly east side of the island plunges sharply beyond recreational diving limits, and the swift currents attract giant trevally, grey reef sharks and deep water pelagics such as hammerhead sharks.

USS Liberty Wreck

Padang Bay

Tulamben

Here you can see small families of bumphead parrotfish, growing close to 2 metres! More commonly you'll see fairy basslets, pufferfish, hawkfish and damselfish. The shallow black ash sand here plays host to ornate ghost pipefish and even cometfish.

Batu Kelebit, or "Kelebit Rocks", is located south east of Tulamben Wall, and is generally known as the dive site with the best visibility in the local area. The rocks are offshore and exposed and therefore the scuba diving conditions can be quite challenging. However, this in turn can lead to some of the most exciting diving on offer in the Tulamben village area.

The 3 steep banked ridges hold 2 protected channels that provide a home to a rich plethora of vibrant and healthy corals and sponges, including green cup corals and black fire corals. Following the ridges down to deeper waters, is when you have the best chances of finding large prowling pelagics such as barracuda, tuna, trevally, as well as white-tip reef sharks, silky sharks and even great hammerhead sharks, attracted to Tulamben from the nearby deep water Lombok Strait, and manta rays.

Tulamben House Reef, located in front of the scuba resorts, is an ideal student learning ground. With shallow areas at 5 metres and a maximum depth of 25 metres, this reef hosts many of the common fish such as wrasses, snappers, parrotfish, butterflyfish, as well as more unusual frogfish, scorpionfish and nudibranchs.

Overall, Tulamben remains the most popular destination for scuba diving in Bali.
 

Manjangan Island

Menjangan's walls drop down to 30 metres on the south coast and 60 metres to the east. They are decorated with an enormous proliferation of gorgonian fans, pink, purple, green, yellow, orange, and some very large specimens too. You can find minute yellow and pink pygmy seahorses, especially around the 25 metres depth.

The walls are scarred with many nooks and crannies, caverns and overhangs, covered with soft corals and sponges. It's an excellent diving opportunity to look for black-spotted moray eels and ribbon eels. Often you'll find hingebeak shrimps and cleaner shrimps waiting at the crag openings for passing clients. Coral trout arrive, mouths agape to have their teeth cleaned of parasites and small food incrustations by transparent palaemonid shrimp.

Ever-curious roundface batfish, cuttlefish and Picasso and titan triggerfish are often seen here, as are gold-striped and giant fuseliers.

The north side of the island holds the infrequently visited Anker Wreck, a 25 metre long 19th century wooden ship, that carried ceramics and copper. A large coral-encrusted anchor in 5 metres of water marks the location of the wreck at the top of the reef edge. Follow the wall down to 30 metres depth. The bow of the wreck lies at the bottom of the wall and whip corals and gorgonians. The deepest section is the stern at 50 metres, and this is home to white-tip reef sharks.

All diving trips to Menjangan leave from Labuhan Lalang, a small jetty on the Bali mainland. 8 metre simple park service boats must be used for transportation to the island.
 

Pemuteran

The slopes are dominated by soft corals, sea fans and small table corals. Shy masked porcupinefish peek out from under the ledges with their large, round eyes. Pygmy seahorses and spider crabs hang out in the pink gorgonians. The Pemuteran sea bed is covered with fields of clasping flower corals and delicate blue vase sponges. Close by on 22 metres lies the empty 16 metre long hull of a scuttled diving boat, generously "donated" by one of the local Bali dive operators. Reef-fin squid and large cuttlefish can be seen as well as the occasional school of bigeye trevally.

Other dive sites in the Pemuteran area, such as Close Encounters - famed for its encounters with big fish such as mackerel, tuna and barracuda, and Rock Garden, offer large fields of shore-based hard coral reefs and boulder pinnacles with a large array of macro life including colourful nudibranchs and flatworms.

In 1998 the House Reef at Pemuteran was devastated by El Ni?o. So in 2001, this reef became the first in Bali to be sponsored by an artificial re-generation project, funded by the Global Coral Reef AllianceOpens in a new window and Yos Marine Adventures. Over 40 large grid-like structures of all shapes and sizes were sunk, and live coral samples were attached. The reef receives electronic stimulus from shore and responds with remarkable growth rates. The local village has buoyed the area and guard it as a no-fishing exclusion zone, so that fish stocks can re-group too. So far, although still incomplete, the project has proven to be a well-deserved success.

You can visit the area and dive around the various shapes and structures of the artificial reef and see for yourself the remarkable results of this ground-breaking, yet controversial method of preserving the marine habitat.
 

Secret Bay

Heading out north west from the shore side, you'll descend onto a very shallow and bare, brown sandy bottom. First thing you'll notice no doubt are the red and white segmented sea cucumbers, very common in this bay. Striped goatfish nuzzle through the sand with their barbels, filtering food. Dragonets can be seen by the keen eyed scuba diver, crawling across the bottom, with their brightly coloured, spiny dorsal fins raised when agitated. Pink and grey seahorses are quite common and you can find them riding across the open sands, or hooked to a fallen branch.

Wind your way further away from shore, inspecting the cement blocks and other man-made detritous. These objects often harbour more unusual Bali scuba diving sights. Brown hairy frogfish lumber into striking position, lures poised for a catch. Bearded scorpionfish lurk too for unsuspecting fish. Yellow-margin moray eels peer out from the under-edges.

Deeper sections of the sand bottom attract large beds of black slate-pencil sea urchins and diadema sea urchins, their long spines protecting brown cardinalfish from falling prey to devil scorpionfish. Here too you can find snake eels, staring up from the sand bed, only their heads revealed.

Complete your dive back towards shore, near the police boat mooring station. Here you can find harlequin (ornate) ghost pipefish, cockatoo leaf fish, upsidedown jellyfish and the rather unusual green-striped pufferfish. Hermit crabs and blue crabs scuttle across the bottom looking for scraps of sunken food.

Secret Bay is very shallow, has no coral and hardly any usual fish to speak of. As such, scuba diving in Bali here will only appeal to those that have an active interest in searching out the odd and unusual species that form part of our underwater world.