bc1954
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I will be visiting Seminyak for Christmas 2014. I would like to do a few dives any suggestions on where to go and what dive shop I should look at. Will only be there for 4 nights then off to Ubud. Thanks
Christmas in Seminyak, Diving?
- Thread starter bc1954
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No diving in Seminyak or the SW side of Bali. Thats the surf side. You are hours away from diving which can be easily arranged through any number of vendors in the area. There are also some very good ops that frequent this part of Scubaboard. Nothing wrong with day trips, just know you will spend 4+ hours in a dive shop's bus/van/boat that day.
If you pull out a map, the "main" dive areas are:
Sanur (which usually involves a speed boat trip to a set of islands about 40 minutes away)
Lembongan (Where people stay to visit the set of islands mentioned above)
Padang Bai
Tulamben/Amed
Menjangan and the extreme NW corner of the island (I have never been up there. It is pretty far.)
Essentially the east to southeast side of the island is the diving. The Seminyak, Legian, Kuta, Uluwatu coast SW coast is world class...for surfing.
If you pull out a map, the "main" dive areas are:
Sanur (which usually involves a speed boat trip to a set of islands about 40 minutes away)
Lembongan (Where people stay to visit the set of islands mentioned above)
Padang Bai
Tulamben/Amed
Menjangan and the extreme NW corner of the island (I have never been up there. It is pretty far.)
Essentially the east to southeast side of the island is the diving. The Seminyak, Legian, Kuta, Uluwatu coast SW coast is world class...for surfing.
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Well, I would do a day or two of diving at Nusa Penida/Lembongan if you are in Seminyak, it's quite close to Sanur and then you have a day trip on a speed boat from there to the islands, typically back by around 3pm.
Then, once you get to Ubud I would do day trips to Padang Bai, Amed, and Tulamben/Seraya. Staying in Ubud will knock off about 45 mins to 1 hour of travel time to those areas rather than from Seminyak...
Then, once you get to Ubud I would do day trips to Padang Bai, Amed, and Tulamben/Seraya. Staying in Ubud will knock off about 45 mins to 1 hour of travel time to those areas rather than from Seminyak...
Wingy
Contributor
What ever you do in Bali you are going to spend time sitting in traffic so agree with Mike, from Seminyak get a op to pick you up, head to Sanur and enjoy a day at Lembongan/Nusa Penida. I would recommend Bali Dive Academy/Scubali - I am a long time customer and have referred many others who have all been satisfied.
Does make more sense diving a lot of the sites from Ubud than Seminyak... Gili Tepekong/Mimpang/Biaha are other sites to add on you A-list!
DiveExploreIndonesia
Contributor
Hi, I agree with gekodive. It makes more sense from Ubud, although it also depends how many dives you want to do and how much time you have in Bali....
billt4sf
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how long does it take to get from Ubud to Padang Bai? Same question for Amed, and Tulamben/Seraya.? Seems to me from Google maps that Ubud - Padang Bai can be done as a day trip, but Amed / Tulamben would require a night's stay because of the travel time.
Aren't those advanced sites?
I'm doing some reading / research as we are thinking of moving to Bali in a couple years' time. Nice to make your "acquaintance" Geko and DiveExplore!
Thanks,
Bill
Nice to "meet" you too.
Ubud is just over an hour away from Padang Bai. From there, you can dive all of East Bali sites. Boat rides from Padang Bai range from 2 minutes (local sites with coral reefs, sharks, turtles and macro) to one hour (manta point for... Mantas).
Tulamben is much further and you may find it more practical to book with a local op who can organise transport from Ubud. It is do-able on a single trip though. Most divers actually dive there from Sanur or Seminyak and make-do with the 3 hour drive each way...
Tepekong, Mimpang and Biaha are indeed for Advanced divers. Currents and depths make these inaccessible to divers still in need of perfecting their skills and limited to 18m.
This also holds true for most sites around Nusa Penida IMHO. We request divers without an Advanced ticket to dive easier dive sites before taking them there so we can assess their level of comfort. It's less easy to conduct this assessment when subjected to 6 ft swell or 3 knots downcurrents...
By looking at some divers in Manta Point or Crystal Bay these days, it seems that many dive ops do not take such precautions!
Ubud is just over an hour away from Padang Bai. From there, you can dive all of East Bali sites. Boat rides from Padang Bai range from 2 minutes (local sites with coral reefs, sharks, turtles and macro) to one hour (manta point for... Mantas).
Tulamben is much further and you may find it more practical to book with a local op who can organise transport from Ubud. It is do-able on a single trip though. Most divers actually dive there from Sanur or Seminyak and make-do with the 3 hour drive each way...
Tepekong, Mimpang and Biaha are indeed for Advanced divers. Currents and depths make these inaccessible to divers still in need of perfecting their skills and limited to 18m.
This also holds true for most sites around Nusa Penida IMHO. We request divers without an Advanced ticket to dive easier dive sites before taking them there so we can assess their level of comfort. It's less easy to conduct this assessment when subjected to 6 ft swell or 3 knots downcurrents...
By looking at some divers in Manta Point or Crystal Bay these days, it seems that many dive ops do not take such precautions!
A lot of flailing arms and bicycle kicking when I dived CB recently. Not as difficult a dive as I anticipated but then the warnings kept me on the side of caution. Certainly not for newly qualified divers though, which there seemed to be a few of.
Conditions can change from one minute to the next at this site. Always beware here and stay close to the reef, not necessarily on it!
You can have newbies in Crystal Bay, but they should stay inside the bay, not on the wall and even less at 25m on their own crashing into corals while their DM is out in the blue looking for sunfish...
Sometimes I kinda want to create a name and shame page.
You can have newbies in Crystal Bay, but they should stay inside the bay, not on the wall and even less at 25m on their own crashing into corals while their DM is out in the blue looking for sunfish...
Sometimes I kinda want to create a name and shame page.
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