Trip report Bali, Tulamben Oct 2011

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martinskarin

Registered
Messages
65
Reaction score
5
Location
Shanghai
# of dives
50 - 99
Just now arrived home to Shanghai from a week in Bali. I went together with my girlfriend who should make open water so we did not plan on moving around but just to stay at one spot for the whole week.

We travveled out from Shanghai in the 4 October with Korean Arilines, very good company with good service and very cute flight attendants :wink: Arrived early morning the 5th and got a pick up from the resort. 2,5h drive to Tulamben and then finally a night sleep.

The resort we stayed at was Matahari Tulamben Resort, it was a nice resort with very nice staff and good prices. The meals was good and low priced but some dishes was a little bit small. There where several other resorts around to eat at aswell. They had a small dive shop with rental gear, the BCD:s was in really good condition and the other gear looked ok too. This is the only local owned resort, the others seemed to be owned by foreigners. They could not fill EANx at Matahari, this was not really needed for us since we stayed there the whole time and had plenty of time to take between the dives but if you come for making two, three dives in half a day you might want to have it.

First day we did not dive at all, my GF should start the course the 6th so we hanged out and looked around and rested the whole day. There is not much to do in the area if you walk around. It is basicly a 1km street with resorts and small shops. There was a temple just outside the village and the highest mountain is right next too it so it is a nice scenery.

The 6th my GF started out on the course and me on diving. The diving is mostly shore diving with rocky beaches which makes the entry a little bit tricky, one need to walk very carefully not too fall. It is walking distance (3 min) to USAT Liberty where I made most dives (they have people to carry down the tanks and BCD for you). There is also a dive spot just outside which had some nice smaller marine life and some nice corals. Another one called the drop off was also on a 2 min walking distance, this one was a coral reef on a slope and later a wall dropping down into darkness. Very nice coral life here and a lot of small stuff and a lot of fish. USAT liberty is a bit broken up since it was pushed down in the water from shore of the volcano in late 60s I think. But it is a nice artificial reef with a lot of life. A bit too much divers tho so it is recommended as a early morning dive or a night dive. Max depth for the spots here is 20-30m and the dives is rechnically easy.

USAT liberty and the dive spot outside the resort (called Coral garden) is also good for snorkeling, the ship is at the shallowest depth about 3m and there is a huge school of fish there going bery shallow too.

The DM:s knew where to find the small stuff to photo which I could not find myself, they had several so it was never a problem with schedules etc there where always one free to take you out.

Sunny made the OW course as mentioned, totally they where three divers doing the course together (The resort does not have a instructor so they use a contractor that also works with other resorts). It consisted of 1 confined water dive and 4 open water dives. No theory discussions and she had to ask to be shown how to set up the equpment. There where several exercises left out that I later made with her myself to make sure she got it all right. They where diving at the USAT Liberty the first day in the course, I do not remember the dept but they where to around 18m, 3 new divers and only one instructor. The test they where given in a evening and could do it with help from whoever they wanted... Luckily I pushed her to read and understand the manual and also explain most parts to me before we went to the vacaiont so I know that she understands and knows it anyway. The course was only to teach the most basic skills and to make the divers certified with as little effort as possible, not a good example! I´ve take Sunny to Discover SCUBA before and also to dive in a aquarioum with fishes and sharks while a DM basicly held her by the tank so she got some training before and I knew she was calm and relaxed with being on SCUBA and doing exercises as clearing mask and recovering regulator etc. She will need some work on the boyancy control tho.....

We also had two days of diving to go around to look at the island, it is a nice island with a lot to do besides diving. For example trekking up the 3300m volcano (which we did not do) and going around visiting coffee plantages ( they make coffe in a slightly different way, the bean is eaten by a animan looking a little like a angry fox, but they cannot digest the bean so it comes out the other end in one piece, then they take the bean to make coffee, taste really good actually but is really expensive!), see huge rice platanges, temples and a lot of other stuff. There are also a lot of other water sports to do around the island.

For a trip to Bali I reccommend moving around between the different dive areas of the island to cover all the diving, rent a motorcykle it is really cheap! Just make sure to have a international license. Stay not more than two days at each place, it is enough. Better cover them all. We did not do this since Sunny made the OW course and I expected it to take 4-5 days not 2 when I planned the trip...

I will likely go back again to see all the other places to dive at Bali, it is cheap and the people are really nice to you, I recommend it !
 
A very scary dive course for your girlfriend,hope you pass on as much as possible to her.There has been enough incidents in Bali this year.From all my experience in Tulamben one of the best places for training is at Ocean sun on the main road near Matahari/Paradise
Diving and Dive Course in Bali with SSI Dive Centre in Tulamben A very professional outfit courses all the way up to Tech diving.Ricardo one of the most calmest instructor i have met and a very professional personal service.

Putu who has now has Tulamben Divingsport opposite Wayans Restaurant is one of the most experienced guides in the area and again great personal service,What people don't realise is if you are staying in Tulamben there is nothing wrong with having your own guide from outside.meaning you can have a personal guide and with lot's of experience.Putu contact is tulambendivingsport@yahoo.com .

A evening meal/drink at Paradise by the sea or great food and cold beer at the very nice Safetystop Bar/restaurant on the main road or great Indo food at Wayans and you have everything you need in tulamben
 
Wow the open water course is done like as quick as possible and not what the customer wants. It looks like the instructor skipped a lot of things during the course. I hope ur girlfriend likes diving and that she will have nice dive expierences in the future.
 
Thanks for the nice thread. Sunny should report this instructor to the diving association where she got her registration.here in Tulamben are more professionals instructors can give a good course and service. But people like this instructor will harm the good reputation of the village.

Ricardo Ocean Sun
 
Hi Ricardo,
Nice to see you in ths forum - welcome
hope you can recognize who're in this picture

melati_and_ricardo.jpg
 
Hi Ricardo,
Nice to see you in ths forum - welcome
hope you can recognize who're in this picture

@ Wisnu That's good you know Ricardo and Ocean sun D C and very cute picture :D yes have a lot of respect for them and their easy going professional attitude to diving

As for martinskarin GF lesson here is never take a course where a resort brings in staff as you don't know what you are getting and here is a perfect example,shocking ! what i can't inderstand is why did you allow this to happen especialy as you are already a diver and being your girlfriend and you knowing that course was not being done fully and in a professional manner.I remember when i took my open water course in Fiji and when i look back at the course.It really was a tough course they gave me and grateful for that and passed my test with 98% pass rate
 
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