Bali Dive Sites
Dive site name: Anker Wreck
The Anker Wreck is named after an anchor and the remains of a nineteenth century wooden shipwreck. This is one of the deepest dives in Bali and must be treated with respect; ample recovery time must be taken. The wooden boat is completely smothered with Coral life that houses over 400 different species of fish. There is also an interesting wall to explore for those who can conserve their air. Do not worry if you think you haven't seen everything in one dive, as you will be coming back again anyway. Experienced divers will have no problems at The Anker Wreck.
Dive site name: Liberty Wreck
This 120 metres long wreck - the Liberty - was working as a cargo ship during World War II, when a torpedo from a Japanese submarine hit it. Miraculously, nobody got hurt, but the damage turned the ship into a non-functioning and useless hull.
In 1963 Mount Agung (the volcano which towers over Tulamben) erupted and the magma flow pressed the ship back into the sea where it presently rests at a depth of 3 to 29 metres. Since then, coral has coated the wreckage turning it into a new home for an extraordinary number of fish, coral and invertebrates.
The top of the wreck is at 5 to 10 metres and here it touches the black volcanic sand slope. It is a spectacular dive site for a photographer. Diving here and you will see just about everything u can imagine. It's an absolute underwater wonderland of marine life, schools of trevally, bream, fusilier and anthias mill all over and around the wreck, often following you during the dive. Multi-colored clouds of anthias and damsels can be found and invertebrates, sponges, sea fans and the hard and soft corals. Lionfish, scorpion fish, hawk fish, bumphead parrot fish, pufferfish and coral trout are everywhere, as are the gobies, blennies, shrimps and dottyback out on the sand flats.
Dive site name : Tulamben Drop Off
This site, an old lava flow from Mount Agung, is at the opposite end of the bay from the Wreck (about 15min walk along the stony beach). The dive starts off on a steep sand slope with nudibranches, flounders, goby/shrimp sets. At 12m are sponges with many varieties of shrimp, Leaf Scorpionfish abound and there are many crinoids, often with attendant Ghost Pipefish.
Visibility is best in the morning and is usually 15-20 metres (due to the amount of plankton in the water) and, because of the location, it is rare that there is a current, even a mild one.
The wall has profuse sponges, corals, black coral bushes, gorgonian fans. The fish life is similar to that found on the wreck but being a much larger area, is less dense. However, more often than on the Wreck, you will see white tip reef shark, large Napoleon Wrasse, big Bumphead Parrotfish, some big Filefish (including Scrawled), and large Moray Eel. Late afternoon is the time to see the wide variety of Lionfish that live here. There have been sightings of Whale Shark in as little as 9M of water, and much deeper, Hammerhead Shark.
Dive site name: Kelebit Rocks
A 15 minute boat ride from Tulamben bay will take you to these two offshore rocky outcrops. Topography is quite dramatic with three steep ridges covered in hard coral. The sand is no longer volcanic. The water is cooler and even the fish life is different to back in the bay. Visibility is often better here, and larger predators come in order to feed including sharks and barracuda. Hammerheads and Mantas have been spotted at this dive site.
In fact, it is not only the colour of the sand that differs from Tulamben Bay, the species of even the most common reef fish are different too. The marine life varies from the tiny up to the very large: the steepness of the site combined with the structure of the ridges (and plankton-rich water) means you also have much more chances to see pelagics including barracuda, tuna, manta and white tip reef shark here than you do within the Bay.
Dive site name: Secret Bay
Located just to the east of the Bali to the Java's ferry terminal near the town of Gilimanuk is Secret Bay. Teluk Gilimanuk is about two kilometers across and very shallow, less than 10 metres deep with an average of 4 to 5 metres. Being the only bay off the narrow Bali Strait, where currents can reach 7knots, means that Gilimanuk acts as a catch tank for many larval fish.
Secret Bay is one of the best muck diving sites in the world, there are no coral reefs, just a unique plateau of black volcanic sand teeming with macro critters. The best time to dive is on the incoming tide or around high tide, it doesn't matter if it's early or late in the day, as the bay will have filled with clear water from the Bali Strait. At this time, visibility can be 30 metres. There is a fair bit of debris around which forms myriad hiding places for countless creatures, including dragonets, seahorses, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs, red and white segmented sea cucumbers, gobies, frogfish, scorpion fish, hermit crabs and octopus.
Night-diving at Secret Bay is a unique experience! Cephalopods of all shapes and sizes, crustaceans wandering in search of dinner, and other weird and wonderful creatures.
Dive site name: Nusa Penida
Toyapakeh - This popular dive site is located on the islands northwest shore in the Ceningan Channel between Bali and Lombok. Toyapakeh is the location of the mooring for the big Quicksilver ship that brings day-trippers over to play on the water-chutes and banana-boats.This dive site is a lovely reef of beautiful soft corals, which give us clouds of reef fish. Starting from the area north of the Quicksilver mooring, at 10 metres you find bommies with a lot of Sweetlips. Following the slope downwards, drifting with the current, past the 10-15 metres area giving big schools of fish, including Jackfish and Sweetlips, Batfish, Napoleon Wrasse, and sometimes turtle; deeper on the slope you may have the chance to see larger pelagics including Sunfish. The current here often heads northeast, which makes for an easy drift dive. However, the current in shallow water and the current in deeper water are sometimes going in different directions. Therefore, the direction of your dive can change as you alter your depth. The water can be very cold, which means thermoclines.
Crystal Bay - Crystal bay has the most fantastic visibility underwater. This site consists of a fantastic little bay in shallow water, which offers excellent opportunities for photographers. This hard coral reef has a white sand base, and is covered with anemones and soft corals. It can be quite surgey in the bay. The marine life includes Angelfish, Sweetlips, many Moorish Idols. Following around the north side of the bay we come to a Bat Cave which can be entered from underwater. You can surface inside the cave, with an open sky, with sleeping bats overhead and big waves crashing in through the top. Because this area is in Ceningan Channel, when there is a current present, and due to the coldness of the water from the Indian Ocean, there is definitely the opportunity to see white tip reef shark, eagle rays and also leopard shark.
Gamat Bay - Gamat Bay is a little further north back towards Toyapakeh. It has some sheltered spots, which offer a relaxing alternative to drift diving. The rich area of the slope is around 10 to 20 metres where coral bommies and all manners of reef fish can be seen along side some macro critters. The larger fish here is fairly diverse with some large specimens of surgeonfish, grouper and unicorn fish. It overhangs and a couple of small caves provide resting places for white tip sharks and turtles.
Malibu Point - The dive site is small and often tricky to dive if currents are strong, but it is one of the better places to see sharks. Furthermore, big dogtooth tuna, rainbow runners and mackerel are to be found at this spot. It has been said that Malibu Point is the best place to see a shark, which may be true. However, the site is a long way from the mainland and is not always diveable due to the currents. The bommies provide some sanctuary from the current, which you need to have sharks, but the higher concentration of sharks is to the south of the area of bommies at 15-30 metres.
Manta Point - This area of the coastline consists of dramatic limestone cliffs that descend straight into the ocean. The swell can be stupendous, sometimes making entry impossible by mid-morning. Manta sightings are very common with some large animals being spotted. The water is between 22 and 26 degrees and quite cold because it comes from the ocean. You may also see other pelagics such as tuna and tiger mackerel.
Dive site name: Pemuteran
Temple Garden - constructed as one of the three Bali Reef Foundation/Australian Aid funded projects, with Chris Brown from Reef Seen Aquatics as the main contributor together with other local dive centres. This eery location consists of a small temple complex starting at 30m and works its way back to the Temple Wall.
Canyon Wreck - the second of the three Bali Reef Foundation/Australian Aid funded projects, with the local dive centres, Canyon Wreck a 30m long traditional motorship sits in an unusual valley. With its stern up against a wall which juts out at the open end of the valley.She rests in 30+ metres of water. Her bow points into the valley and swimming out over her portside brings you to a steep slope which continues into one of the densest areas of hard Coral cover anywhere in Indonesia.
Kebun Batu - or Rock Garden is in front of the Karang Lestari Coral project, just off the beach in front of the local hotels and is clearly marked with a very prominent white buoy. The Rock itself rises from a sandy bottom no deeper than 18m as a pinnacle or Coral with a flat top at the 4m mark. The base of the rock on the shore side rises in a small Coral mound to 8m. The surrounding sand slopes gently up to the beach. The rock itself is an interesting dive during the day offering a lot of critters and small fish. However, it really comes alive during the night with small Lobster, Shrimps and Crabs.The metal frames from the 'Bio reef project' are a nursing ground for fish, which have come to regard them as homes. Frogfishes can often be found on Sponge covering areas of the structures.
Napoleon Reef - is a flat-topped, underwater mound, about the size of a football field. At its shallowest, the bottom rises to about 5-10 meters off the surface. The reef is covered with sponges and corals, including great table-top Acropora reaching a diameter of 5 meters. From the top, the profile follows a gentle slope to 35 meters, with very good invertebrate life. Two enormous barrel sponges serve as landmarks. Fish life is quite good. Large cuttlefish is often seen. Occasionally, manta rays appear to feed across the reef top. The southeastern point of Napoleon's drops down to 35 meters, where there is an excellent deep reef with soft corals and whip corals, dubbed "Cody's Corner."
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