Dive Sites @ Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia, 2000
Author: Annabel Thomas

Tulamben is Bali’s most popular diving area, most day trips go here, justifiably so.

Located on the north-east coast, approximately 2.5-3hrs by minibus from the S of the island (Kuta, Sanur, etc), through scenic countryside.

Tulamben beach is fist sized black volcanic rocks, not sand. There is sand but underwater, it’s black so gives a good colour contrast for the corals and fish (good for photographers).

There are 3 dive sites, all are beach entry.

- The USAT Liberty Wreck. Bali’s most famous dive site. Built circa WWI this cargo ship was equipped with guns for WWII, torpedoed by the Japanese off Lombok, was being towed to N Bali but was taking on too much water so was beached at Tulamben. Here it was stripped by the local inhabitants. The earth tremors from the eruption of Mount Agung in 1963 pushed it into the sea where it lies as close to the beach as it can be and still be underwater. Approximately 30m offshore, suitable for all levels, lying pretty much parallel to the beach on a sand slope. It lies in depths ranging from 4-30m; the shallowest part of the wreck, where it is on the sand slope, lying parallel to the beach, is 5-10m in depth. Depth along the middle of the wreck is 16-20m. The lower edge of the wreck, ie: furthest down the slope, is 20-28m (at high tide). The wreck is 120m long, it’s pretty broken up (ie: no penetration possible), can still see the guns, toilets, anchor chain, etc. It is a lovely dive site. You can also snorkel on the wreck – the highest point is about 4m below the surface. Visibility is usually 18-25m, lower when it has been raining. There is rarely a current present, if there is, it will be a mild one. During the 3 days before the full moon, usually there are waves. The air temp is 25-32degrees, the water 26-28degrees.

The wreck is very popular with photographers as it is totally encrusted in anemone, gorgonia and corals. The black sand provides an excellent color contrast for the incredible variety of marine life, which includes a huge school of 10-12inch silver fish called Big-Eyed Trevally and over 400 other species of fish. Some dive guides feed bananas to the fish which means that all the medium sized fish come up really close to you to see if you have something for them – but you shouldn’t, it isn’t environmentally sound. There are one or two very big Grouper. Medium-sized: various Sweetlips, Unicornfish, Surgeonfish, Butterflyfish, the variety is amazing. Smaller stuff: in the anemones you find anemonefish/clownfish plus shrimp and crabs. Neon colored nudibranchs (like flat slugs with weird colors), in the sand goby and shrimp that live together (goby does the security, shrimp does the housework), also in the sand Garden Eels and Blue-Spotted Rays. There are a fair number of lionfish and scorpionfish (both toxic if you touch them). Hard and soft corals, sponges, fans. It’s pretty difficult to describe what you’ll see because you’ll see just about everything.

If you are lucky: Ghost Pipefish; Leaf Scorpionfish; white tip reef shark (disappear if they see you); Mola-Mola (Sunfish) but very rare. If you dive early ie: first divers on the wreck (only possible if you stay overnight) you may, may, see turtle. It’s the best time of day to dive the wreck.

Night diving on the wreck is great especially during the full moon. You may see Spanish Dancers (like flying pink pancakes), flashlight fish, phosphorescence.

-Coral Garden. Running most of the length of Tulamben beach is a shallow dive site (max 8-12m). Also nice for snorkeling. Loads to see, loads of corals, eels, ‘aquarium’ fish, lionfish, sometimes big Bumphead Parrotfish, Triggerfish, Blue Ribbon Eel, and so on. Also popular for night-diving - interesting and shallowest dive being the last of the day.

-the Drop-off/Wall. Opposite end of the beach from the wreck (about 15min walk along the stony beach). Starts off with a sand slope with nudibranchs, flounders, goby/shrimp sets. At 12m are sponges with shrimp, maybe Leaf Scorpionfish and Ghost Pipefish. Continuing round to the R, it gradually becomes a wall descending to below 60m. The wall has sponges, corals, gorgonian fans – there’s a huge one at 30m which we always go to on the Advanced Courses. The wall then reverts to being a steep slope. The fish life is similar to that found on the wreck but being a much larger area, are less dense. The viz here early in the morning, is wonderful, rest of the time 20-25m. There's sometimes a small current after the wall. Often see white tip reef shark, large Napoleon Wrasse, big Bumphead Parrotfish, some big Filefish, quite a lot of Moray Eel. In the evenings you see more Lionfish. Some people have seen Hammerhead Shark. Good ‘aquarium section’ along the top of the wall, enabling you to finish your dive at around 5m for pretty much as long as you want to (if that’s what interests you).

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