Bali Report Diving The Island Of The Gods - Introduction

[JonnieB]

Bali Report

Diving the Island of the Gods…Again
November 2005

Keywords: SCUBA Diving, Indonesia, Bali, Tulamben Bay, Seraya Bay, Seraya Secrets, Menjangan Island, Secret Bay, Gilimanuk Bay, Scuba Seraya Resort, Mimpi Menjangan Resort, Bali Hai Scuba Diving


INTRODUCTION

It may sound like the tired line of a tourism promotion campaign, but the island of Bali truly is an enchanting place. The dramatic towering volcanoes and lush green mountain valleys, covered in rice terraces, are very special. The friendly greeting by the Balinese people makes a warm welcome. All this and the superlative diving make it a compelling choice for a great diving holiday.

This report covers my second trip to Bali in November 2005. I went to Seraya Secrets, Menjangan Island, and Gilimanuk/Secret Bay. (In early 2005, I dived Tulamben Bay and Seraya Secrets - see my report on this forum.) On this trip, a few days were again spent at Seraya Secrets and then I went to the north-west of the island and dived Menjangan Island and Gilimanuk/Secret Bay. Bali continues to impress me in all areas: scenic beauty, superlative diving, friendly and professional dive staff, great dive resorts, and good food.

BALI DIVING BASICS

The great South-East Asia diving triangle stretching from the Philippines in the north to Indonesia in the west and Papua New Guinea in the south is reported to have the most prolific and diverse marine environment in the world in the world. In seas adjacent to the triangle are the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Andaman sea sites of Thailand and Burma. Within this vast area one can find any type of diving…it’s almost overwhelming. With so many options, it can be hard to decide where to spend one’s limited time and money.

Bali is within the triangle…the variety and quality of the marine life seen on this trip certainly confirmed it. Diving can be done as a daytrip from the tourist center of Denpasar/Kuta or as a safari from a dedicated dive resort. For non-diving companions or rest days, Bali has many topside attractions, including river rafting, jungle trekking, beach activities (surfing, parasailing, etc.) Hindu temple and local village tours, arts and crafts shopping, Balinese musical and dance performances, fine dining, and spas to name just a few.

Bali has divesites to suit all tastes. From the high adrenaline drift and “washing machine” dives at Nusa Penida and Padang Bai, the serene Liberty wreck at Tulamben, the coral limestone walls of Menjangan Island, and classic muck diving at Seraya Secrets and Secret Bay. The Tulamben/Seraya area is 2 hours, and the Menjangan/Secret Bay sites about 3 hours, drive from Denpasar/Kuta. Both drives take in the beautiful Bali countryside scenery of lush green valleys and towering volcanoes. The Tulamben and Menjangan areas themselves, however, are arid and covered with brown scrub-brush. It almost like being on another island. Both areas are in the in the shadow of towering volcanoes, which are quite a sight.

Before going on, I want to say a few words in praise of Singapore airlines…truly a diver’s best friend. This airline always impresses me with the quality of all aspects of its operations. From the clarity of their website, to the ease of purchasing a ticket online, to the final “goodbye” as you alight on your return flight, it is a pleasure flying Singapore airlines. Of particular interest to divers is the airline’s lenient excess baggage policy. My SCUBA diving kit weighs in at a hernia inducing 34 kilograms (about 70 pounds). I usually travel economy class, which carries a baggage allowance of 10 KILOGRAMS! (First class has a standard allowance of only 30 kilos.) On other airlines, I have been charged up to $50 in excess baggage charges, but on Singapore, at least ex-Bangkok, there has never been any additional charge. In addition, what other airline still has pre-flight drink service and free beer and wine with meals in economy class, as well as a full selection of newspapers and magazines? Invariability, the crews are efficient and courteous and make even the “cows” feel special.

 

[JonnieB]

The Divesites

Seraya Secrets

Seraya Secrets is the house reef of Scuba Seraya Resort, located a few kilometers from Tulamben Bay. (See my previous report for a full-description of this resort and diving in the Tulamben Bay area.) This is an amazing muck dive site, with a black sand and rocky bottom accessed from the shore. It is primarily of interest to those seeking unusual fish and invertebrate life as there is nothing scenic about the site itself. On this trip, I had the good fortune to dive with Renault, the dive master at Bali Hai Scuba, the resort’s dive operator. I have never dived with someone with such a sharp eye for spotting life on a reef, especially tiny macro treasures. I was amazed to find out that he has developed this “eye” with only 300 dives under his weight belt…I was expecting the usual “Oh, I stopped counting after 2000 dives…”

Shortly after my arrival on our first dive of the afternoon, Renault was off to the races spotting rare and unusual decorator and spider crabs, comensal shrimps, nudibranchs, squat lobsters, crinoid shrimps, you name it. Another highlight were a couple of orange frogfish of a type I had never seen before…having rounded humped backs and no real dorsal fin. One was nestled-up next to an orange sponge and about 12-15 cm and the other much smaller (a juvenile perhaps) at about 4 cm and perched on the tip of a rock.

During the afternoon dives there was a fairly strong current, however, a few hours later during nite dives, it was gone. This site is great during the day, but at nite, a whole new crew of reef actors comes on stage to take their bow before the camera. The variety and quantity of the invertebrate life at nite is nothing short of astonishing…and with Renault there to point it all out, be sure to have a large storage card in your camera…I maxed out a 128 gig card during one dive. This would definitely be a site worth doing multiple evening dives on…maybe a sunset dive and then a nite dive a few hours later.

The Seraya Secrets site is filled with many types of nudibranchs, eels, and commensal crabs and shrimps of all types. All of this is found along a black sandy and rocky bottom going down to 35 meters. As noted above, there can be strong currents at this site and visibility is usually between 3-10 meters. During some times of the year, the shore entry can be tricky due to the surf (see previous report).

Reviewing my logbook, I noted the following from 2 day diving: Dozens of morays of many varieties, including Black-spotted, Yellow-margin, Starry, White-eye, Giant, Golden, and Honeycomb; dozens of different nuddies, Harlequin shrimp, 3 seahorses – a yellow, a pink, and an orange one, several frogfish – the orange ones and a black giant one, many lionfish and scorpion fish, many different comensal shrimps, crabs and squat lobsters among the crinoids and urchins, and finally a peacock flounder.

This is one sites where the nite dives equal or even exceed what is seen during the day. I did 2 nite dives and noted that “80% never seen before…” There were many unusual spider, hermit, and decorator crabs, morays, frogfish, “strange” nudibranchs, squat lobsters, purple urchin commensal shrimp (shaped like the urchin’s spine), Bumble-bee shrimp, clown frogfish, cowry shells, sea-grass shrimp, ornate multi-hued ghost pipefish, ORANGATANG CRAB, round crabs, “daddy long-legs” crab. Renaut and I were spotting so many things on the second nite dive that I surfaced with about 10-15 bar left in the tank…good for me but not so good for the tank! The 2nd nite dive here was by a wide margin the best such dive I have ever done and one of the best dives period (day or nite).

Alan Anda

This is a coral and sandy bottom slope dive. Visibility was 5-10 meters. The main reason we went here was to see the resident pigmy seahorse and yes, we found him. Red-fire gobys, anthias, butterfly fish, and rabbit fish and porcelain crabs were also seen. Soft and hard coral growth was limited.

Batu Kelebit

This site is located between Seraya Secrets and Tulamben Bay proper…about 5 minutes by covered dingy from Seraya Resort. The dive here is along a black volcanic rock wall, which slopes down to very deep water. The area (especially the deeper parts) is renowned for sharks. Our group saw 4 white-tipped reef sharks. The coral outcroppings here are nicely covered in hard and soft corals and include the usual tropical reef fish inhabitants.

 

[JonnieB]

Menjangan Island

Menjangan Island is a small uninhabited coral island about 40 minutes by boat off the far north-western tip of Bali. At this tip, Bali almost touches the southern end of Indonesia’s main island of Java. When diving and staying in this area, a string of several huge volcanoes stretching along the Javanese coastline are clearly visible off in the distance and form quite an impressive sight. The dramatic and “primitive” beauty of the mountainous topography of this area cannot be over emphasized.

This was my first trip to this area and I stayed at and dived with Mimpi Menjangan Resort. As noted earlier, it is about 3 hours from the Denpasar/Kuta area. It is not a dedicated “divers” resort but a semi-luxury boutique resort that also has a dive operation. The resort is located in a large and pristine park-like setting along a quiet and calm mangrove lined cove. This resort is really something special and I will take a little time to describe it thoroughly. First, the setting: It is a low-rise resort of Balinese influenced design consisting of standard rooms and deluxe private villas set in a large expanse of manicured park-like grounds, which gently slope down to a pretty mangrove lined cove. Looking out on the cove, the volcanoes of Java are off in the distance. There is a small sandy beach in front of the resort. There is a very relaxed feeling to the resort. It is particularly enchanting during dusk, when the sun is setting behind the sea and volcanoes, or when stargazing at nite.

The rooms and facilities at Mimpi Menjangan Resort are superb. I stayed in a standard room and it was spacious, clean, and comfortable. It had aircon, in-room safe, and multiple electrical outlets. The bathrooms are an outdoor open air design. There is also a front porch sitting area. There are also high-walled private villas (but I didn’t go inside one). In relation to the spacious grounds, there are not a lot of rooms (maybe 50-60 in total) so it all feels very spacious. The restaurant is located on the beach down by the cove shoreline. It is an attractive open-air design and is the perfect place for a pre-dive morning coffee or dining in the evening. The food is a tasty mix of continental European and Indonesian/Balinese dishes. There is also a full bar. My only compliant (lazy me) is that the rooms and restaurant are located at opposite ends of the resort and it is a little bit of a walk from one to the other. However, a room service menu is available.

The resort has two large outdoor swimming pools and a really special feature – natural thermal mineral springs. One pool is centrally located in the park-like grounds and offers views of the surrounding resort, while the other is located adjacent to the shoreline and offers views of the beach and mangrove cove. The thermal spring water is piped into several soaking pools spread around the resort. Believe me, after a day’s diving, there is nothing better than a dip in a hot mineral bath to sooth the muscles and relax the mind. [WARNING: BEFORE USING THE HOTSPRINGS, ALLOW A MINIMUM INTERVAL OF 1-HOUR FROM YOUR LAST DIVE. FOR MULTIPLE DIVE DAYS, THE MINIMUM INTERVAL SHOULD BE AT LEAST 1½ - 2 HOURS.]

The dive facilities are not fancy but functional and adequate to the task at hand, i.e., diving at Menjangan Island. There are spacious rinse tanks and all your gear is washed by the resort staff and securely stored for the nite. There are about 10 dives sites at Menjangan Island and the resort’s dive program offers up to 3 dives per day. Their website offers various diving packages and you can book the one that matches your diving style. The sites are about 30-50 minutes by covered outrigger boat from the resort. A boxed lunch is provided. The dive leaders are professional and know the sites well. They were excited to point out the best each had to offer and keen to find what I wanted to see and photograph. All gear is handled by the staff so all you have to do is hop in the boat and enjoy the ride.

The resort also has a dedicated massage and spa studio. Though I didn’t use its services, I noted that a full range of massage and aromatherapy treatments were available. The resort also has a full range of half-day and full-day sightseeing trips around the island. These cover the gamut from trekking, rafting, and bird-watching in the mountains to visits to ancient Hindu temples and Balinese cultural performances.

I found my stay at Mimpi Menjangan Resort to be thoroughly relaxing and way too short. The range of facilities and the comfortable setting makes it particularly well suited to couples where one is a non-diver. The diving partner need not feel guilty leaving his partner behind, knowing that a range of topside activities are available to keep them busy. The serenity of the resort also makes it an ideal romantic honeymoon location for newly married divers.

Menjangan Island Divesites

Eel Garden

This is one of the best sites I have dived in SE Asia! The underwater topography at this site is stunning. It combines a wall, encrusted with hard and soft corals and deep open-water off to one side, and a sandy plateau over the top of the wall scattered with coral bommies . It’s almost like getting two divesites for the price of one…a deep open-water drift wall dive and an easy sandy bottom dive.

The Eel Garden is certainly an appropriate name for this site. The sandy topside of the wall had the largest field of garden eels I have ever seen – there were eels as far as the eye could see in all directions. There was come current along the wall making for a pleasant drift and while getting “over” the wall and onto the sandy plateau. The visibility was very good at 25-30 meters and with the clear skies filled made for 2 beautiful light-filled dives.

The wall is covered in reef-fish and looking away into the deep open water many pelegics were seen, including a Black-tip reef shark, several turtles, barracuda, tuna and blue and yellow-fin trevelly. The wall is also has many gorgonian sea fans and my DM took me over to one and pointed out 5 pygmy seahorses on it! As there were many such sea fans along this wall, I would assume that several would host such seahorse stables. Mantis shrimp, and many varieties of angelfish and butterfly fish also swim about the wall.

The sandy topside of the wall presents a totally different experience – bright and airy. The marine life found here is varied and stunning. The highlight had to be a coral bommie filled with swarms of juvenile fish and THREE Leaf Scorpionfish (yellow, green, and white) AND two ornate ghost pipefish in the center. A Black-spot snake eel and Cockatoo wasp fish were observed on the sandy bottom. This area also had the most trigger-fish I have ever observed at a single site – both Titan and Yellow-margin varieties. There must have been several dozen swimming around in groups of 4-5 and also singly at their nests. They were generally non-aggressive…I was only challenged once and only because I insisted on getting close for a photo-op. There were also squid and a Pharaoh cuttlefish scampering about some staghorn coral.

POS I

This site appears to be sort-of an extension of the sandy plain of Eel Garden. Again, the triggerfish were present. This area was also covered in large fields of healthy hard lettuce coral and large sponges. Additional snake-eels were seen, along with several turtles. Many varieties of tropical reef fish were around in abundance. The highlight of this site was surely the DM pointing out my first Mandarin fish sighting. Many commensal shrimps were seen in amongst the anemones, including several beautiful specimens from the translucent Periclimenes family.

 

[JonnieB]

Gilimanuk/Secret Bay

This shallow water mangrove lined inlet/cove is 30 minutes drive from Mimpi Menjangan Resort. It is famed for its rare and unusual macro-life. Dives at Secret Bay can be arranged through the Mimpi dive center. Water temperature is usually 23-25° Celsius but I was fortunate in that it was 28° for my 2 dives. (The cool water is good because it attracts the bay’s unusual inhabitants.) The bay is shallow, with a maximum depth of 10-12 meters and the black sand silty bottom is covered in many places with sea grass and a type of algae resembling lettuce. There was no current. Visibility was 1-5 meters and entry is by shore.

This is a pure muck diving site. There is no coral or other scenic beauty to the site…just a shallow sandy trash strew bottom and rare easily photographed specimens. Right off the bat, what do we see 2 minutes into our dive but a Shaggy Long-haired frogfish sitting amongst the sea-grass. It was small (8-10 cm) and greenish/brown in colour. Another first for this trip! Next up was an Indian Dancer/Fingered dragonet ambling about the sand. The DM had said there was a spot where up to 5 frogfish congregated but on this dive, only one giant yellow one appeared for its photo shoot. Other gems included several Spot-head snake eels peering up from the sand, an unusual “lacy” scorpionfish (but not the true lacy variety), and a couple Yellow Many-banded pipefish.

The show continued with unusual nudibranchs, several spiny seahorses (a black and a yellow), several rare gobies (including Sail-fin and Crab-eye), Banggai cardinalfish {sorry Helmut, these are apparently not limited to the Banggai Islands of Sulawesi}, Weedy filefish, Shrimp fish, Yellow Cowfish, small cuttlefish, and finally a WONDERPLUS MIMIC OCTOPUS! This site is really muck diving at its finest and much of what I saw was for the first time.

Conclusion

Needless to say, I have a very high opinion of Bali as a diving holiday destination. First and foremost, the quality of the underwater marine environment is superb. The sites I have dived seem to be very healthy reef ecosystems filled with a dizzying array of fish and invertebrate life. Conditions for diving at the sites have also been generally ideal, with good visibility and currents easily handled by all but the most junior diver. The dive resorts/operations have been comfortable and staffed with friendly and competent staff. The topside activities available are numerous for non-divers or for a break from diving. I can say without doubt that Bali will provide many full-filled diving days for me in the years to come.



Post-Script

I am organizing another trip to Bali tentatively scheduled for April 2006. The plan is to dive sites at Padang Bai and Candi Dasa (open-water drift, coral reef, and macro dives) and the newly discovered PJ near Pumeteran (another “better” Secret Bay macro site). Email or PM to me for further information.

 

[Belushi]

Thanks for that Jonnie, ScubaBaby and I were considering coming back to SE Asia and Bali was on the list of places to look for wrk and have relaxation.
This was a very thourough and helpful report.

 

[nuswhl]

I wish I had the courage to go to Bali. Ka ka.

 

[JonnieB]

as i made more clear in my earlier Bali report, Bali is a very large island and the dive areas are far from the tourist center of kuta. if you are staying at one of the dedicated resorts near the sites, you don't even need to go near it - just go direct from the airport to your resort in the countryside. i have spent a few days in kuta on each trip and never felt in any danger. sure there have been terrorist incidents in kuta over the past couple years but so have there been in many places. i don't think we should base our travel decisions on where had the most recent "incident" as that would be letting "them" win. of course, everyone must use prudence and common sense and by these criterion, i consider Bali as safe as anywhere.

 

[Blackfish]

Jonnie-

Thanks for a nice write up of Bali---my wife and I are headed over at the end of April and if you are near the Mimpi Menjangan between April 25 and 30, we'll see you. Really good to get a recent first hand report of the diving and dive ops---I am quite looking forward to our diving there and, afterward, on Sulawesi (Manado).

Were there any diving restrictions at the Mimpi? Time limits, etc? I'm not looking to go deep or into caverns, but don't want to be hauled out of the water after 45 minutes either.

Also, I'd be interested in any topside activities you'd recommend near the Mimpi or otherwise.

Thanks again,

JK

 

[JonnieB]

Blackfish,

The diving at Mimpi was very relaxed...if you are qualified they can be as "
hands-off" as you want. There were no real time limits...each dive was about a hour or 40-50 bar affair. There is no poolicy on gloves .

I was just there to dive so didn't do any other activities. However, I did mention the many topside activities available for those interested. All these activities can be arranged by Mimpi or you can do you diving and then return to the tourist center of Kuta for a few days and arrange for your other excursions. One thing I would recommend, if you do spend any time in Kuta/Nusa Dua, do check-out the great dining options available (especially seafood).