Diving Bali, Indonesia
east coast | the Liberty wreck, Tulamben and Seraya Bay

DESTINATION OVERVIEW | While the entire island of Bali is ringed by exciting dive sites, the east coast has some of her most impressive diving. The most famous dive is the Liberty wreck in Tulamben Bay but others nearby have exciting muck dives.

Tulamben and the Liberty Wreck | There is nothing about this dive that is less than wonderful – even if it's rainy, even when the surf makes entry difficult, the Liberty is part of diver folklore. The broken hull of an American WWII supply ship lies just 30 metres from shore. 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.

Seraya Bay | A five minute drive south of Tulamben, Seraya has similar geography, the beach edged by rounded cobbles leading to black sand slopes. These drop to 15 metres or so before heading into deeper waters. Amongst the small corals and sponges are some fabulous critters, from seahorses to pipefish, harlequin shrimp to frogfish. There is an interesting artificial reef structure in the shape of a dome with reef fish sheltering inside. Tulamben Bay has this marine life too, it just gets bypassed in the rush to see the wreck.

East coast Bali
scuba diving features

PROS AND CONS | While the calibre of diving around Bali is a given, the wreck can get crowded at certain times when the day-tripper contingent arrives. 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 spacious than staying in villages nearby, which can mean travelling by car each day to get there. Always bear in mind that Bali is a big island – with dive sites in several locations – so plan your trip to take advantage of that. Cross island journeys are the perfect opportunity to see the island and it's culture.

SCUBA DIVING | Visibility can be variable, and the currents can be strong at different times of the month yet the rewards at Tulamben and Seraya can be outstanding. We've been diving on the wreck on and off since the late 80's and have never been disappointed. The dive involves wandering up the pebble strewn beach before entering from shore. Fin towards the hull, pass the resident oriental sweetlips, and the wreck materialises from the blue. The superstructure is thick with corals and fans; you can see guns, boilers and the anchor chain. There can be jacks swirling above and, rarely, the magnificent mola-mola. We saw our first mola-mola here and incredible numbers of fish; the sweetlips near the pipe have been there on every single dive. Critter hunt dives in both bays can be outstanding. Further away from Tulamben but along the coast there are dives at Amed, near the town of Padangbai and even more near Nusa Penida in the Lombok Channel.

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 and modern destination yet the Balinese people never lose their sense of place and their incredible integrity.

RESORT REPORT | AquaMarine Diving- Bali and the Watergarden Hotel

VIDEO | BALI DIVING

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