bearhere
Registered
Hi, my husband and I recently returned from a three-week trip to Bali. This was a two-week dive trip and one week for sightseeing and participating in the Bali New Year celebration of Nyepi. The diving was fantastic! This was our first Asia trip and I was a bit intimidated by everything. A web search for dive operators didnt help at all, there was almost too much information.
What we like in a dive trip is of course good diving with variety. We like to have a home base and venture out from there. We were not looking for a Safari trip where we changed hotels and drove long distances to get to the dive sites. But the best trips we have had were when we could add the human element and get to know our fellow divers, make friends and join in the local dive community for however long we were there.
Geko Dive, in Padangbai, was the most perfect fit for us. Cedric helped me navigate and plan our trip. They booked our hotel, Puri Rai and arranged for pick up from the airport. The hotel was clean, safe and had AC that worked. We ended up not spending much time there because we were too busy diving and then socializing at the Geko dive shop. Our room cost $ 44.00 per night and included breakfast (which was basic and just fine). Geko operated a top-notch dive shop. The staff was friendly, professional and safety was very much stressed. The dive boats were great, easy in and easy out and comfortable. Geko provided lunch on dive days and it was quite fantastic. I am missing my Bali lunches already. Our gear was well taken care of and we had nice fresh water rinse tanks at the dive shop plus fresh water showers. Numerous classes were going on while we were there, tek courses, discover dives, Open Water, AOW, etc. We only booked five days initially with the thought of changing locations and trying other dive operators. On day 4, we extended with Geko dive and had the trip of a lifetime.
There were several local dive locations in the Padangbai/ Blue Lagoon area, and they were all extremely enjoyable. I guess the local currents increase during a dark moon, and we were there over Spring Equinox and dark moon. On our last day the currents did get strong, but drift diving is fun. In my opinion the Nusa Pendia dives were out of this world! Only a 45 min boat ride, we dove Manta Point several times. Wow! I never did count how many mantas we saw. This is a cleaning station and they come in droves and open their gills to allow the cleaner fish to eat parasites. Ped Temple has to be my favorite dive EVER! I was blown away, I have never seen more sea life, soft corals, fish nudibranchs, .everything. I was (still am) quite blown away.
We did to go to Tulamben and dive the Liberty wreck, that was so much fun. A huge open wreck filled with more fish, corals and critters than I have ever seen. We also dove Amed and if you are into muck diving that is the place for you. This was our first time muck diving and it was OK. I prefer the wall dives, the wrecks and the coral reefs, but there were tons of things to see in the muck.
Water was around 81, and we had a great DM, Bekul. We were treated fantastic. Geko owners are primarily English speakers. Liv is from UK, James is Australian and Cedric is European. Bali is a huge international dive/travel destination. English is the second language and we were able to get around quite easily, but it was very nice not to have an additional language barrier when diving. My observations were, anybody with a couple of scuba tanks, set up a dive shop. After getting off the plane and on our way to Padangbai, we saw several dozen dive operations scattered all over the place. Bali isnt that big of an island, but these shops were not close to the dive locations. You would have had to spend one to two hours driving to get to the places we were close by. Padangbai is a small village and less than 10 min from most of the dive sites.. Lots of people go there to catch the ferry to Loombok or the fast boats to the Gilly Islands but not many stay there. It is a very convenient location and allowed us to hang out, have fun, relax, explore, sample local cuisine, sight see and most important to us, meet new people and make new friends. I cant say enough on what a fantastic trip this was, and Cedric, Liv and James at Geko Dive were a large part of the success of our trip.
What we like in a dive trip is of course good diving with variety. We like to have a home base and venture out from there. We were not looking for a Safari trip where we changed hotels and drove long distances to get to the dive sites. But the best trips we have had were when we could add the human element and get to know our fellow divers, make friends and join in the local dive community for however long we were there.
Geko Dive, in Padangbai, was the most perfect fit for us. Cedric helped me navigate and plan our trip. They booked our hotel, Puri Rai and arranged for pick up from the airport. The hotel was clean, safe and had AC that worked. We ended up not spending much time there because we were too busy diving and then socializing at the Geko dive shop. Our room cost $ 44.00 per night and included breakfast (which was basic and just fine). Geko operated a top-notch dive shop. The staff was friendly, professional and safety was very much stressed. The dive boats were great, easy in and easy out and comfortable. Geko provided lunch on dive days and it was quite fantastic. I am missing my Bali lunches already. Our gear was well taken care of and we had nice fresh water rinse tanks at the dive shop plus fresh water showers. Numerous classes were going on while we were there, tek courses, discover dives, Open Water, AOW, etc. We only booked five days initially with the thought of changing locations and trying other dive operators. On day 4, we extended with Geko dive and had the trip of a lifetime.
There were several local dive locations in the Padangbai/ Blue Lagoon area, and they were all extremely enjoyable. I guess the local currents increase during a dark moon, and we were there over Spring Equinox and dark moon. On our last day the currents did get strong, but drift diving is fun. In my opinion the Nusa Pendia dives were out of this world! Only a 45 min boat ride, we dove Manta Point several times. Wow! I never did count how many mantas we saw. This is a cleaning station and they come in droves and open their gills to allow the cleaner fish to eat parasites. Ped Temple has to be my favorite dive EVER! I was blown away, I have never seen more sea life, soft corals, fish nudibranchs, .everything. I was (still am) quite blown away.
We did to go to Tulamben and dive the Liberty wreck, that was so much fun. A huge open wreck filled with more fish, corals and critters than I have ever seen. We also dove Amed and if you are into muck diving that is the place for you. This was our first time muck diving and it was OK. I prefer the wall dives, the wrecks and the coral reefs, but there were tons of things to see in the muck.
Water was around 81, and we had a great DM, Bekul. We were treated fantastic. Geko owners are primarily English speakers. Liv is from UK, James is Australian and Cedric is European. Bali is a huge international dive/travel destination. English is the second language and we were able to get around quite easily, but it was very nice not to have an additional language barrier when diving. My observations were, anybody with a couple of scuba tanks, set up a dive shop. After getting off the plane and on our way to Padangbai, we saw several dozen dive operations scattered all over the place. Bali isnt that big of an island, but these shops were not close to the dive locations. You would have had to spend one to two hours driving to get to the places we were close by. Padangbai is a small village and less than 10 min from most of the dive sites.. Lots of people go there to catch the ferry to Loombok or the fast boats to the Gilly Islands but not many stay there. It is a very convenient location and allowed us to hang out, have fun, relax, explore, sample local cuisine, sight see and most important to us, meet new people and make new friends. I cant say enough on what a fantastic trip this was, and Cedric, Liv and James at Geko Dive were a large part of the success of our trip.
