My fourth major dive trip to Bali – Indonesia! Who says “Welcome to Bali” better then a Garuda flight attendant? I don’t think anyone can match that. So I did a week of work connecting with our employees here on the island of Java and now on my last leg of my 2nd part of my vacation here in Bali, Indonesia.
I use Aquamarine dive tour group that are located in Bali and was picked up by one of their drivers/van. It is a 2.5 hour drive to Tulamben and arrived safety. If you want a great place to stay in Tulamben with a great place you will need to stay at Ocean View. Under $100 a night includes continental breakfast. If you do a package with Aquamarine, like I did, lunch is then part of the package. Then all you need to do is pay for dinner meals.
Ocean View is on the ocean, well not quite. But from my room I just need to go 500 feet and I am at the foot of the ocean. The restaurant is as close. The swimming pool is cool and refreshing and is right next to the ocean.
I like Ocean View also because it is a hub for diving. The Liberty wreck is a 3 minute walk to the right of the hotel which means it is so close. The food at the restaurant is great but not excellent. I eat mostly Indonesian food which is pretty quite good. Nasi Goreng (fried rice) with a fried egg and two “sticks” of chicken sate (chicken on a stick) is what you get here. Add crupuk (shrimp crackers) and you have a winner-winner Indonesian dinner!
I had a total of 11 dives with Aquamarine. Did mostly sunrise and sunset dives with one dive prior to lunch. The three dive areas right here in Tulamben is:
• Liberty wreck dive (left)
• Coral gardens (center)
• Tulamben tip/peninsula (right)
• (all three are right next to each other)
All three are close by and the latter two you are driven (3-5 minutes) to the locations. I also will be diving Amed and a new place I haven’t dived before.
I have purchased a new underwater camera, a cannon DSL 100 with a SEA and SEA housing and strobes. I also have added a go pro for videos and place that on the center top of the housing. With the added go pro filters it has been a superb video with the go pro and superb stills with the Cannon. Now, to get the operator to be as good as the equipment will take plenty of time and dives. But I am up for the challenge!
I do want to end with a great big thank you to Aquamarine! I have dove with this great dive group for the last 5 years (something like that – I can’t keep a good count). They are tremendous! The office staff find the best dive trips for me here in Indonesia and the dive team make my diving so much fun. I have my own personal dive guide and it sure is worth it. Mul, has been my dive guide for the last 4 years and I am so grateful to this great guy! I hope he gets to spend more time with his wife and two superb young kids but he also loves diving.
Well, my trip to Watakobi and Bali is coming to a close. It has been 3 great weeks of diving and 1 week of great work. I have dove 43 dives on this trip. That takes me to 242 dives in my dive journey, thus far. Hopefully I have tons more diving and underwater photos to show you all.
Cheers from the other side of the pond in Bali, Indonesia.
Chow – Diving Doug / Doug Gulleson
