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Bali & Nusa Lembongon
Bali is probably one of the best known areas in Indonesia because of its world class surfing, diving, and night life. To be honest, when I first heard of how touristy Bali is, it turned me off. Both Sander and I planned to spend as little time possible there. That is, until we heard about the fantastic, and cheap, beach diving opportunities in Northeastern Bali - around Amed.
Bali turned out to be one of my favorite islands in Indonesia because of the cheap good diving and variety of things to do. You can easily avoid the big crowds and isolate yourself by driving away from the major cities in the south - Kuta, Denpasar, Sanur, etc. After experiencing a little nightlife in some of those areas, Sander and I rented a car and drove - albeit getting lost most of the time - northeast to a small quiet town called Amed.
Amed was where we based ourselves to do beach "muck" dives. From there we rented tanks (around $8 USD/tank) and drove to various beach dive sites - Seraya, Amed, and Tulamben. Farther west we stayed in the town of Lovina and dived "Puri Jati" and then "Secret Bay"; off the ferry terminal in Gilimanuk. After beach diving in Bali, Sander and I took a ferry to Nusa Lembongon, an island just east of Bali, world famous for diving with mola mola.
Most of the dives around Nusa Lembongon were a little disappointing. Even the manta ray dive was overcrowded with divers, had poor visibility, and only two manta rays were seen far away. Despite that, seeing two mola molas on one dive at "Crystal Bay" made up for it.
We got to see a lot of special marine life during our dives; life that's hard to find elsewhere and many I've never seen before.
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© 2009 Jason Jue. All rights reserved
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