How best to spend a few days in Bali before my liveaboard departs

[Illini_Fan]

All

I've never been to this part of the world so I'm looking for advice.

In September of 2019 I'll be in Bali to join-up with the Mermaid I for their 9-night Komodo trip. Since I'm traveling from the US, I figured I'd extend the trip by a few days on the front end.

I don't what to do the generic "what should I see post" as that is really tough for people to figure out what I might like But I do have some questions that I'd love the collective consciousness' opinion on.

1) I'll be flying into DPS and the boat will leave on a Thursday from Benoa Harbour. If I arrive on Sunday or Monday would I be best suited to stay in or around the Harbour area? I'm not sure how easy it is get to points north of that area.

2) I believe September is still Mola season. Mermaid Liveaboards' recommended "All-4-Diving Indonesia". Is that a good outfit or are there better options for day trips to Nusa Penida / Nusa Lembongan?

3) I'd like to spend a day doing something cultural (i.e. temple visit). I know there are tons of sites on that topic and I'll leveage those sources, but figured I'd include the question here as well. Which temple makes a good day trip from the DPS area (assuming that it where I stay, see question 1)

thanks for the input.

Tom

 

[outofofficebrb]

@Illini_Fan For the day you do cultural and temple visits, let me know if you need a driver. We used an amazing one while in Bali and have recommended friends to him who also loved him. His rates are extremely reasonable. He drove us around all day in an AC car and had him take us to local restaurants instead of tourist ones.

 

[Woodiver]

If you fly in on Sunday, head north on the east cost. The area around DSP is very busy and sucks. Spend a couple of days either diving or hire a driver once you are up the coast. Lots of things to see once you’re out of the DSP traffic, just don’t look at the weaving traffic, with cycles moving in between cars.

Check my Flickr pages, Woodiver15 albums

 

[Illini_Fan]

If you fly in on Sunday, head north on the east cost. The area around DSP is very busy and sucks. Spend a couple of days either diving or hire a driver once you are up the coast. Lots of things to see once you’re out of the DSP traffic, just don’t look at the weaving traffic, with cycles moving in between cars.

Check my Flickr pages, Woodiver15 albums

When you say "...head north on the east coast..." any particular towns / areas that I should focus my research on?

 

[Woodiver]

Padamgbai is first town and is also the jump off point to see Mola’s/Manta’s. Amed is further up the coast and is nice. Tulamben is a little further north and has a number of resorts. All places can arrange for a driver for seeing cultural sites. If you decide to stay around DSP, you can take scuba safaris but it’s lots of time in a van. I’d pass on the Mola trip, you will probably see a number mantas around Komodo.

You should reach out to Mike V at Underwater Tribe. He’s been in Indo for a long time, based in Bali and has been a cruise director on a number of boats. Be sure to look at his podcasts.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I’d pass on the Mola trip, you will probably see a number mantas around Komodo.

Why pass on a Mola trip? They are fantastic animals.

All 4 Diving is the shop where Mermaid LOB is run out of in Sanur. Quality shop just like Mermaid. They might have a trip out to Nusa Penida for Mola since it's the season. Definitely go with a recommended shop to Nusa Penida as there can be some crazy currents out there.

If you are going to stay on Bali only for a couple of days then I would spend one day looking for Mola Mola and then one day doing temple/countryside sightseeing.
If you are staying longer I would head up to Tulamben for the world class macro they have there. If you can take the time away I would amortize my travel time all the way to Indo and spend some time diving Bali. The drive thru the country side to Tulamben has some really beautiful vistas, and there are some really nice temples not far from Tulamben also. Your resort would be happy to arrage a day of sightseeing. It's about a 3.5 hour trip to Tulamben from the airport. In Tulamben Liberty Dive Resort is my go to choice and many others on this board. Nice resort, great guides, free nitrox, and your group will have your own private guide.

 

[Illini_Fan]

@dirtfarmer - given other vacation plans in 2019 and only having 5 weeks of vacation from work, I'm trying to limit my time to 14/15 days in total, including the long-haul travel.

 

[borisphotosafari]

It's crazy busy in Kuta, traffic is horrible. Head to away. Mola Mola dive in Cristal Bay can be exciting. And Manta Point is fun too. There is lots of macro critter dives further north. I stayed in Padambai for 5 days before my last Komodo trip last year.

 

[Darnold9999]

+1 for Underwater Tribe and Mike V. They arranged a couple of days diving on Bali before the last liveaboard I did in RA. Spent two days in Tulamben - really nice muck diving. Lots of options for temples - you could easily spend a month in Bali doing tourist stuff. I actually like spending a day or two in Sanur wandering the beach and tourist shops but more than a couple of days would be too much. Same with Ubud

 

[Sibataow]

If you want to stay close to the harbor area and make some dives... Blue Season Bali does trips out of Sanur to Nusa Penida, or they do daily trips to most of the sites up the east coast via van ride. Nusa Penida is my favorite, the drift dives there are great. A trip to Pandang Bai or Tulamben is good too. The place they take you for lunch after the dives in Padang Bai is legit. There's some great folks working at BSB, lots of good times with them.