My Trip to Bali

Hello folks!

Sorry been away without any updates for so long, once again life been very hectic lately and I have been traveling more than I wanted. But hey, I dived in Bali and it was GREAT!

Thanks to my friend Joseph for his introduction and recommendation, I visited one of Bali's finest dive resort; the famous Scuba Seraya Resort in Tulamben. This familiarization trip was definitely an awesome one and I really did enjoyed myself. Scuba Seraya Resort is definitely the place to stay for diving in Seraya and areas around Tulamben. The very famous USAT Liberty Glo wreck is just a few minutes away from the resort and they boast of their house-reef called Seraya Secret that is growing very popular thanks to the growing interest in muck diving. Scuba Seraya also arranged dive trips to Nusa Penida as well and I got myself a spot for the ride to Nusa Penida for two dives there.

So here is how I would rate Scuba Seraya Resort...

Accommodation - 4/5 (The rooms are very clean, spacious and pretty. And for those who care, all rooms are air-conditioned too.)

Food - 3/5 (Lotsa choices in the menu but the taste is just average. But of course that would just be me being fussy.)

Service - 5/5 (The best! Whenever we want something, the staff generate it from scratch without any delay. The staff are all very friendly and courteous, very helpful, alert, energetic and always ready to serve. The dive guides are very enthusiastic, professional and experienced.

If you would visit the resort and need help, look these few staff who can surely be of assistance, namely Komang the resort manager, Alit and Ketot the dive masters at Tulamben and Wayang the dive instructor and guide for dives at Nusa Penida. Need someone to help plan for your trip there with a good price? Contact me and I will be very pleased to assist you!

I would like to say thank you to everyone at Scuba Seraya Resort who made everything possible for us and for ensuring that we are always very well taken cared off. A big thank you also goes to the sales office at Sanur to Niz and her gang for helping us organize the logistics and for offering me this wonderful FAM trip. I will be sure to return with my gang the next trip. Thank you guys!

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So what did I see and where did I dived? Here is my dive log for this trip:

Dive 1 (Liberty Wreck) 20/05/09
Dive time: 60 min
Depth: 28.3m
Temperature: 27c
Visibility: 15-20m
Notes: It took us roughly five minutes or a bit more to reach this dive site and you can catch the panoramic view of Mount Agung (The tallest peak in Bali) on your way there. This wreck is indeed awesome but I was without my camera. Wreck penetration is possible here and is suitable for beginners as well. Wide angle is definitely the choice but I did spot a Soft-coral crab, a pair of Black-ray shrimp goby and a few nudibranchs. Schools of Yellow lined snappers, some Harlequin sweetlips, Groupers, Triggers, Surgeons and Emperors are resident here. The fishes here are not shy and some Cleaner wrasse and Surgeon fish would nimble at your fingers. I feel that some of the fishes here are used to being fed by divers. Oh and the fishes here are all very big and fat. I can see that they are happy ^^

Dive 2 (Drop Off) 20/05/09
Dive Time: 65 min
Depth: 25m
Temperature: 28c
Visibility: 10-12m
Notes: I read about this dive site in some magazines and sites, they say it is amazing but I don't feel it's really that great. Probably over rated although I might be wrong. I should have followed my own judgment to switch to macro lens instead of listening to some articles in favor of wide angle or the dive won't be so uneventful for me. The guide showed me Harlequin shrimp, Blue ribbon eel, I found a juvenile (black) ribbon eel nearby, a few nudibranchs (flabellina sp), Crab-eye goby and a juvenile Batfish. Great...

Dive 3 (Seraya Secrets) 20/05/09
Cancelled this dive as all of us wanted to go for shopping, spa, massage, bakso, Bintang beer and babi-guling... Heard from the divers that they saw juvenile angelfish, leaf fish and frog fish. Feeling a little 'kiasu', I rejoiced that I didn't miss out anything too awesome.

Dive 4 (Liberty Wreck) 21/05/09
Dive time: 65 min
Depth: 26.6
Temperature: 26c
Visibility: 10-15m
Notes: Liberty wreck lived up to its reputation. This was another good dive. Lotsa Blue-spotted stingrays swinging and hunting about, the Garden eels here are all very big and fat and are not so shy as compared to other places. They dance actively with half of their body buried in their hole under black sand. It was a pretty sight. Inside the wreck you can see various scorpion fish and hiding under table corals are a white and pink Leaf fish. A huge Great barracuda lives in one of the holes in this big wreck and a large school of Big-eye trevally (jacks) hover above the wreck to the delight of snorkelers. There is a Napoleon wrasse here but our guide said it is not usually seen here.

Dive 5 (Coral Garden) 21/05/09
Dive time: 65 min
Depth: 26.6
Temperature: 26c
Visibility: 12-15m
Notes: Very healthy and lively soft corals here. I had a few trouble during this dive though. First, my mask left my face cus I dropped the strap holder somewhere on the boat. It took me a short while to fix the problem and I had my sight restored only to find out that I have swam into the fiercely guarded territory of a Red-tooth triggerfish and got bitten in the calf. No injuries though, thank god it wasn't a Titan... Secondly, this very large Great Barracuda keeps turning towards me, making me quite uncomfortable although brave lil Christy wanted a close shot just few inches next to it. Then I realized that I forgotten to charge my batteries so my camera was low on power. I got a few good shot of the Blue-ribbon eel but when I was pointed to the pair of Harlequin shrimp, my camera was totally dead. Woe is me...

Dive 6 (Seraya Secrets) 21/05/09
Dive time: 70 min
Depth: 19.8m
Temperature: 28c
Visibility: 5-10m
Notes: First impression? Bad. This dive site is not at all attractive at first glance. A barren site left with a few rocks and some coral patches scattered around a dark slope with black sand. But our dive guide, Ketot changed our impression almost instantly when he pointed a black Ornate ghostpipefish, a juvenile Angelfish and a juvenile Batfish in a metal-sphere artificial reef. Deeper we found soft-coral crab, another Ribbon eel, Flag-tail shrimp goby everywhere and Coleman shrimp as well. It's like whatever rock you lift, whatever corner you peek you see stuff! It's awesome! A few common nudibranchs (chromodoris & nembrota) can be found everywhere too. We went deeper and I found a juvenile Ornate ghostpipefish and showed it to Ketot who instantly challenge me in a game of fish-finding when he pointed us to a seahorse. Both of us were hoping to find the boxer crab (pom-pom crab) but were weren't the lucky ones. I enjoyed the dive despite me having one of those days when you just can't feel your camera right and your pictures sucked...

Dive 7 (Manta Point) 21/05/09
Dive time: 50 min
Depth: 16.2m
Temperature: 23c
Visibility: 5-8m
Notes: At Nusa Penida, this point guarantees you Manta ray sighting. The surge is very strong here and you just rock back and forth for the whole dive. It was fun for the first few minutes but then we started feeling a bit sick. Despite the strong surge however, the first few gentle giant manta rays swim effortlessly, soaring above us. Taking good pictures of the rays here can be tricky due to the crazy surge and the bad visibility caused by the surge and waves. We definitely saw more than ten manta rays and a four very big ones kept circling around the big rock. Some are shy but many are curious and you can actually get really, really close to them. This dive is no doubt exhilarating and totally rocks and I would want to come back here again soon. P/S: Chin had a very bad sea sick heading to the dive site and it got bad underwater and it went worst when we had our breakfast on the boat. It was quite funny.

Dive 8 (Ceninggan Wall) - 21/05/09
Dive time: 55 min
Depth: 30m
Temperature: 23c
Visibility: 15-20m
Notes: A very calm and quiet dive as compared to Manta Point. We saw absolutely nothing of great interest here. But we didn't mind it at all since the corals are really healthy and beautiful here, a perfect dive site for divers who wanted a slow and easy dive. Very mild current this dive and in the blue there are countless Red-tooth triger fish, banner fish and some species of butterflies. No good pictures of fishes this dive but I am sure the divers will love pictures of them I took.

Okay that's enough talk for now and it's time to show my not so awesome pics:

The Liberty Wreck:




Manta rays at Manta Point, Nusa Penida


Pictures taken from Seraya: