Bali at the end of October

[maresia]

Hi All,

I'm off on my honeymoon to Bali at the end of October and have been given permission by my wife-to-be to do some diving while we're there. :D

I'm after some recommendations for where to go and where to avoid! I'm an AD but my fiance only has her PADI OW (I've tried to get her to dive in the UK with BSAC but no luck!).

Also if anyone knows of a good (but inexpensive) spa resort to keep her happy I would be very grateful.

Cheers

Ben

[rose]

Hi,

Have been to Bali three times and will be going back there in July.

If you want a quiet time, avoid Kuta & Legian in the south.

Re diving:

Nusa Penida is off the eastern side of Bali - you can see the island from the mainland. There are some good drifts between this and Nusa Lembongan next door; Manta Pt is allegedly where mantas gather, and you may see some, several or none, depending. You can also base yourself on Lembongan (which is something I would like to do sometime in the future); I believe World Divers is reputable and they have accommodation - on the beach - in association with the dive offer.

Another option is Pemuteran on the northern side. We dived and stayed with Reef Seen right on the beach. It is nice and quiet in Pemuteran, with a handful of restaurants and none of the hustle and bustle of the south. There is some good diving directly out from the resort, as well as some more interesting stuff at Menjangan a little further away by boat.

If wrecks are your thing, there's the Liberty up at Tulamben. I've never done this, although I will be an "authority" after July - will be spending 11 nights there! It's a walk in dive, plus there are walls and other things to look at. Can tell you more after I've been there, but I'm sure there are others on here who have been there and will chip in with advice.

Can't help you with spa resort recommendations, sorry. But there are plenty of them!

[maresia]

Cheers. That's really useful.

I was getting a bit disappointed at the lack of replies but thankfully you popped up. I'll check that out.

[jericho]

I had my honeymoon there in October 2008.

We split our time between the Sheraton Laguna & the Alila in Ubud.

The Laguna is right on the beach and has a dive centre there who will dives to most parts of the island. Its got a spa etc on site which is more swmbo thing, but I'll admit to having enjoyed a massage or two. Staff were all really friendly.

The Alila is away from the sea and cooler as its up in the hills. The spa is apparently better but I preferred the Laguna, the staff just seemed friendlier there.

[John Bantin]

http://www.divernet.com/Travel_Features/far_east/309905/liberty_in_bali.html

[Dave White]

http://www.divernet.com/Travel_Features/far_east/309905/liberty_in_bali.html

Off subject sorry...do you have any budget camera reviews please John...thinking Intova IC12 or. Fuji F80 Extra maybe?

[rose]

http://www.divernet.com/Travel_Features/far_east/309905/liberty_in_bali.html

Drool.:)

[Timw]

Alam Anda Spa Resort is very good but not really budget. 30 mins from Tulumban. Has a reasonable house reef, boat for local dives and does all the popular sites along the coast (including the Liberty) from the shore. The diving is a bit different to most in the tropics as the sand is all black (volcanic). The dive centre is very good (Werner Lau) and bungalows and food are excellent. Pondok Sari is also great - diving is more what you expect of Asia. The resort is much more traditional in its design but very good. Another well run Werner Lau centre.

[maresia]

Nice one chaps.

I'll have a look into them. Really looking forward to diving in some warm water for a change!

[colinkay]

We dived Lembongan last October trying to find mola mola. My wife saw one for 30 seconds. I didn't see one at all. The diving was pretty ordinary and the island is a tip. Avoid. :o

Ubud's fantastic, but no diving.

This October we are doing Bali//Lombok/Gili. My wife is something of a spa expert and we're doing Intercon in Bali (fabulous - did it last year), Lombok Lodge, Luce dal Mare, and one other that we've still to finalise. :)

Enjoy. ;)

[Andy (treerat)]

Sheraton Laguna

The Laguna is right on the beach and has a dive centre there who will dives to most parts of the island. Its got a spa etc on site which is more swmbo thing, but I'll admit to having enjoyed a massage or two. Staff were all really friendly.



A great dive centre, we used to toddle up the coast a couple of miles to a small centre that did all sorts of things water based. The local food there was great a cheap.

Can't knock the hotel, great in every way, a large shopping mall within walking distance and a local market teh same distance the other way- can't wait to go back. You could do alot worse.

[Wilf T]

We went to Pemuteran in 2009. Stopped at Pondok Sari. Accommodation in the main is semi-detached Bungalows (Bedroom, Patio and Bathroom). Rooms comfortable, if basic by Caribbean standards. Other facilities (http://pondoksaribungalow.com/facilities.htm) are good (well, they were when we where there – no reason to think they have changed).

Diving in the area, as others have reported, it is typically Asian. There is a large reef area off the beach, with marked swimming and boating areas, but even then I’d be watchful of surface boat traffic.
The on-site diving facility is Werner Lau, which whilst very good may not suit your needs this year. Certainly they started early, we were normally having breakfast whilst their divers were kitting up. I believe if you buy a package of several dives you had to do the dives on consecutive days.

We dived with Easy Divers (http://www.easydivers-bali.com/), based just across the road from Pondok Sari, a small flexible outfit. We had the occasional day off diving to tour the island – if you do, hire a driver with the vehicle.

Both Werner Lau and Easy Divers go to ‘Secret Bay’ and Menjangen island; Werner Lau punters travel by boat from Pondok Sari whilst the Easy Diver people travel by bus to a nearby harbor and travel by boat to the island from there. Everyone travels to Secret Bay by bus.
Really these are full day trips.

If you wish to go beach, reef diving or not spend all day away from the Hotel then I’ll suggest ‘Reef Seen’ – about 100yds East of Pondok Sari along the beach.

The costs for diving is about the same from any of the facilities but as I’ve described above some facilities are more flexible than others.

All the dive centers have websites.
Enjoy.

[Bubbler]

Will be going in late sept,early oct was looking to use these guys for dive trips has anybody used them before.

http://www.atlantis-bali-diving.com/

Or any recommendations we are staying in Benoa.:cool:

[minimonkey]

Hi
I have just returned from diving in Bali- the diving there is wonderful! We used Aqua Cat Bali, which is run by an extremely experienced and professional guide whose name is Today. He has about 25 years experience and has worked for several dive schools in Bali, but is now self employed. The prices were reasonable considering we used equipment and it included lunch and soft drinks on the boat. Luckily, Today likes small groups so it was him and 3 of us! Some diving schools have very large groups but we liked the small group approach. I'm not trying to be morbid but a thai lady went missing the week we were there and she was with a very large diving school based in Sanur. We saw the helicopters and boats out looking for her but no sign of here even a week later.

The best diving we did was at Nusa Penida - manta rays, mola mola sun fish on all of our dives at Crytal Bay, one was with us for 20 minutes no more than 5 metres away! And all sorts of turtles, a few sharks- just fantastic wildlife and colours. If you want to get in touch with Aquacat, the website is:

http://aquacatbali.com/


and Today will pick you up from the hotel and take you wherever you are diving or snorkelling. As I said, this was our second diving trip to Bali and hopefully we will go again next year. Say hi to Today from Nic and Rob in the UK! We had a thoroughly good time. The current can be very strong there and the water was much colder than we thought it would be- 18 degrees on one of the dives!

take care

nic

[minimonkey]

Have just done a trip report on Bali:

http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?itemid=11048&itemTitle=Bali+with+Aqua+Cat+Bali&section=1244&sectionTitle=Far+East

[Eddie Clamp]

Have just done a trip report on Bali:
http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?itemid=11048&itemTitle=Bali+with+Aqua+Cat+Bali&section=1244&sectionTitle=Far+East

Good report! Made me want to go there :). Mola Mola season is July to Nov but best Aug to Oct I hear :cool:

Long flight tho via either Singers or KL it seems :(