Gilimanuk/Secret Bay
This shallow water mangrove lined inlet/cove is 30 minutes drive from Mimpi Menjangan Resort. It is famed for its rare and unusual macro-life. Dives at Secret Bay can be arranged through the Mimpi dive center. Water temperature is usually 23-25° Celsius but I was fortunate in that it was 28° for my 2 dives. (The cool water is good because it attracts the bay’s unusual inhabitants.) The bay is shallow, with a maximum depth of 10-12 meters and the black sand silty bottom is covered in many places with sea grass and a type of algae resembling lettuce. There was no current. Visibility was 1-5 meters and entry is by shore.
This is a pure muck diving site. There is no coral or other scenic beauty to the site…just a shallow sandy trash strew bottom and rare easily photographed specimens. Right off the bat, what do we see 2 minutes into our dive but a Shaggy Long-haired frogfish sitting amongst the sea-grass. It was small (8-10 cm) and greenish/brown in colour. Another first for this trip! Next up was an Indian Dancer/Fingered dragonet ambling about the sand. The DM had said there was a spot where up to 5 frogfish congregated but on this dive, only one giant yellow one appeared for its photo shoot. Other gems included several Spot-head snake eels peering up from the sand, an unusual “lacy†scorpionfish (but not the true lacy variety), and a couple Yellow Many-banded pipefish.
The show continued with unusual nudibranchs, several spiny seahorses (a black and a yellow), several rare gobies (including Sail-fin and Crab-eye), Banggai cardinalfish {sorry Helmut, these are apparently not limited to the Banggai Islands of Sulawesi}, Weedy filefish, Shrimp fish, Yellow Cowfish, small cuttlefish, and finally a WONDERPLUS MIMIC OCTOPUS! This site is really muck diving at its finest and much of what I saw was for the first time.
Conclusion
Needless to say, I have a very high opinion of Bali as a diving holiday destination. First and foremost, the quality of the underwater marine environment is superb. The sites I have dived seem to be very healthy reef ecosystems filled with a dizzying array of fish and invertebrate life. Conditions for diving at the sites have also been generally ideal, with good visibility and currents easily handled by all but the most junior diver. The dive resorts/operations have been comfortable and staffed with friendly and competent staff. The topside activities available are numerous for non-divers or for a break from diving. I can say without doubt that Bali will provide many full-filled diving days for me in the years to come.
Post-Script
I am organizing another trip to Bali tentatively scheduled for April 2006. The plan is to dive sites at Padang Bai and Candi Dasa (open-water drift, coral reef, and macro dives) and the newly discovered PJ near Pumeteran (another “better†Secret Bay macro site). Email or PM to me for further information.
Any of my previous reports referred to in this report can be found on the DAMNAM.org or Scubaboard.com site forums.
Plus the guys there were full of information and most warm and friendly.
