Nico Dives Cool Bali

Diving Amed

Pyramids of Amed, Coral and wall Reef Diving

Diving Amed

Scuba diving in Amed is very easy and a relaxing experience. Amed is also the common name for the 14 km long stretch of fishing villages on the center of Bali’s east coast. Most of the dive sites we approach directly from the shore or via a very short boat trip in typical Balinese boat called Jukung. The sea doesn’t have as big waves as on the West coast. There is limited current present, and the good visibility ranges from 15 to +25 meters with water temperatures of about 26°C to 30°C.

So, it is an excellent place for scuba courses and introductions to diving such as the Discovery Scuba Dive or the Open Water Course. As you’ll find colorful marine life and the coral reef very close to the shore, it makes Snorkeling a good alternative to scuba diving. Of the many beaches in the beautiful bays around Amed, the reefs are often very shallow. Sometimes they are right below the water surface and often 1 to 4 meters deep.

What is Included

We include all necessities and more in our price. Dive locations, trip duration, and extras can be fully customized to your preferences and diving skills. Please contact us regarding diving Amed and we will tailor a perfect trip for you.

2 dives (3rd optional)
normal air tanks (Nitrox available)
highly professional dive and tour guide
all necessary diving gear
all transportation
Lunch, water and soft drinks, fresh fruit, snacks
fresh and clean towels
changing rooms and toilets
All marine park fees, taxes, and boating services
one big fat smile at the end of your trip
Responsible diving – We are a proud eco dive shop and follow a zero plastic waste policy

Please visit our full-price list for details and optional extras. We offer you amazing extras such as personalized photography Services, Enriched Air (Nitrox), extra large 15L tanks, and a special for accompanying non-diving guests (check out our new “chill out Amed” package)

How we get there

This relaxing region is located about 80 km from Denpasar city, which makes it an approximately 2 hours long drive from Sanur. The Drive is scenic and ends at the beach with a magnificent view of Mount Agung, Bali’s largest volcano.

Marine Life at the Dive Site

Amed is a perfect place for Underwater Macro Photography and Muck Diving. Due to its proximity to the Mount Agung volcano, the sand is black and this makes a great and unusual contrast with the colorful corals and critters. You have a great chance to spot the rare Ghost Pipefish, Octopus, stingrays, Pygmy Seahorse, and the (very rare) and fascinating Mimic Octopus. Some of the best dive sites for underwater photography are Jemeluk Bay and the Japanese Wreck.

Experience Level:

Try Diver recommended
Open Water Diver recommended
Advanced Open Water Diver recommended
Deep Diver specialty recommended
Underwater Photography specialty recommended
Wreck Diving specialty recommended
Night and Limited Visibility specialty recommended

Scuba Packages

Warning:

Although most dive sites are available for beginners, some of them require a decent level of experience. Several Dive Sites can be dived deep.
Nico Dives Cool will provide you with an experienced dive professional who knows all sites very well. Please do not question the dive professional’s judgment.
Be prepared that we may decide not to dive on certain sites if conditions are too dangerous to do so.

Pyramids of Amed Diving

The Pyramids of Amed (or Ghost Bay) are an artificial reef at 20m depth. The local community built this reef twenty years ago after the passage of a strong El Nino. Life is abundant at this reef and there is a good chance of spotting ghost pipefish, mimic octopuses, pygmy seahorses, stone fish, and razor fish. Usually, we encounter a mild current here, which sometimes can turn into and amazing thrill when it gets a little stronger. “Jumping” from one pyramid to another becomes second nature while hiding from the stronger current behind them. This is the time you get close to the life around the pyramids. Wow!

Many of these structures have become cleaning stations for passing fish such as snappers, sweetlips, and surgeons. A natural Coral reef from 5m to 18m depth next to the pyramids. It is a great place for the different kinds of Underwater Photography. The visibility is usually not as fantastic as at the Coral Reef in the Bay but it’s still amazing to enjoy the weird little creatures living there. We typically do our second dive at the Bay Reef in Jemeluk Bay.

Jemeluk or Amed Reef

The bay offers protection from waves and currents and hence makes for easy snorkeling. It is easy to access the coral reef dive site directly from shore or via small boat. Located at the left side of the bay, Amed Reef will take approximately 10 minutes to reach by local fisherman boat or Jukung.

This magnificent coral reef lies at about 12-22m depth. You will find many different kinds of sponges, gorgonians, and marine life here, including everything from gobies and shrimp. Further we can spot schools of barracudas and blue spotted rays. If you go little bit deeper to about 30m you will see some sleeping white tip sharks on the sandy bottom.

Should there be any current, which is usually very rare and flows to the South, this should make for a relaxing drift dive.

Jemeluk Wall

The Jemeluk Wall dive site is located on the right of the bay. It takes about a 5 minute by boat ride (Jukung) to get there from Amed beach. This wall is very beautiful with rich and colourful coral and beautiful gorgonians.

It’s a dive in clear & warm water along a steep drop off (80m). Here you will be astonished by the abundance of marine life from macro to large size. Once you pass the wall you will find a deep slope which is abundant in corals. If you turn right towards sandy shallower water, you will see huge gorgonian fans and deep red barrel sponges as well as scorpion fish, nudibranchs and other macro critters. Great buoyancy and drift diving skills are needed to ensure that the current does not carry you in to the fans, particularly when taking photographs. It’s truly a beautiful spot to watch the hundreds of colourful anthias surging.

Bunutan - Diving Amed

Bunutan is located a 10 minutes boat ride from the main beach on Amed/ Jemeluk. It’s a beautiful dive site with a gorgeous and healthy reef. The dive starts at a gentle sandy slope that drops you down at 12m to an impressively large numbers of graceful Garden Eels. With good clarity and sunlight they look absolutely breathtaking.

Continuing the steeper slope, and probably drifting by now, you will find huge sponges, blue spotted stingrays, beautiful pink gorgonians, morays, giant barracudas, pygmy seahorses, unbelievable quantities of reef fish and, frequently, black tip reef shark. The macro sea life is so abundant: Nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses and other macro critters can be spotted.

Water temperatures are normally around 28°C but the up currents the temperature can drop quickly for a limited time. The visibility is usually good (18-25m) although sometimes the thermoclines makes the water a little blurry.

Japanese Ship Wreck - Diving Amed

At around 7 km further along the coast from Jemeluk, this small Japanese steel freighter wreck lies in very shallow water (6-12m) in a quiet little black sand bay called Banyuning. This is also a wonderful snorkeling site.

The wreck is encrusted with gorgonians, sponges and black coral bushes that attract a variety of reef fish to its shelter. Bommies at 10m on the reef slopes are covered with gorgeous bushy gorgonians and soft corals and a good number of reef fish. In the bay, this sloped sandy bottom is a good place to see unusual animals, like Shrimps, Ghost pipefish, Dragonet fish, Demon Stingers, Sand Diver fish, Gobies, and Devil Scorpion. The Japanese wreck offers a great location for photographers.

Gili Selang

Gili Selang is the most easterly point of Bali and sits on the very edge of the Lombok Strait. That’s why the dive site has been named rather appropriately “The Express”. The more exposed areas can have up, down and swirling currents. We recommend being certified in drift diving for this dive site with loads of experience in varying currents. Considerable care needs to be exercised in the area. That’s why this site should be restricted to only very experienced divers. Please stay close to your dive master who understands the environment and currents best.

The site itself is a fairly steep slope that is covered with small rounded volcanic rocks and boulders. You’ll find some of Bali’s healthiest coral, turtles, bump head parrotfish, giant trevally, whitetip reefs sharks here. And, if you are lucky you will encounter hammerhead sharks.

The North Side of Gili Selang - Spectacular Drift Diving

On the North of the island, an interesting and rich sand slope has some stands of hard branching corals and occasional bommies. The deeper areas of the slope are more protected and therefore home to sea fans, soft corals, barrel sponges and coral bushes. As you follow the reef downwards, the sand slope becomes a wall and there starts the tricky current. Be careful here as it may carry you out of the bay.

On the South of the Island, the reef (Waterloo) becomes steeper but is far calmer, provided you do not sweep towards east. The coral growth in this area is very rich in both hard and soft coral with big Boomies and some huge Acropora table coral. This is a good place for macro photography.