Drivin' & Divin', Bali, Indonesia

Waterlogged Date: 3/31/97

When I was in Bali last May for my first trip aboard the Baruna Adventurer, my buddy and I were left with a hole in our schedule. We decided to fill it with a few days of exploring Bali diving. Not much is heard about diving in Bali in the States, so we were not quite sure what to expect. Kal Muller, author of Underwater Indonesia, had told me that the diving was excellent and well worth doing if I had the chance, so what the heck? We arranged a trip with Baruna Watersports, the owners of the Adventurer. We were given a driver, van, and dive guide and away we went. The first time was so good I decided to do it again. This year with Walter Davis, a friend of mine from Dallas who had brought a group for the Adventurer cruise, we arranged with Baruna to set us up with a similar program. We were booked into the Puri Bagus Hotel in Candi Dasa. When we arrived, I found the guide I had enjoyed so much from my previous trip, Putra, was now working there. At my insistence, he agreed to accompany us again. When we told him what we were interested in photographing, he kept us both busy going from one great photo subject to another Candi Dasa provides a welcome contrast from the high energy, hustle and bustle of Kuta Beach. A charming little village on the east coast of Bali with numerous small, comfortable hotels and restaurants available to satisfy the raveler who wishes to slow the pace and enjoy the considerable beauty of Bali. The usual schedule is to dive two dives in the morning and return in the afternoon for whatever topside activities catch your fancy. Those wanting more dives can arrange for them either at booking or add them as you go. Formal and informal tours and drives are easy to arrange and reasonably priced anywhere in Candi Dasa, or Baruna can arrange them for you. My first visit I stayed in the Sunrise Beach Bungalows, a small beach side hotel with a fantastic view, good food, nice individual bungalows, a charming staff, and an easy walk to restaurants and shopping.. This year at the Puri Bagus Hotel, Candi Dasa. More luxurious with more services, a bit more expensive ( but still remarkably good value), but a longer walk to town. Both excellent choices depending upon your wants. We found the wind and currents to be unfavorable at Nusa Penida and Lembongan Islands when we were there this March, so we did not dive there. In May the previous year we stayed in Candi Dasa, which I did again for this year. To dive Nusa Penida and Lembongan, a few minutes drive to catch a morning boat for the one hour boat ride to the dive sites is all that is necessary. Drift diving was the style, with a gentle current moving us past the sloping UW landscape which was covered with good fish life, nice sponges, soft corals, hard corals, and numerous invertebrates. We did have some pretty chilly upwellings, so rubber was welcome insulation. I used a 3 mil suit and was comfortable. We were given a lunch choice from one of the restaurants in the small bay where the boats tie up, and ate between dives on the boat. Very tasty. A manta ray provided the highlight of the second dive, which otherwise was much like the first. The site where we concentrated our energies this trip was Tulamben, about an hour drive north of Candi Dasa. Tulamben is the site of the wreck of the Liberty, a WWII era freighter lying about 50 yards offshore, starting in about 25 ft of water at the bow to 90 ft at the stern. The wreck lies on its side with the hull facing shore. The wreck has a fine selection of fish, including a large school of jacks circling which bade us farewell on our last dive there from the bow. The many species of fish are easily approached and photographed. I have never had two species of butterfly fish get in the way when I was macro-photographing a nudibranch before!! My first night dive there produced three Spanish dancers. There are numerous, beautiful branching soft corals and gorgonians to enjoy, and plenty of small critters to find crawling on and in the wreck. If you tire of diving the wreck, you can arrange a dive to the Drop-off down the beach about 1/2 mile, just below a Hindu temple. This provides not only a fine dive, but an amazing lesson on the grace and strength of the slim Balinese women. We big strong divers were struggling to carry only our cameras from the road to the dive site. Then we turned and saw this tiny, grandmotherly woman about as big as my leg carrying a tank balanced on her head , and another carrying a plastic basket with all the rest of my gear on her head, both walking easily and gracefully down a beach of polished stones from golf ball to grapefruit size. Put me in my place, I'll tell you. There is a small cottage industry of women and children who help divers with their gear and into and out of the water at Tulamben. They offer a best-buy service and they work for tips. There are other dive sites in the Tulamben area. Our guide, Putra, took us to his special place where no other divers visit for two more excellent dives to finish up our visit. A good alternative to driving from Candi Dasa is to stay at one of the resorts at Tulamben. The very nice Mimpi Resort is just above the beach at the Drop-off, and the nice but basic Puri Mahda Hotel is right in front of the wreck. The Sunset Beach Hotel lies between these two both in location and price. More dives can be done when staying in Tulamben, including night dives, and you have the place to yourselves before and after all the day-trippers. The third area I dove my first trip was Menjangan Park, on the northwest tip of Bali just across from the big island of Java. The most convenient place to stay is at Lovina, about an hour drive to the east.There are many hotels and restaurants to choose from, including the new Puri Bagus, Lovena. This area is done by drift diving from small covered boats holding six or less divers. Lunch is also provided here, ordered from the restaurants in the park.We did not have time to dive here on this trip, but my first visit provided good visibility with a beautiful wall, a colony of garden eels then a slope which we swam up to find a group of gorgeous patch reefs in a sand valley. A couple of black tip sharks, a large Napoleon wrasse, many reef fish, corals, sponges, lobsters, eels, and fans combined to make it one of the best dives of the trip. Two days later the viz was awful and the dives were not nearly so exciting.The water conditions can vary dramatically from day to day at Menjangan; so I would recommend leaving that choice up to your dive guide. He may even recommend not diving there, as Putra did this time. For more details on this" Drivin' and Divin'" contact Baruna WaterSports in Bali. Report by Woody Mayhew.

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