Diving Tulamben is one of Bali’s most rewarding water activities. It is the famous Bali Wreck that everybody is talking about. Once we arrive we enjoy easy access directly from the beach to the three main dive sites of the bay. Here we find the USAT Liberty Wreck, Coral Garden, and the Drop Off. Usually, we enjoy clear water with a mild or no current, which makes it a perfect destination for all levels of divers. As we care for the highest customer satisfaction we regularly go the extra mile (literally) and bring you Snorkeling or diving here. This particular dive location is also highly suitable for any type of diving course certification we offer.
The beach consists of black volcanic stones that become fine sand in the shallower area of the reef. Surprising at first, this black bottom offers a wonderful contrast to the colorful marine life, corals, gorgonians, and critters. Underwater photographers love this top dive site, the Bali Wreck! However, sometimes, when it’s wavy, the black stone beach makes for a tricky entry. The visibility is usually great but can be slightly limited on some days due to the plankton-rich waters moving along the bay from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. The viz typically ranges from 15m to 40m here.
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 Tulamen and we will tailor a perfect trip to the Bali wreck for you.
From Sanur, we take one of our buses and reach Tulamben Beach in about 2-3hrs. The waters around Tulamben are usually quite warm. We regularly experience 29-30°C! So, it is better to dive here with a shorty. The waters are also very clear and have some of the better visibility in Bali, however, during the summer months it can go down to 15-20m. Access to Drop-Off, USAT Liberty Ship Wreck, and Drop-Off are directly from the shore and might involve a 5-minute walk. Porters will take care of your air bottles.
To visit Alamanda, Batu Kelebit, and Emerald Bay dive sites we take a 5 to 10-minute traditional wooden boat (Jukung) ride. These “Jukung Dive Sites” offer a bit of everything. Few divers come to these more remote Tulamben dive sites. These sites attract many large species. We have sighted Napoleons and bumpheads parrotfish, mantas and eagle rays, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks, and even whale sharks!
Dives to the USAT Liberty Bali Wreck, Drop-Off, Coral Garden, and Seraya dive sites start directly from the beach. We usually enter via the shore, but boats can be arranged to some other dive sites.
Diving Tulamben also offers an extraordinary diversity of marine life. There are hundreds of macro species living here and we find huge schools of Big-eyed trevally. The occasional sightings of pelagics are wonderful, but it is the permanent population of Tulamben Bay that brings people here again and again. Diving Tulamben is a wonderful place to learn to dive and to learn about underwater life.
The USAT Liberty Wreck lies less than 50m from shore and can also be snorkeled. Coral Garden, Drop-off, and Seraya are mostly macro-dive sites. Here you can sight two-spotted lionfish, moray eels, ribbon eels, rock groupers at cleaning stations, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, and sometimes even harlequin shrimps. We also regularly spot reef sharks like the blacktips or whitetips here.
Torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during World War II and further broken up by the 1963 eruption of Mt. Agung, the USAT Liberty Wreck now lies less than 50m from shore and can also be snorkeled. It starts at 4 meters depth and the deepest part goes to 28 meters. Due to its shallow depth, the Liberty is an amazing opportunity for beginners and snorkelers to explore an underwater wreck. Encrusted with coral, the USAT Liberty features visible guns, boilers, toilets, and anchor chains and hosts numerous species of fish, wonderful sea fans, and sponges.
Marine life is extremely rich around and in the Bali wreck. Big potato groupers live at the wreck. Garden eels have colonized the shallow parts. A gigantic swirl of jackfish can usually be seen on top of the Liberty shipwreck. King barracudas are also often seen here along with a wealth of macro life, like frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, and nudibranchs. Also, for the macro lover, we can find the rare pygmy seahorse here. Despite this diversity, the USAT Liberty shipwreck remains best known for the school of bumphead parrotfish that sleep inside its hull at night. It is worth diving at this site after sunset or in the very early morning when dive conditions are usually the best.
Diving here, we swim through and around the wreck, discovering new landscapes each time we change direction! The Liberty shipwreck dive site suits snorkelers, beginners, and experienced divers. It is often used as our 3rd or the 4th dive for the SSI or PADI Open Water Diver Course.
Coral Garden dive site is situated just a few hundred meters from the Liberty shipwreck. It is a shallow reef with a depth of 3 to 12 meters which makes it a perfect site for snorkelers, beginners, or night dives. This spot is also ideal for underwater photography as it is abundant in life.
The reef consists mainly of table corals and anemones, as well as sponges and soft corals. The marine life is very diverse here with a surprising number of Blue ribbon eels, Cuttlefish, and Octopus. In addition, there is a wide variety of shrimps (incl. Peacock mantis shrimps), frogfish, ghost pipefish, razorfishes, nudibranchs, and numerous varieties of clownfishes hiding in their white, green, or blue anemones. Black-tip reef sharks patrol the area regularly and make for and exciting dive. If we are lucky we can spot very large Napolean Wrasses in the area, too.
This Bali Diving Top Dive Site offers a unique opportunity to compare natural coral with the artificial reef present on the site (structures and statues) while teaming up with rare fish and coral.
The Liberty Wreck is not the only amazing dive site around the Tulamben area. Diving the Tulamben Wall, which we also call the Drop Off, is a great experience and makes a perfect second dive. The Drop-Off wall is an old lava flow from Mount Agung.
We start diving on a steep sand slope with nudibranchs, flounders, and goby-shrimp pairs. At about 12m, we find enormous sponges with many varieties of shrimp. Also, we encounter many crinoids, often with an attendant ghost pipefish. Continuing around to the right, the slope develops into a reef with a very impressive topography, becoming a vertical wall (from 15m to below 60m) which then reverts to a steep slope.
Wonderful gorgonians fans, sponges, and black coral bushes can be found here, animated by colorful and abundant marine life. There is rarely any current here which makes it a relaxed dive for beginners and advanced divers. Towards the end of the dive, we spend some time hovering over a beautiful reef that offers a stunning coral garden at 5m depth.
From Tulamben Beach, we take a Jukung to cruise beyond the Drop Off dive site. It will take us roughly 5 -10 minutes to get to Alamanda. The Reef here is very healthy. This steep slope reef is dominated by dome hard corals, soft corals, and a variety of Gorgonians. Between 20 and 30m depth there is a richly ridged reef with a large number of sponges, barrel sponges, and a variety of reef fish. The Pygmy Seahorse to be found on the purple sea fans is a favourite macro critter amongst experienced divers. It is not uncommon to spot 5 to 10 Pygmies on a single sea fan here!
Mild to Medium strong currents typically bring you towards the drop-off. Meanwhile, water temperatures are typically warm and the visibility is good. This makes it a great drift diving experience with the boat waiting for you at the end of your dive.
Batu Kelebit is about 15 minutes from Tulamben Bay, using a Jukung (local wooden fishing boat). The site has two large rocks that lie just offshore. There are grey and white sand channels between the two reef ridges running 25-40 m in depth. These steep ridges form a rich and healthy reef and portray an extremely diverse growth of hard corals, sponges, gorgonians, and many crustaceans.
Along the reef, we often see schools of Big-eyed trevallies, while on the sand we find Fire Dartfish, Gold-specs jawfish, Starry puffers, and cuttlefish. The color of the sand differs from other Tulamben dive sites. But the combination of the steepness of the site, the structure of the ridges, and the plankton-rich waters give you a better chance to see pelagic. We often see barracuda, tuna, manta rays, white-tip reef sharks, turtles, and dogtooth tuna. Sometimes, we even spot the gigantic Mola-Mola (Ocean sunfish).
Water clarity is usually very good and the temperature is a bit cooler compared to the rest of Tulamben Bay dive sites (around 25°C). Currents vary from mild to quite strong with occasional down currents. So you need to watch your depth and stay close to your experienced dive guide. Mild to medium-strong currents typically bring you back toward the Drop Off. This makes it a great drift diving experience with the boat waiting for you at the end of your dive.
Emerald Bay is another great dive site we can find in the area of Tulamben. It is situated a bit to the East of the Batu Kelebit and is accessed using a Jukung (wooden local fishermen’s boat).
There is a “Wreck” of a Toyota car and some other pieces of artificial reef. This makes it attractive for interesting marine life such as ghost pipefish, octopus, lionfish, and scorpion fish. We see a lot of Gorgonian Sea Fans who are hosting the Pygmy Sea Horses. The sandy slope homes cuttlefish, gobies, decorated dartfish, Helmut gurnard, and nudibranchs, of course. There are some areas of Garden eels too.
At around 20-30m depth the reef seems to become richer with a large number of sponges, including Barrel sponges. So this is a great place to spot a variety of reef sharks. There is also a small drop-off with Elephant-ear sponges and hard corals, with some large, semi-resident Napoleon Wrasse Fish. Currents are generally smooth but can become strong. In this case, you will drift gently towards Tulamben Beach, with the Jukung following your bubbles to pick you up at the end of your dive.
Seraya dive site will blow your mind, especially if you are into Macro and Critters. Underwater photographers searching for some amazing and unique creatures living in this underwater muck will have a blast here! With a depth of around 10m and a deep black sandy bottom, you can stay for hours searching for strange small creatures hiding all over the place. With a little luck (and enough patience), you might even get to see the rare Mimic Octopus here! Due to the sandy bottom, the visibility can sometimes be a little lower but this doesn’t affect muck diving, right?! Get your camera ready and enjoy this amazing muck dive.
Scuba Diving and Snorkeling with one of Bali’s highest customer rated, environmentally responsible, and fun Eco Dive Shop.
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Jalan Sekuta, No. 114 Sanur, Bali, Indonesia, 80228