Our Bali trip was the best ever, wow, what a blast we had. We arrived in Tulumben late on the Wednesday, after a 3.5 hr flight and 2.5 hr drive across the countryside. We checked into our private villa with pool & kitchen atop a view to die for, we had the complex all to ourselves – in addition to our own housemaid at our beck & call throughout our stay. Thank you to Tony & Dot for the awesome time we had with you guys –it will stay with us forever.
I completed 8 dives over 3 days –on the "Liberty Glo" wreck, with one as a double on the drop off and wreck. I had the same guide for all of the diving "Datah" , he had the keenest eyes I have seen in 20 years of diving – the critters he found for me absolutely amazed – pipefish, frogfish , shrimps, seahorses, nudi's, sharks –the list goes on and on . I dived in a 1mm dive skin and was very comfortable in the 28* water for the 30mt/60 + min dives- I racked up 23min deco on 1 dive and Datah just kept on finding subjects at 5mts for me. I shot all my photos with either the plain vanilla 60mm or the 10-17mm –both performed exceptionally well – I used the same set of "AA" recharge batteries(Duracell2700) in the Z240's for all of the dives –approx 260 shots per dive – and they stayed charged till the final shot
The first day I completed 3 dives, day 2, 4 dives then the last day just the early morning –a typical time frame was wake up 0530 –pick up by scooter by 0545, at wreck divers by 0550, tanks carried by porters etc, dressed and at water's edge by 0615 to watch sunrise and have the wreck to ourselves. Dive till had a full "SD" card then out for banana pancakes and coffee, discuss what I wanted to see, dive, lunch, dive, coffee then back to villa for sleep and a quiet dinner watching the world go by from our private balcony - absolutely heaven .Oh, the banana pancakes at "Wayan" restaurant are simply to die for – my best was 3 in one day ;-)
After 4 days we packed up, said our heartfelt goodbyes to the staff at Tulumben wreck divers and transferred to the Grand Mirage @ Nusa Dua (the step off point for the mantas, sunfish and sharks). A 3 hr drive and a world away from Tulumben – in Tulumben time stands still , everything is done at such a relaxed pace – it just makes you unwind from lives pressures , where as Kuta is sensory overload – NO!!! I don't want braided hair, bemo, pedicure, manicure, money changed, sunglasses or massage –but I will have another banana pancake thank you – I picked up a Rolex divers watch for $5 Aussie & its still working 7 days later
Will I recommend Bali and Tulumben?–absolutely!! – It has it all –the diving is simply incredible –macro, wide angle, big, small and everything in-between. We will back in Jan –"sook Samira" to "Datah" and all the guys at TWD – it was totally "Bagus"
