Bali and Wakatobi

Headed back from a fun trip to Indonesia diving Bali (Padang Bai and Tulamben) and Wakatobi.

Full gallery is here: http://www.baue.org/images/galleries/v/travel/Indonesia2015/Underwater/

Highlights below.

Clinton

Hi Clinton,

Looking great! How did you like Wakatobi? Where did you stay in Tulamben?

Cheers,

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks! In Bali I stayed at a hotel just NE of Denpasar. A friend of mine, Leon Boey, runs a dive shop out of the hotel: http://livingseas.asia. We drove to Tulamben (a bit of a drive) and Padang Bai (not too bad) each day. It worked out great though I might imagine that a resort closer to the dive sites would be more convenient though not being tied to any one area meant we had lots of options. The pier at Padang Bai has loads of potential as a muck diving site. I'd love to spend more time there.

Wakatobi is very nice. Healthy reefs, lots of nice coral and colorful reef fish, super easy diving. The resort is fantastic and has one of the best camera rooms I've seen. Maybe a bit of a tough place to shoot. It's great for pygmies (we saw them every day and 3 different species) but not a critter hotspot otherwise. (The guides tell me the Pelagian live aboard has some better muck sites but I can't confirm that as we were only at the resort.) For wide angle there are definitely subjects but the sites (mostly walls) have a bit of sameness to them. Not a big animal place at all. Still, I had a great time and would definitely recommend it.

Clinton

Thanks Clinton,

I can confirm that the Pelagian is wonderful but we didn't dive with the resort. The best would be to put them together with a week on each. Next time

Cheers,

Steve