Bali Diving - Area information
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A sample of what Bali has to offer, lots of critters with excellent photography and video opportunities.
- Click here or scroll to read more about Bali's Diving 4 Critters!
- Click here or scroll to view a Dive Bali Tour Sample.
- Click here to read the latest trip reports from Bali Dive Trips.
- Click here to view a photo guest gallery of a few Bali critters.
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Bali - Diving 4 Critters!
Bali has been regularly visited over the past by most of the worlds underwater photographers, ichthyologists and marine life enthusiasts for it's easy access shore diving. It is possible to come across very rare and often new species that have not been sighted before. This is what attracts me to some of these very special sites, a few very interesting areas are now being dived by a few operators specialising for those who are keen to see new marine life.
One particular site has now proceeded to take over from the old Secret Bay with excellent marine life.... again all from the shore. This is purely for those who are really mad into critter diving as there is no reef what so ever here and less fish than the old Secret Bay too, it is just that lovely critter rich black sand. This new place is being called PJ. One other thing that makes this place great is an excellent spa hotel located a few minutes away from this site. Other operators are taking day tours though this really is an area where it is best seen at certain different times of the day. Of the dives I made here, I have seen lots of unique marine life. Night dives here are also special with even more unique creatures coming out from their sandy habitats. Serious divers keen to see new marine life will soon be wanting to flock here to see these unique critters, as of now there rarely other divers here. Even if there were there is a bit enough area to dive that it would not be a problem anyway.
Click Bali News to see what Diving 4 Images has been seeing on recent dives here!
Other Dive Areas
Tulamben - just a few kilometers west of Tulamben lies another new treasure with more of that special critter rich black sand. The old river and house reefs of Tulamben have not really been as rich since a large storm back in February 2003. Though a new area has taken over with many rare species being seen here all the time!
Amed - more rich black sand here attracts great marine life and one operator has took it one step further and made a few artificial structures on his house reef to attract marine life to stay put for longer periods of time. The reef structures have attracted lots of small fish, on one night dive here we saw 7 true stonefish, a ghost pipefish, lots of very weird and wonderful decorator crabs. Recent trips here have been very interesting with sightings of a rare and unusual bottletail squid, not meant to be seen in Indonesian waters.
Candidasa - an excellent site with regular sightings of 2 different species of rhinopias (weedy scorpionfish), frogfish, often inimicus (devil scorpionfish), ribbon eels, marbled dragonets, different species of pipefish including ghost pipefish small flatheads, snake eels and more.
Secret Bay - recently it hasn't been as hot as it used to be. The sea bed is now covered with lots of green lettuce algae making it very difficult for the critters to find good feeding grounds. The new site PJ has taken over were this site left off, though it is still worth while going back every now and then as there area some very interesting marine life that is worth going in search of here, like the handfish which has only been seen twice to my knowledge.
Bali Critter Tour Sample NEW UPDATE!
Day 1.
You're picked up at the airport or your hotel and we drive
up through the middle of the island and through some of the most beautiful scenery Bali has to offer.
It is always possible to stop along the way taking
photos, in fact it is a must for all keen photographers. After all, this is what you're here for. Arriving at
PJ you can settle into the hotel and at your leisure we ready ourselves for diving.
See
Bali gallery for a photographic
account of some of Bali's rare critters. Most of the critters here are
found in very shallow water above the crest where a steeper slope
starts. This site is best dived at dusk and night as this is the best time to encounter strange
and exotic marine life!
Day 2.
Now that we're settled into PJ diving, we can spend
a full day exploring this strange and baron looking seascape. It isn't a problem if you don't
get that photograph the first time around. We can go back again and again to make sure you
do get that wanted critter on film. More days can be added and
itineraries are only used as a guide, they can and may change with
conditions or for you personally.
Day 3.
We head off to Tulamben, home of the famous Liberty
Shipwreck. It's also home to the more famous House Reef sites, these provide ideal environments
for photography. Tulamben has long been the first stop off for some of the world's top photographers.
They return often as new marine life continues to appear all the time. Visibility is much better
here and can reach up to 30m / 100' at times. Marine life behaviour is easy to encounter and this
is probably the best place in Indonesia to capture fish portraits. Nudibranch species are often
seen in high numbers here and it is possible to see and photograph unidentified nudibranch species!
NOTE: After a heavy storm in February 2003 Tulamben was affected by a heavy over flow of silt,
this covered much of the best areas for critters, as yet Tulamben has not fully recovered to its
former glory, though there is a new area to dive which seems in my mind
to be much better than the old River and House Reef at Mimpi and
Paradise, Click on Bali News
to read more about the rare critters that have been here recently.
Day 4.
More of Tulamben and with a few
new shore dives just further west of the wreck it is possible to be the
only one on a few excellent dive sites here with excellent coral reef
scenery and plenty of those tiny pigmy sea horses as well. The rest of
the time you will be wanting more of this new dive site at Seraya
Day 5.
Head over to Padang Bai, here I have been having some
incredible dives. On many dives seeing lots of really great marine life, including a few resident
weedy scorpion fish (rhinopias frondosa), devil scorpionfish (inimicus didactylus)
and many different leaf scorpion fish. Night dives here are also very good with one area with many
unusual marbled shrimps, usually lots of Spanish dancer nudibranchs, during one night dive here we
came upon a stargazer doing its best to hide away in the sand.
Day 6.
Most people usually aren't ready to leave just yet. So I
plan time for at least two more dives before we depart.
Of course, custom planning allows you to add or subtract days from your tour. The choice is yours!
Conclusion
Even if you are only planning a few days on your Bali trip it is well worth
checking out the diving, those that do often come back to dive the same area's again or go in search
of places they haven't yet checked out. Try it - sure you'll like it!
More on Bali diving
For divers wanting more information on diving Bali, the conditions, best times of the year for
certain marine life, see excellent maps of all the best area's and read about a great diving
philosophy too.
Check out Diving Bali by Wally Siagian and David Pickell on Periplus Action Guides, ISBN-962-593-323-9
Interested? Click here to inquire for more information!