Bali March 8-17. Tips?

[Mike1967]

Also someone slipped in Dive Concepts, it's a french owned very basic dive operator, they often use gringo guides, one of them without any experience lost her group diving Nusa Penida a few years ago, (luckily they were recovered drifting at night), i often see them on Tulamben or Amed with herds of budget divers loaded at the back of a truck. To me its cattle diving, Bali doesn't deserve this kind of operation, you will be much better off with a more comfortable operation.

For every bad review on TripAdvisor there's literally 100 excellent ones, so I guess you're in the 1%

 

[Luko]

For every bad review on TripAdvisor there's literally 100 excellent ones, so I guess you're in the 1%

Good for you if you're in the 99% BEFORE having used them.
FYI the interesting thing with Tripadvisor is not the % of good reviews as many operators will use tripadvisor for their benefit, sometimes there are even fake ones (not saying it's the case for Dive Concepts) It is more from the bad reviews that you learn what's the operator is about since things are always OK, until they are not anymore, that's where you see why there are different levels of operators.
Here is an example of what happened a while ago with this specific operator, and it's not Tripadvsor :
Divers Missing in Bali

Also check for instance on TripAdvisor what is the best restaurant in your hometown and you will certainly have a laugh. This is for Tripadvidosr accurracy.

If you're looking for dirt cheap operators and the services that go with low budget, if you are not very regarding on the guides experience with the local sites, if you don't mind larger groups than the rest of the local operators who provide private guiding, if you prefer diving with unexperienced open water divers as buddies (Dive concept is mainly favored becuse of their cheaper certifications) then this might be for you. You'll probably enjoy I hope you will.

On the other hand regarding my different opinion :
Do you know where they are located and have you visited them in Tulamben, have you seen their dive groups underwater : I have on my part.
Have you used different operators in Bali? i have for the last 18 years.
Do you know what are the dive conditions in Bali? I quite do for the time i have been diving Bali.

 

[Mike1967]

Good for you if you're in the 99% BEFORE having used them.

I'm not in any of the percentages because as you pointed out, I haven't used them yet.
I can only go off opinions of others, yours is just one of those, and you're entitled to it.
Btw, one incident in 2012 isnt going to influence me one bit,.

 

[Luko]

I'm not in any of the percentages because as you pointed out, I haven't used them yet.
I can only go off opinions of others, yours is just one of those, and you're entitled to it.
Btw, one incident in 2012 isnt going to influence me one bit,.

I am not trying to influence YOU since you have already booked your operator, I am trying to give some information to people who haven't dived Bali yet and are looking for advise. Not all the divers consider the dive price as their sole criteria, hence I think it's always better to give everyone the pros and cons of the dive operations.
I understand that if you are "new to diving" it may not be a big deal to dive in a large group with other new divers there's nothing wrong about that, everybody started like that, but after a while you may ask for something else, if the number of dives in the OP profile is correct, as well as yours, he/she maybe 5 to 10 times more experienced than you are..
(btw, an incident can happen all the time to almost any dive op, the reading of the SB article says more about the general orientation about this dive operation and the pros and cons of low budget dive centers viewed from Bali insiders, you can also read it as a tripadvisor advice... but a real one.)

 

[peterak]

I do not recommend going all that way to Pemuteran/Menjangan which for me is wasted time (min 4hrs drive), few critters, very few fish.

Not for me. While my experience and expertise diving in Bali is small relative to Luko's, I found the Pemuteran area quite rewarding, quite fishy actually, based on eight dives at Menjangan and four in Pemuteran proper. I liked topside Pemuteran as well—more to do than in Amed or Tulamben and less of a clusterf*** than Sanur/Denpassar. Menjangan, just a short boat ride from Pemuteran, was delightful, both topside and below. The drive from eastern Bali is indeed long and rather tedious, but, depending on route, you can get a nice scenic tour of the island out of it.

As mentioned, my experience in Bali is limited—the above-mentioned west Bali dives plus single dives at a handful of locations in Amed, Tulamben (including Liberty wreck, which did not particularly impress me), and Padangbai. (Dove with Sea Rovers in Pemuteran, Geko in Padangbai, and Amed Jepun Divers in Amed—all highly recommended.)

 

[peterak]

Every balinese warung or cornershop is or has a relative who's a driver, it will cost you something at most like 60-70 USD for a full day tour, 50USD for a half day, you can find many drivers and tour guides on the internet who you can discuss with on whatsapp. I can give some some hints for Tulamben based drivers.
I don't like paying a premium to the dive centers when i can deal directly with locals and small businesses.

I strongly agree. Bali is full of honest, personable, eager drivers. You can even just pick one at the airport exit.

 

[Darnold9999]

Personally I found Pemuteran/Menjangan to be ho hum as well. Nice, but not worth the drive - in fact it put me off diving Bali as there are so many more interesting places to dive in Indonesia. It was a bit more interesting topside than Tulamben but only a bit. On another trip to Ambon and Raja Ampat was convinced by Underwater Tribe to give Bali another look. Stayed a couple of days in Tulamben and did a dawn dive on the Liberty but found it to be underwhelming. However just down the road did a couple of macro dives that were excellent so would definitely go back. Algae octopus, bumblebee shrimps, and a bunch of nudis. Had a local guide who was an excellent critter spotter.

When visiting Indonesia I have found it wise to listen to Luko.

 

[peterak]

When visiting Indonesia I have found it wise to listen to Luko.

I can't argue with that. Maybe it's got something to do with what you're looking for. While I certainly like the rare, cryptic stuff that the guides are paid to point out, I also just like to see a wide variety of typical fish—lots of different angels, butterflies, wrasses, anthias, etc. Which is just what I got at Menjangan. And, again, I find Menjangan to be a very beautiful place to visit.

Back in the day when I expressed to my Deadhead friends a preference for Workingman's and American Beauty the Deadheads would scorn my choices, instead preferring bootlegs that featured twenty-minute desultory ultra-Dead jams. Me, I just liked good songs, and I did and still do appreciate Hunter's songwriting skills.

All that said, we may skip western Bali next trip—been there, done that—and concentrate on the east side and the Nusas. And maybe after a few more trips I'll have a different assessment of western Bali.

 

[UFOrb]

We visited Bali in May 2017.

In Tulamben we stayed with Liberty Dive Resort. Nice rooms (we had a fantastic view of Mt Agung from our bed) and three pools to choose from. Food was ok although nothing to write home about, but lets face it we were there for the diving. You get your own local guide, set your own dive schedule and they offer free Nitrox. Dawn dive on the Liberty at 6am, no problem. Overall, great value for money.

There have been a few recommendations for Padang Bai but Candidasa may also be worth looking at. It’s only a few miles north of Padang Bai and you can easily access the same dive sites.
We stayed at a wonderful family owned place called Hotel Genggong, which has gorgeous rooms with a view across the Lombok Straight and serves a very nice breakfast, as well as quality evening meals if you choose to eat there. There are plenty of other restaurants within walking distance though. The owners and staff were genuinely lovely people.
There’s some interesting ‘muck’ snorkelling off the ‘beach’ in front of the hotel, where my young son & I spent hours exploring together!
I only did two dives out of Candidasa as I didn’t want to spend too much time away from my family. I dived Gili Mimpang and Gili Tepekong with Benthos, which were accessed from a small boat from just in front of our hotel....they were both awesome dives and should not be over-looked on your dive schedule.

 

[Mike1967]

I asked a few questions to Dive Concepts about concerns I had after Luko's posts, this was their reply.

"Our guides are all local dive masters. They are all working with us for many years now.
The ratio is no more than 4 certified divers per dive master.
We always group divers by level."