We arrived in the first country of our Asian trip, Indonesia, at the beginning of October. The country is famous for having a lot of fantastic diving spots and volcanoes to climb. We spent almost two years without doing any dives as it is much more expensive in Europe. We were looking forward to start diving again among colorful fishes and corals.
Arriving in Bali
We arrived by plane in Denpasar and headed straight to Ubud, to get settled a bit before starting our dives. Although touristy, Ubud was a nice place to start our trip. We explored a bit the city and even climbed up a volcano, Batur, at sunrise. We then went quickly to Sidemen, a much quieter area, where you can walk around rice fields and bath under waterfalls. All this was a perfect introduction to the country and its culture but since our main goal was the sea, we headed straight to the Gili islands, a group of islands close to Lombok.
Gili Air
The first island we visited was Gili Air. To go there from Sidemen, we took a taxi until Padang Bai. Unfortunately, in Bali, there is not much public transportation, so taxis are often the best option. At the harbor we booked a fast boat until Gili Air. Get ready for a long wait (they do not often depart on time) and a bumpy ride.
We chose Gili Air as it is a small island, famous for its relaxed atmosphere. For people looking for more nightlife and parties, Gili Trawangan would probably be more appropriate. There are neither cars nor motorbikes on any of the Gilis. You can go around either walking, using a bike, or some small electrical scooters. Just please don’t use the horses…
The first thing we did upon arrival was to look for a dive center. There are a lot of centers to choose from. We talked with two of them, that we recommend:
- Manta dive: The one we dived with. They made us comfortable with their explanations and had a super nice cancellation policy. We had to cancel our third dive the morning of the dive and they were really understanding.
- 3W dive center: they were all booked for the day we were available but they gave us a lot of information about the diving spots and diving masters.
Both of the diving centers had English speaking dive masters.
During our dives, we had the chance to spot a white tip shark, some sea slugs, a lionfish and a scorpion fish. Unfortunately, the battery of the camera was out too soon, so we couldn’t take photos of all the amazing things we saw.
We did two dives the same day and decided to snorkel around the rest of the days (mostly for budget purposes). On the east coast of the island, you just have to enter the water, swim for 15 seconds and you can admire some corals and really nice fishes. Plus, you can let yourself go with the current and make it a drift snorkel session. You’ll get to see a lot, without sweating. It is also a super nice place to spot turtles. Even though we didn’t see them every time we jumped in the water, they are still quite easy to find.
Gili Meno
We were staying four days on Gili Air, so we decided to take a day trip to Gili Meno. There are many boats leaving every day, and the ride is quite quick.
As for Gili Air, there are a lot of places to go diving and snorkeling. Since we had a lot of dives planned later in the trip, we decided to only snorkel in Gili Meno. We walked a bit on the east coast and found a nice place to have a drink and a sunbed. We then took turns to go in the water. Here, we had to swim a bit more to find corals and fishes. But once we reached them, it was really nice, with even bigger corals than around Gili Air. Paolo even spotted 4 turtles during the same swim!
To try to get dry before the ride back, we explored a bit the island. Apart from a big lake in the middle, the only interesting thing we found was the turtle hatchery. They take the eggs from the beach and care for them until they hatch. Once the baby turtles become big enough to survive in the wild, they release them in the sea.
PS : if you want to listen to a music group from Gili Meno, here it is!
Nusa Penida
After exploring the Gili islands, we decided to try a new area and took another bumpy fast boat to Nusa Penida. This ride was full of surprises. First, they changed our boat because the one we were supposed to take broke down coming from Bali. So, we left much later than expected. Then, halfway through the ride, the boat stopped completely, and they started to check frenetically the engines. After a few minutes, we departed again and made a few more stops on the way to check the engines. All the passengers started to get worried but the boat survived until we arrived, phew!
The first thing we did in Nusa Penida was to check for the diving centers. The prices were quite different from one center to the other and some where already full for the day we wanted, but we found our luck with Nomads diving.
Like most of the diving centers on the island, they offer a two-dives excursion, with one of the dives being Manta point. Lucky for us, we came especially for the mantas! The only inconvenience is that all the diving centers and snorkeling excursions go there at around the same time, making it a really busy area.
When we jumped in the water, the visibility was quite bad, and we were convinced we wouldn’t see more than the vague shape of a manta from far away. And at the beginning that is indeed what happened. But our dive master took us away from the crowd of divers and closer to the bottom. The visibility improved, and we got to see two mantas from up-close, swimming undisturbed around us. It was magical.
The second dive was supposed to bring us to a spot to see the mola-mola, one of the biggest fishes in the world. But when we were there, in October, it was not the correct season to see them and the current was too strong, so we went to another spot much closer to the diving center. We were the only divers in the area and got to see some beautiful corals and even a turtle. The dive was a drift with strong currents, which we are not used to, so it was good practice.
Pemuteran
We took one last fast boat to go back to Bali. For once, the ride was smooth and nice. Once in Bali, a taxi was waiting to take us to Pemuteran, on the north of the island. It was a four-hour drive but we stopped midway for lunch, with a nice view over the twin lakes.
Once again, we talked with several diving centers there and decided to go with Dive concepts. There are several nice diving spots in Pemuteran, some of them departing form the shore. But we really recommend going around the Menjangan national park to see the best corals.
We wanted to do that and booked everything, but the morning of the dive, Paolo woke up with his nose completely stuck. Having a clear nose is important to equalise the internal pressure while descending underwater. There was no way he could dive in these conditions, so we opted for a snorkeling excursion instead, still in the Menjangan national park.
Although we were a bit frustrated that we couldn’t dive, we had an amazing time. It was by far the best snorkeling spot we had been until now. There were so many fishes and beautiful corals around, it was like being in an aquarium. Between two snorkeling sessions, we even stopped on the Mejangan island to have lunch. While eating, there were some wild deers wandering among us.
Other diving spots in Bali
We had planned to do more diving later in the trip, like in Thailand, so we didn’t go to any other diving spot around Bali. But you should know that there are many other places in Bali, like Ahmed, and on the islands around to do some amazing dives. We will definitely come back one day to explore more the area!
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