Bali in Early Feb

[Scofield]

Hi all,
I will be in Singapore in late jan/early feb, and hoping to get a week away after chinese new year. Last 2 years i've been going PG in philippines and would like to try someplace different.

From what i can tell, Bali maybe my best bet.
This will be my first visit to Indonesia so would appreciate help with a few questions:

1. I'm considering Sanur as a base as I would like a bit of nightlife. But besides Nusa Penida, are there other divesites nearby that doesn't require long land travel times? Is NP worth repeated dives? Some variety in dive sites would be nice.

2. What can i hope to see at this time of year? Is there a manta season? I guess mola mola is out of the question.

3. I will probably arrive right after CNY, so i'm expecting the place to be BUSY. Anything else i should be ready for?

4. Other places i had in mind were Sipadan or Malapascua, Cebu. The former i think will be pretty difficult to get permits (because of CNY again!) and the latter will be too quiet after sunset.
Are these fair assumptions or maybe i should reconsider?

Cheers!

 

[frogfish]

I have only been to Bali once in February, so not sure the conditions were representative of what you should expect - We were in the North-East of the island (Amed) and there was rain but more importantly it was quite windy which on several days led us to cancel diving around Tulamben.

Malapascua was nice when we visited around CNY a couple of years ago, but it is quiet indeed although there are a couple of bars with music in the evening, but definitely very low key.

Have you thought about Alona beach in Philippines, or maybe Boracay ?

 

[Midget]

Sanur is about a 3 hrs drive to the dive sites near Tulamben and about the same distance to the diving on the opposite end of the island at Menjangan.
Many of the dive sites off Nusa Penida have fierce currents, and there is no specific season for mantas.

 

[ManusiaLaut]

I live and dive in Bali and can tell you that mantas can be seen on the south side of Nusa Penida island but the conditions are sometimes not very good - swell/surge and poor vis with too many divers. If you are into the night life, Sanur is a bit more quiet than Kuta and some of the more popular places to stay. I would suggest for the diving that you forgo the Bali nightlife and stay at Padang Bai which is the south coast dive center for Bali. 20-30 minutes to N.P. dive sites, 1-1.5 hours to Amed and Tulamben. Other option is to book a Bali dive safari that takes you around Bali hitting the best locations over a 3-5 day period.

 

[jjek]

Agree with ManusiaLaut and Midget,

Seeing mantas shouldn't be a problem, but conditions can be. Swell/surge/poor visibility may be a problem, but on the other hand if you're lucky no one else wants to enter the water at the same time and that's definitely better than having tens of divers messing around the cleaning station threatening mantas away. When the conditions are nice to dive there'll be a number of boats and A LOT of divers. Your best bet is to be easy with air and wait until everybody else has left the cleaning station and others are still yet to enter the water. That's when you'll meet mantas.

Things are getting worse when you want to see Molas. I'd say your best bet is actually off-season, as during the Mola season there are tens of boats in Crystal Bay (supposedly the number 1 location, but not only, to spot Molas) and you can only imagine the number of divers with their bubbles...personally my best experiences have been always any other times than Mola season itself. But Molas can be seen in some other locations as well, so there are alternatives.

About Padangbai...agree about it as well. Still reasonably easy access to Tulamben, about 1 hour speed boat trip to NP and diving in Padangbai can be really good. There are easier sites and some more challenging ones such as the ones around Gili Tepekong that can be really good but quite often not recommended.

Not to forget Amed and some other nice sites around that area.

 

[gee13]

I had a group of locals that were in Bali last Jan Feb - it rained the whole time they were there! Bad vis was apparent. So I dont think thats the best time. I was there in Sept fantastic weather in NP and molas to boot!

If your considering Malapascua Im heading there on Jan 23 from cebu city in the morning. Looking for someone to split private transfer costs from ceby city to MP.

 

[Midget]

I was in Bali Feb '09 and the weather was wonderful. Rained a little bit about every other day.
Weather is so unpredictable.

 

[joesgonediving]

Hi,

I cannot agree more, the weather in Bali can be very unpredictable. Last year in December it was beautiful and gorgeous weather. However at the moment it is raining pretty bad for a couple of days now. Maybe that will mean the weather will be great next year in Feb, who knows...

Nusa Penida has many different dive spots so it is definitely worthwhile to go there for multiple dive trips. The majority of the dives will be drift dives but spots like Manta Point are completely different again of course. As already mentioned above it is not really mola mola season. They are actually around all year, but only come up closer to the surface when the water is colder. So theoretically you might be able to spot them throughout the year.

As far as other dive sites are concerned. Sanur itself has 3 dive sites which are of course close by. In our experience it takes about 2 hours from Sanur by car to Tulamben and about 1 hour to Candidasa/Padangbai. I would recommend diving on more dive spots than Nusa Penida as it would be a pity to miss out on the other great spots on Bali.

On the Joe's Gone Diving website you can find some more information about the various dive sites, including distance to the dive spots from Sanur. If you would like to have some more information, feel free to drop me an email.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[ManusiaLaut]

Another option you can consider from Singapore is to dive in Bunaken/Lembeh Strait with a direct flight from Singapore to Manado. Diving in Bunaken is primarily wall diving at Bunaken Island but there is also some really good diving on the adjacent to Manado on the mainland. For a truly unique experience though I would recommend you strongly consider Lembeh, a muck diving mecca. If you would like more information feel fee to drop me a PM. I'm presently back in Lembeh for my second time in since mid-December. Like Sanur though, no night life but really good diving, especially if you are a photographer/videographer.

 

[Mich Bali]

I think you do have to make your choice between some nightlife and a bit of good diving, or a lot of good diving and forget about the nightlife. Sorry to let you down on Sanur also, nightlife is very poor here (I live there), you need to be in Kuta - Seminyak, even further from the diving.
I agree with missing Joe, a Safari is the best option to get the best out of Bali.