Amed
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Amed
is a little village living from fishing and salt panning. When you
arrive you can see all this colourful wooden boats called jukung and
the wooden squares where the people from Amed collect there salt from
the seawater. You should have a look on it! Who is looking for an easy
and nice beach and dive holiday – with family as well - will never
forget Amed.
Amed`s greatest charm is its wide range and variety of sites. You
can dive on a shipwreck,
vertical drop-offs, and pretty coral gardens and over sand slopes in a smooth drift dive. You will see unforgettable and for this island single hard coral formations substitute by a variety of colourful soft corals and marine life.
The shallow slopes are highly recommended for beginners and for snorklers because the beautifully corral gardens reaches directly under the surface and in the bay of Amed you will find no current. Therefore the bay is perfect for children as well! The visibility is usually very good (over 40 meters) because the volcano stones of the beach keep the water crystal-clear and gemstone blue.
Amed`s greatest charm is its wide range and variety of sites. You
can dive on a shipwreck, vertical drop-offs, and pretty coral gardens and over sand slopes in a smooth drift dive. You will see unforgettable and for this island single hard coral formations substitute by a variety of colourful soft corals and marine life.
The shallow slopes are highly recommended for beginners and for snorklers because the beautifully corral gardens reaches directly under the surface and in the bay of Amed you will find no current. Therefore the bay is perfect for children as well! The visibility is usually very good (over 40 meters) because the volcano stones of the beach keep the water crystal-clear and gemstone blue.
You can start your dives directly from the beach
and in the water you will find a splendid diversity of tropical fauna
which includes next to the corals huge sponges, gorgonians, nudibranch
and fishes. You will hear sweetlips and parrotfish making crazy noises
under the water when they pick a coral for example or you see all these
colourful reef fish like groups of surgeonfish and many more. Amed Scuba loves to show you all this beautiful diving sites in Bali. If you love to see more of Bali and the different diving sites we recommend the diving tour around Bali with Amed Scuba Bali diving center
1. Jemeluk Drop-off
Bay of Jemeluk with chrystal clear water, housereef Amed Scuba
Amed offers excellent dive sites for training dives and shows
all the beauty for experienced divers as well. The magnificent reef of
Jemeluk which covers the total wide of the beach grounds starts
directly in front of our dive school. If you enter the crystal-clear
water you find a flat bottom lagoon for instruction and a drop-off, only
a five minute swim away. This area can be highly recommended for
introductory dives. And even if you are an experienced diver you will
find along the wall always something new on each dive, no matter how
many times you will dive here. It is a spectacular site for night dives
as well. The wall falls down until app. 30 meters and it is covered with a variety of colourful hard and soft corals. You will see 3 meter gorgonian fans which are open in the smooth current to take there dinner and huge sponges with jumping craps and shrimps. There is a splendid diversity of big and small tropical fishes which include for example angelfish, batfish, barracuda, butterflyfish, napoleonfish, lionfish, parrotfish and Bumphead Parrotfish as well. Octopus shows us there talent to change there colour and we will see colourful nudibranch like Chromodoris and Phyllidia species. With a little luck you will discover Spanish Dancers and the Pink Nudibranch. This dive is recommended for all level of divers. You will dive against a very smooth currant in a dept of app. 20 meters along the wall and you come back with the current in shallower water to the point where you have been started.
2. Amed Ghost Bay
Frogfishes are not so easy to spot
The coral garden reaches directly under the surface and follows a
sandy slope until we reach the drop-off of app. 40 meters. In shallow
water (on the sandy slope) the Indonesian government designated on
concrete blocks a conservation area to rebuild the corals which were
damaged before. Here you will see the coral growing and lots of fishes
and “critters”. In the sand slope you can see blue spotted rays.
blacktip and whitetip reef sharks sleep under Table Corals. Along the
wall we find intact magnificent and colourful hard and soft corals. Sometimes there can be a current. For this smooth drift dive we are using local outriggers called jukung. These local fishing boats will follow us while we are diving and pick us up at the end of our dive to bring us back to the beach. This dive is recommended for beginners and experienced divers.
3. Bunutan
Eal Garden in Bunutan
Along a shallow slop which falls down from five until app. 40
meters you dive with a sometimes in a nice drift. You will discover an
eel garden and wonderful coral formations at fife different diving
sites here along the bay of Bunugan. In 28 meters you will find an interesting wall which shows us lots of different hard and soft corals. When we go with the current we can see schools of barracudas, boxfish, puffers, lionfish and whitetip and blacktip reef sharks. The boat will follow the experienced divers while the drift.
4. The Japanese Shipwreck
Japanese Wreck, Amed Scuba
South of Amed in a little bay you will find a small steel and
wooden shipwreck. We don’t know anything about the history of this
wreck but we can highly recommend diving this site. The freighter lies in shallow water from 3 until 15 meters. It is wonderful encrusted with colourful christmas trees, soft corals, gorgonians and black corals. You will see lots of big and small reef fish which have found a home inside the freighter. The rich variety of colourful species makes this dive site so special. Also the area around the boat is rich of species like nudibranch, lobster, barracuda, tuna and lots of colourful reef fishes. Because we will find always a little current in this place a boat will follow the divers and pick them up at the end of the dive. This dive site is also recommended for beginners.
5. Gili Selang
A cloud of Anthias in one of nicest coral gardens in the world, Amed Scuba
Gili Selang is for me one of the most beautiful
dive sites in Bali and in the world! But it is not possible to dive
here as beginner because you will find a strong rotate up- and down
current like in a washing machine. And this dive is also only possible
if the conditions are good! We reach the dive site with a traditional
Balinese outrigger called jukung. The small island Gili Selang is
divided from Bali through an only five meter deep channel. North of the island is a shallow lagoon where we start our dive. Here you will find a marine life which is virtually untouched. This underwater world offers a rich array of fish and hard and soft coral which you see nowhere else. The lagoon is only 18 meters deep and you will notice similar no current. If you leave the lagoon to dive around the island you find a wall falling down in the deep blue. Sometimes you will find here a very strong up and down current. You should be an experienced diver to stand this washing machine! With a little luck you can see here hammerhead sharks as well.
6. Seraya
North of Amed on the way to Tulamben you find Seraya. We start the dive from the boat. In only fife meters small coral formation and white hydrozoans grow on black lava stones and sponges as well. You will find here a countless number of small marine lives. You will see different kind of colourful nudibranch, different kind of seahorses (like Pygmy Seahorses, Thorny Seahorses or Kuda Seahorse or Ghost Pipefish) and a lot of colourful reef fishes as well. It is a spectacular dive site for mug diving like in Secret Bay or in Monkey Reef! It is highly recommended for underwater photographers!7. Batu Kelebit
Batu Kelebit is a beautiful place to dive and can be only reached by the traditional Balinese outrigger sailing boats called Jukung. Batu Kelebit is situated between Amed and Tulamben in front of a steep cliff, which offers no way on foot to the sea. If you like dive sites with lots of soft and hard coral, gorgonians, and plenty of macro-scale life, where you can see big animals as well as fantastic underwater structure you will love this place! Here you will find one of the best dive sites of Bali!Tulamben
The former fishing village Tulamben is located in the northeast of Bali on the main road to Singaraja. It lies about 20 minutes away from Amed and one hour from Candi Dasa towards north. The team of Amed Scuba love to show you the beauty of the wreck. My prefered time for this dive is the early morning dive in the Liberty. On your way to Amed or Tulamben you will have magnificent views over rice fields in beautiful valleys up to the steep mountains. On some lookouts you have a breathtaking view to the Mount Agung. In Tulamben you find some good accommodation for all budgets and a costal reef with the U.S.A.T. Liberty shipwreck. More quite you can stay in the only a few kilometres distant fishing village Amed.In Tulamben you can dive three dive sites from the shore. Sometimes the waves are a little bit bigger and to entrance the water can be a little more difficult. It is better to ware the dive shoes on the slippery stone beach.
1. U.S.A.T. Liberty Shipwreck
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| USS Liberty |
The American ship was torpedoed in the Lombok-Street at the 11th of January in 1942 from a Japanese submarine. Because the boat had a load of military charge the crew tries to bring it into the harbour of Singeraja. But it starts to sink faster and faster therefore the crew decided to go ashore in Tulamben. Nobody of the crew was hurt and they safe all the military cargo.
On the beach of Tulamben the steel shipwreck began to rust. The lava of the 1963 erupted volcano Agung brought the ship back into the sea.
You can easily reach the shipwreck from the beach and you can dive around it or into it. Because there is usually no current this dive can be recommend for beginners as well as for experienced divers. In the area of the shipwreck you will have a look on lots of big fish like barracudas, napoleon wrasse, surgeonfish and many other reef fishes which have found a safe home inside the wreck.
The wreck is wonderful encrusted with soft and hard corals. We dive the shipwreck from 3 until 32 meters. The safety stop will be in five meter in an interesting eel garden. We can highly recommend this dive site for snorkelers as well because you can reach the ship from three until five meter under the surface.
2. Tulamben Drop off
At the south end of the bay of Tulamben we start our dive directly from the shore. When we enter the water |
| Barracuda in Tulamben |
The safety stop will be at the corner of the protected bay in shallow water where you will see lots of fishes in the corals as well.
3. Tulamben Coral Garden
Directly in front of the hotels stretches a shallow slope along the beach down into a coral garden. This coral garden in Tulamben is a perfect place for snorkelling. The coral garden starts in two meters and falls down until app. 15 meters.In this nice coral garden live lots of reef fishes in spectacular hard and soft corals. Here you can see very pretty blue, yellow and black ribbon moray eels. The blue ones are the females and the black ones are the males which can become 120 cm. You can see here also a lot of different ghost pipefish and box fishes. In a weld fuselage you can see some small and big reef fishes as well.
This dive side is a perfect place for introductory, for beginner and dive refreshing courses. And it is perfect for everybody who takes his time to look for all this huge variety of smaller critters.
4. Kubu / Monkey Reef
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| New shipwreck in Kubu |
Padang Bai
This little ferry harbour is located at the east coast of Bali on the way from Klungkung to Candi Dasa only a few kilometres away from the main road. Padang Bai situated in a beautiful bay with white sand beach and crystal clear gemstone blue water next to the harbour. It is a perfect location for relaxation or walking on pristine white sand beaches, for fishing, snorkelling or diving as well as it is a cultural destination with one of the oldest temples in Bali. Visit the over 1000 years old interesting Silayukti Temple and you will see authentic Balinese ceremonies at this place. The Silayukti Temple is one of the four oldest temples in Bali. The Hindu priests who came from Java to Bali more then 1000 years ago brought the Hinduism to our beautiful island. They started with strong and deep meditation at this place.If you pass the harbour where you can catch a ferry to Lombok and you go to the north (left) you will visit a little fishing village called Padang Bai.
From here a lot of interesting dive sites can be easily reached by boat. In some of this dive sites it is easy to dive but in others you will need some experience to feel good! Have a look in our descriptions and make your decision.
1. Blue Lagoon (Tanjung Sari)
This varied dive site in the north-east of Padang Bai offers dives for novice divers but the wall is also interesting for experienced divers. It is a very good place to start diving again after a pause. In shallow water in the depth of three until five meters you can exercise your buoyancy first on a sandy slope and visit afterwards a wonderful wall which is falling down until 30 meters. Here you will notice a variety of healthy hard and soft corals and a lot of smaller critters which tend to stay in more sheltered areas. On this boat dive you can see a lot of gorgonians, shrimps and prawns, sweetlips, perch, scorpion fish, frog fish and the blue and yellow striped ribbon eel and lots of colourful nudibranches. In 20 meters you can visit sometimes sleeping reef sharks and from august to September you can look of Mola mola.Blue Lagoon is a perfect beach for snorkelling as well and the white sand invites you for relaxation.
2. White Beach (Bias Tugal)
Bias Tugel is one of the most popular beaches with pristine white sand and a couple of small warungs which serve food and drinks. White Beach is located in the south of Padang Bai a perfect place for relaxation and snorkeling as well. But sometimes the waves can be a little bit bigger here. Only a few meters away from the beach we start our boat dive at a pretty drop off falling down into the deep blue. Here you will see a variety of different soft and hard corals. In the depth area you will see lots of gorgonians which are the home of tinny little pigmy-seahorses and you will look of ghostpipefish, scorpionfish, batfish, nudibranches etc. It is a good place to see Mola mola from august to September as well.3. Padang Bai Chanel
Only 100 metres away from the beach this dive site starts near the harbour where you will visit a beautiful drop off with little caves inside. Sometimes you can see sharks, turtles and Stingrays and Mola mola as well from august to september.4. Gili Biaha („Shark Cave“)
This is a dive site for experienced divers! At this dive side the conditions can vary quite dramatically. Depending on the waves and currents which can be strong and unpredictable some days this dive site can be easy or quite difficult sometimes. The currents can be like a washing machine. When we arrive with the boat at this place we can watch this. On the island is a Blow-hole. If the conditions are fine the water is quiet. If the waves are high water will be pressed into the cave which is located app. seven meters under the surface. In this time it is impossible to dive here. In the cave you can look of sleeping white-tip reef sharks. The cave is big enough that some divers can swim together into it. If the conditions for the dive are fine the boat will follow us along a nice wall falling down into the deep blue.5. Mimpang / Batu Tiga
At this dive site we start at a slope and follow it down until we find a nice drop off. This drop off is rich of hard and soft coral species and colourful fish. You will see huge gorgonians and sometimes reef sharks cross our way. You can watch big schools of different fish and it is hard to identify all the different animals you can see on this dive site. Sometimes the current can be a little bit stronger but you will know at this place where it comes from. Right at the end of the dive you should be a little bit more careful, because at the end of the wall there is a downward current which can bring you 40 meters down if you are not careful.6. Tepekong (Island of the goat)
The small - only 50 meter long - island is surrounded by deep blue water.We start our dive in a canyon. Dense hard and soft coral colonies are growing on big basalt stone blocks. Huge groups of fishes will swim around us and with a little luck you will see reef sharks as well as moonfishes.
This dive site can be the same like in Gili Biaha. Therefore we can recommend this place only for experienced divers! At the wall on the east side you can find sometimes strong down currents which can make this dive difficult as well.
Menjangan
In the north-west of Bali you will find this beautiful 1, 5 km long and only 500 meter spread out island called Menjangan which belongs to the Bali Barat National park and it is one of the most protected dive sites in Bali. The National Park Office limits the number of visitors who are allowed to dive here. The dive sites belong to an underwater protected area. Fishing is forbidden and therefore we have a good chance to see also big fish. You will find here the best coral formations and reefs in Indonesia! This dive site is one of the best in the world! Australian Biologists have counted 46 different kinds of Agropora here!We start opposite the island from the national park office in small wooden vessels. The island is only 30 minutes away from the main land.
On the island you find a bird sanctuary and the oldest temple in Bali where the Balinese Hindu people are celebrating there full-moon ceremonies.
You can dive Menjangan any time of the year because the island is situated protected enough to provide good diving even during the rainy season. You can choose your dive side on the north or the south depending on the soft current and the direction of the wind. The visibility at Menjangan is one of the best in Bali and reaches sometimes 50 meters! It is possible to dive all around the island at more than ten different dive sites. And also if there are plenty of different dive sites around Menjangan the best area is stretch along the southeast coast of the island and from the northwest down into the channel between Menjangan and the main land. Our favourite dive spot is Pos Dua and Garden Eal. At the drop off the nooks and crannies are rich. You find huge gorgonians and beautiful little paccagnella´s. You see hundreds of angelfish, butterfly fish, anthias, gobies you will see all the different reef fish swimming here! Quite often you can see turtles here as well. If you are lucky you can find here also whale sharks and moon fish but also if you don’t see them it is one of the best dive sides in Bali!
The National park office offers some guided walks through the rainforest of the National Park of Bali Barat.
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Nusa Penida, Nusa Caningan und Nusa Lembongan
These islands are located in the southeast of Bali in the Lombok Strait between Lombok and Bali. Nusa Penida is the largest of the small islands. To the northwest lie two smaller islands called Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan. Bali and Lombok are separated through a deep water ditch. This line is also a geographical border called Wallace-Line. Therefore Bali and Lombok show a different flora and fauna. One is more in Asian and the other is more in Australian influence. It was impossible for the plants and animals to cross this geographical border because in this Strait water is exchanged between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Measurement shows an annual mean transport of around 1.7 million cubic meter water per second. This means in the end you will find here a very strong current! Most of these dives are not for beginners! Here you will find often very strong and unpredictable currents and undertows. The underwater world is very rich of species and you will find them in huge numbers because with all the cold and fresh water comes also plenty of nutrient to feed all this numbers of animals. The visibility is absolutely clear and the sight is more than 30 meters. The dives will be around the high tide because then the currents are smoother.You will find here some really remarkable animals - the Mola Mola sunfish as well as large pelagic fish such as tunas, rays, manta rays, different kind of mackerels and sharks (even grey reef sharks, white-tip sharks) or turtles in pristine hard coral reefs.
All dive sites are steep slopes or walls which go down very deep. If you want to have an impression of the currents in this area have a look an this satellite maps from the University of Hamburg:
Nusa Penida is a dive site where one should be conservative because of the strong currents! Always stick close to the reef! In difficult dive sites we will go with only one customer for one diveguide. Listen to the advice of your dive operator and the boat skipper, and always stay close to your group, then the conditions are, if not easy, at least manageable.
Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida is the largest of the three islands and has many interesting dive sites. Do you want to see a Manta Ray? You'll have a very good chance because there is a Manta cleaning-station at the south of the island. From july to september you can have the fortune of seeing sunfish (Mola mola). Mola molas belong to the family of Puffers and reach a size of three meters. Therefore they are the biggest bony fishes on the earth. Padang Bai and here are the only places in the world where you can see them regulary from July to September -usually they live in the deep blue. Here in Bali there are some cleaning-stations where the sunfish get cleaned by banner fishes. In spite of their huge size, sunfish only have a tiny little mouth to suck for example jellyfish.
1. Crystal Bay
Nusa Penida´s Crystal Bay is part of the Ceningan Channel which
divides Nusa Penida from Nusa Ceningan. Outside of the bay there is a
strong current because the water which flow down the Lombok Strait has
to pass this Channel between Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan. Inside of
the bay you will dive in sparkling clear water protected from the
current and it is possible to go snorkeling as well or relaxing at the
white sand beach of this beautiful bay. The visibility here is very
good! At the wall you can see sunfish cleaning station where Mola molas
get cleaned by groups of bannerfishes. But you can see so much more
marine life at this place like sharks and eagle rays or large school of
glasfish as well as redtooth triggerfishes, schooling bannerfishes,
doctorfishes, anthias, and angelfishes everywhere. Approximately ten meters under the surface you will find the entrance to an underwater cave. Inside the cave there is a hole where you can see the sky and on the ceiling of this cave bats are sleeping.
2. Gamat Bay
The conditions of this dive site are nearly the same like in Crystal Bay. Gamat Bay is located between Crystal Bay and Toyapakeh. Inside the small Bay in some shallower areas you will find similar no current. Here it is possible to snorkel between nice coral formations, mantis shrimps, leaffishes, nudibranchs and dragonets. If you swim to the corner of the bay the protection ends and you will start a drift dive along a beautiful wall where the boat will follow the dive group. Here you can see eagle rays and sharks and sunfish.3.Toyapakeh
This little bay is located at the beginning of the Ceningan Channel in the northwest of Nusa Penida where the ferries from Bali arrive. This little Bay is partially protected from the strong current flowing through this small channel. You will find the same conditions in this Bay like in the other ones in the Ceningan Channel. You will see pretty hard and soft coral formations like gorgonians, huge table corals and pillars. Big group of fish can be seen as well as sunfish and sharks. South of the bay where the Ceningan channel begins there is a beautiful wall with rocky overhangs and caves. If the current is not to strong and the waves not so big we can do a nice drift dive along the wall.4.SD (Sekolah Desar)
At the top in the north of Nusa Penida you find the dive sites Sekolah Desar (SD), Sental, Ped and Sampalan. At this point all the water which flow down from the Pacific meets the cost of the small island and divides. Some water flow down the west coast into the Ceningan Channel and some flow to the east side. The conditions you can expect are fast currents which sometimes change there direction.Try to stay together in your group but this can be difficult and the distances covered during the drift dive can be amazing and your air bubbles will rise behind, in front, below and in whirls around you. It is a wild ride! And only possible for experienced divers, good dive guides and very good skippers.
These dive sites are steep slopes and walls covered with corals and sponges. The best dive site is probably SD. It is possible to see large pelagics like manta rays, white tip and black tip shark, barracuda, tuna, sun fish or even very rare whale sharks!
Manta Point
Mantas with Amed Scuba
The conditions at the southeast cost of Nusa Penida can be quite
rough. The coastline is wild with divided high and white limestone
rocks and high waves tossing against it. The conditions do not allow
diving here all the time. Depending on the large waves crashing against
the high cliffs we can sometimes not reach this dive site all the time.
We dive in two bays which are a little bit more protected. Because of
the high waves you will find nearly no corals here. The only reason to
dive this site is to have a look at the mantas! The cleaning station
operating with huge groups of wrasses can be found in four until twelve
meters. Therefore it is not necessary to dive deep the mantas are
gathering around this shallow cleaning station and we can wait for
them. These huge animals with a span of seven meters seem to arrive out
of the deep blue. It looks like they are flying under the water. In the
time when they will be cleaned you can carefully swim closer to them.
Diving with these huge animals is an amazing
feeling! 
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