Bali in Oct...where to dive for 2 days?

Bali is a good place to visit.

I think south east asia is good for diving.

No! We just arranged it with Seraya. We took a car to Padang Bai and a boat from there. You know Dave, staying in Padang Bai might not be a bad idea. It looked like a really fun "town" and was a jumping off point to NP. Of course, getting to the wreck at dawn wouldn't be easy then.

But once you've been to Bali -- you'll be back. It's one of those amazing places.

As someone said, for only 2 days, it doesn't matter where you stay. I'm sure you'll be squeezing in 5-6 dives a day and you won't have time to see anything other than your pillow!

And don't worry about the shore dive. It's slippery, but there are loads of people to help. The bigger your camera the more "volunteers" you'll have : )

The slipperiness is along the beach that the Liberty Wreck is on. The next beach, Seraya, is sandy and not slippery. An inexpensive place to stay on the ocean near the Liberty is Paradise.

Another program can be: Pemuteran (north/west), and diving Menjangan and Secret Bay. Secret Bay is muck diving in <10m, and i saw more new creatures there than any other dive site.

Hey!

I've been to Tulamben twice in the last 6 weeks. Great dive on the Liberty. The "crowds" really aren't that bad - and the wreck is huge. Viz is better early on, 25m, but drops to 15-20m later in the day. A pre-brekkie dive, say 7am, will give you a diver-lite environment and good viz.

I can't see why you would boat dive the Liberty. It's very close to the shore. Yes, the entry is over smooth, smallish rocks - but isn't that difficult. But do wear boots and open-back fins rather than full-foot. I swapped my full foots for rental boots/open back fins after the first dive. I managed to get my Subal/2x strobes housing in the water for 20+ dives without a problem whilst assisting a friend relatively new to diving.

The "crowds", the distance from shore and the entry are not things that you need to worry about.

I found a 10-17mm worked really well on the Liberty; and a 60mm for the Coral Garden site which is a muck dive nearby: excellent and numerous crinoid shrimp;a nd a very good grouper cleaning station.

I stayed at Tauch Terminal which was well-organised, 75 yards from the Liberty, no extra charge for Nitrox (which I'd recommend), really nice rooms, good service...

And don't be put off by the lack of, errr, sophistication of the Tulamben "strip". Try it out for some local food - tasty and very cheap. Dinner out is about $4.

Have a great time - and enjoy Ubud. I'm sure you will :-)

Thanks for all the great advice and insight from you all. Tauch Terminal is sold out the time I am there. I decided to try the new Liberty Dive Resort and do 2 nights at Tulamben. I will only be there about 48 hrs so I will be getting in all the diving I can.

While my 10-17 has been having fun during past outings, the 60mm has only been in the pool. Looking forward to trying it out in that area. It will be all new for me so quite exciting.

I was planning on bringing both my full foot fins and my boots/open heel fins. I want the full foot for Alor boat dives as I much prefer them. But Tulamben requires boots. Thinking maybe renting the fins and bringing the boots might work. I have nice open heel fins but bringing them for only 1.5 days of diving seems a bit more than needed. I had not considered renting until Tim G's comments. Thinking that makes a lot of sense rather than packing them everywhere.

You should be aware that other than the Liberty Wreck the diving is muck at Tulamben and Seraya. I would recommend that you hire a guide, otherwise you will miss 90% of the critters.

I definitely plan to have a guide and thanks for the advice.

I hire a private guide, its only a few dollars more. This way the same guide dives with me on each dive, marks with a muck stick the critters and keeps me taking photos the whole dive. Also you can request what you would like and he will find them. Bali is wonderful and Indonesian diving is just heavenly.

Also you can request what you would like and he will find them.

Since its my first visit to Indo and never been close before, virtually everything is new to me. And with only about 1.5-2 days of diving, not really certain what I would ask for.

So here is an interesting follow-up question...

If you are at Tulamben for only 2 days for diving...what would you want to photograph? What would be the critters to hope/dream for? What would you ask the dive guide to find?

I am new enough to Indo so far that anything that does not run away will be a good find. Its not totally unlike the first kiss - by definition, it is the best so far.

Dave

I'd suggest you do the Liberty - you don't need a guide for that. Check out the ball of jacks which usually hang about in the 5m area a few metres south of the wreck.

Then there is an excellent cleaning station with groupers and all kinds of cleaner shrimp in 24m on Coral Garden. In 12m-18m on Coral Garden there a large number of black and white crinoids with many crinoid shrimp (ambionsis) on them. There are Xeno crabs too on a short whip coral in about 12m. The guides can find the Coral Garden things for you. All the Coral Garden stuff is 60mm or 105mm lens.

I'd suggest a 10-17mm for the Liberty.

Dave,

Tim is right on! The Coral Garden and the next site Paradise is all muck. Besides the Crinoid Shrimp, Xeno Crabs a good guide will find Ghost Pipe Fish, Harlequin Shrimp, Frog Fish and Ribbon Eels. Just bring large compact flash cards and fresh batteries.

Elmer

I just got back from 8 days of diving in Bali. At and around the Liberty, I caught on camera: schooling bumphead parrotfish, schooling jacks, xeno crab, wire coral shrimp and goby, crinoid shrimp, various nudis, leaf scorpionfish, porcelain crab, orangutan crab, ribbon eel, pipefish, various reef fish (and that was all on one day).

Seraya, which is 10 min away, was even more prolific with harlequin shrimp, coleman shrimp, peppermint shrimp, various nudis, wire coral shrimp and goby, snake eel, boxer crab, various morays, squat lobster, bobtail squid.

All of these are relatively common sightings in the area. The one thing I was hoping to see that I did not was a tiger shrimp.

For the Liberty, take a 10-17mm for wide angle and either 60mm or 105mm for macro. For Seraya, take the 105mm.

Sasdasdaf,

Thanks for the update. I was just reading about the 8 day trip and it sounds great. I really appreciate the lens advice as my time will be way too limited for much experimenting.