Diving in Bali comes as two days that have almost nothing in common. In Tulamben, on the north-east coast, you walk into the water from a stony beach and swim 25 m to a 120-metre wreck, with no certificate and your own dive master, for IDR 650,000 (≈ $38) per person. Off Nusa Penida, you cross the Badung Strait by speedboat from Sanur for 3 dives in the current, among mantas and, in season, the mola-mola, for IDR 3,450,000 (≈ $203) per person, and only with a certificate. Which one fits depends less on your budget than on your logbook.
- Tulamben: the Liberty wreck from the shore, and what a beginner dive includes
- One dive or two, and how long the day takes
- Nusa Penida: Manta Point, the mola-mola and the currents
- The extras, the cancellation terms and the seasickness warning
- A side-by-side table, and what to do without a certificate
Important
The Nusa Penida trip is for certified divers only, and its operator recommends Advanced Open Water because of the currents; some of its sites are for divers with 30 to 100 or more logged dives. If you have never dived, the day for you is Tulamben.
Tulamben: the Liberty wreck from the shore
Let’s Dive Tulamben’s beginner dive costs IDR 650,000 (≈ $38) per person and needs no experience: you must be at least 12, swim adequately and be in good health. Before you gear up, your dive master explains mask clearing, the BCD and regulator, hand signals and the safety rules; on a first dive you practise them in a pool or in water with pool-like conditions. Each beginner has their own dive master for the whole dive.
The site is the USAT Liberty, a US army cargo ship built in 1918. It was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Lombok Strait in 1942, towed to Bali and left on the shore at Tulamben; the tremors of the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung pushed it into the sea. Today the 120-metre hull lies on its side 25 m off the rocky beach, from 3 m to about 30 m deep, covered in soft and hard corals, sea fans and sponges. The operator rates the dive as easy and suitable even for beginners.
On the wreck, the operator lists a large school of bigeye trevally that often circles the hull, sweetlips, angelfish, batfish and surgeonfish among the plates, and turtles, Napoleon wrasse and great barracuda as regular visitors; on the way back to the shore, garden eels poke out of the sand. Beginner dives may also go to the Coral Garden, and the Drop Off is used for a third dive only.
One dive or two, and how long it takes
The operator recommends a second dive: the first is mostly about getting used to the gear, the second lets you enjoy the site. On the Tulamben beginner page, prices are per person for dives made in a single day, with equipment: 1 dive IDR 650,000 (≈ $38), 2 dives IDR 1,200,000 (≈ $71), 3 dives IDR 1,600,000 (≈ $94). Allow 2 to 6 hours, depending on the number of dives.
The price includes a mask, wetsuit, fins, BCD, regulator, tank and weights, the dive master, lunch, snacks, coffee, tea and water, photos and videos taken by your guide, transport to the dive sites, entrance tickets and porters, a towel, soap, shampoo and Wi-Fi. Pickup is included from hotels in Tulamben on request; from Amed it costs IDR 50,000 (≈ $3) each way. Transfers from the south of Bali are not priced on this page, so ask when you book.
Nusa Penida: Manta Point, the mola-mola and the current
Bali Fun Diving’s Nusa Penida and Lembongan trip costs IDR 3,450,000 (≈ $203) per person for 3 dives, with equipment, the speedboat, lunch and snacks, from a minimum of 2 divers. Pickup is between 7:00 and 7:30, the dive centre is 5 minutes from Sanur harbour, and the crossing takes about 45 minutes on one of its pages and 50 on the itinerary. You are back on Sanur beach around 16:00 and at your hotel around 16:30. One guide dives with at most 2 or 3 divers, depending on their experience.
Manta Point is dived all year: it is a cleaning station, and a single dive can bring 7 to 8 mantas, along with turtles, nurse sharks and blue-spotted rays. It lies on the southern side, close to the cliffs, and the operator is frank that it cannot promise you will jump in until the boat arrives: when the swell is big, the site is off. Crystal Bay is the other name to know, with visibility of 30 to 40 m or more on a good day.
The mola-mola is seasonal. The operator gives July to October, best in September and October, on one page, and August to October at Crystal Bay on another; in those months the water is colder, 16–21°C, which is when the sunfish come shallower to be cleaned.
What comes on top on the Nusa Penida day
Everything extra on the Nusa Penida day is published on the operator's price list. Hotel pickup is included around Sanur, Denpasar, Legian and Seminyak. From elsewhere, per group per day: IDR 250,000 (≈ $15) from Jimbaran, Nusa Dua or Canggu; IDR 450,000 (≈ $26) from Uluwatu, Pecatu, Ubud or Pererenan and Tabanan; IDR 700,000 (≈ $41) from Tegalalang. A dive computer is IDR 250,000 (≈ $15) per day, nitrox IDR 100,000 (≈ $6) per dive, an extra dive IDR 650,000 (≈ $38), a GoPro IDR 600,000 (≈ $35) per day and a private guide IDR 1,250,000 (≈ $74) per day.
Cancelling 4 to 8 days before costs 50%, and less than 3 days before, or not showing up, 100%; the operator does not describe the other periods. The per-person price applies from 2 divers, and a single diver is asked to check first whether a shared trip is already scheduled that day. And the operator warns that the crossing is rarely flat, especially towards the southern sites, and that the whole day is on the boat: take your seasickness pill after breakfast.
Tulamben or Nusa Penida: side by side
| Tulamben, Liberty wreck | Nusa Penida from Sanur | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | no certificate, from 12 years old | certified divers; Advanced Open Water recommended |
| Price per person | IDR 650,000 (≈ $38) for 1 dive, IDR 1,200,000 (≈ $71) for 2, IDR 1,600,000 (≈ $94) for 3 | IDR 3,450,000 (≈ $203) for 3 dives, from 2 divers |
| Entry | from the beach | from a speedboat |
| Guide | your own dive master | 1 guide for 2 or 3 divers |
| Hotel pickup | in Tulamben; from Amed IDR 50,000 (≈ $3) each way | Sanur, Denpasar, Legian, Seminyak; elsewhere IDR 250,000 (≈ $15) to IDR 700,000 (≈ $41) per group per day |
| Cancellation | not published on the beginner page | 50% at 4–8 days, 100% under 3 days |
Mantas without a certificate
If you want the mantas but have never dived, snorkelling is the answer, not a crash course. The snorkelling trips go to the same two sites, Manta Bay and Manta Point, from IDR 200,000 (≈ $12) per person on a shared boat from Nusa Penida; the options, from Sanur or from the islands, are compared in “Snorkelling with manta rays off Nusa Penida and Lembongan” and on the Bali boat trips page.
