East coast Bali scuba diving features

The Tulamben wreck

Harlequin shrimp

Seahorses

Mola-mola

DESTINATION OVERVIEW
Bali's eastern coast has some of her most impressive diving and while old hands may sometimes find the crowds that flock to dive the Tulamben Wreck a little frustrating, there is nothing about this site that is less than wonderful. Even when it's rainy, even when the surf makes entry difficult, the Liberty is part of diver folklore.

Just 30 metres from shore lies the broken hull of an American WWII supply ship. Torpedoed in 1941 by a Japanese submarine she lay beached for 20 years before mighty Mount Agung erupted. The force pushed her down the sloping seabed where she broke up and became one of the best artificial reefs you will ever see.

The dive involves wandering up the pebble strewn beach before entering from shore, sometimes a tricky manoeuvre. You fin towards the hull, passing the resident oriental sweetlips, then the wreck materialises from the blue. There are jacks swirling above, large napoleon wrasse in amongst them and, rarely, magnificent mola-mola are spotted here. The superstructure is thick with corals, sponges, fans and crinoids all surrounded by lots of fish. Although you can't penetrate the structure you can see guns, toilets, boilers and the anchor chain.

The bay to the side of the wreck and others like Seraya nearby are equally interesting. Black sand slopes drop gently to 15 metres or so before heading into deeper waters. Amongst the small patches of coral and sponges is some fabulous critter life, from seahorses to pipefish, harlequin shrimp to frogfish – even the blue-ringed octopus.

Seasons
Year round
Visibility:
10 – 40 metres
Water temperature:
25 – 29º C.
Deco chambers:
Bali

Flight to Bali then a two hour road transfer

Accommodation
There is a lot of fabulous options along the east coast: The Watergarden and Alila Manggis in Candidasa. Anda Amed Resort in Amed and back on the South Coast the Elysian in Seminyak

Dive centres: More numerous than you can mention just about, howver, we mostly use AquaMarine Diving.

PROS AND CONS
While the calibre of diving around Bali is a given, the wreck can get crowded in the middle of the day. All the same, Tulamben bay and the ones directly around it, are still some of the best dives on Bali. Perhaps the only downside is that the hotels closest to the wreck are less attractive than staying in villages like Candidasa, which can mean travelling for an hour or so each day to get there.

SCUBA DIVING
Visibility can be variable, and the currents can be strong at different times of the month yet the rewards at Tulamben can be outstanding. We saw our first mola-mola here and incredible numbers of fish including the school of sweetlips near the pipe that have been there on every single dive. We've been diving on the wreck on and off since the late 80's and we have never been disappointed.

OPINION
We love Bali, as anyone who has ever met us knows well. We first visited when the island had little more than a handful of guesthouses, a lot of hippies and just one dive centre. Since those times, the island has blossomed, grown and developed into a thriving modern destination yet the Balinese people never lose their sense of place and their incredible integrity.