Bali is the most famous island in Indonesia and one of the most popular destinations in South East Asia and the world for scuba divers. With such a wide choice of dive sites all around the volcanic island, you might wonder where to find the best of Bali diving. The main locations for scuba divers visiting Bali are Tulamben, Amed, Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida, Pemuteran and Padang Bai. You will be able to book all your dives with the numerous PADI and SSI dive centres located in these locations.
To help you navigate the best dive sites in Bali and whether they should be on your bucket list, check this list of the 15 best dive sites in Bali. It includes information about the best season to scuba dive there and the recommended scuba diving experience level before going. I also indicated where you could see the mola-mola (oceanic sunfish), manta rays and sharks.
Bali Indonesia Dive Map
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This dive map of the best dive sites in Bali will help you locate and plan your perfect dive holiday in Bali. As you can see, most of the best dive sites in Bali are on its east coast near Amed and Tulamben and around the islands of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida.
The only exception is the area near Pemuteran in the northwest part of the island, with Menjangan Island located in the Bali Barat National Park. Check my recommended itinerary in Bali for scuba divers if you need help planning your dives, sightseeing excursion and accommodation at the same time.
Located in the Ceningan Channel between Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida, the famous dive site of Crystal Bay is where you can see mola-molas (oceanic sunfish) between July and September. At that time of the year the visibility is between 30 to 40 m; however, the water temperature is colder than in other dive sites in Bali with 23C compared to the usual 28-30C. A 5 mm wetsuit is usually the right choice.
Meeting a mola-mola in Bali is like the Grail for many scuba divers visiting the Indonesian island, but you will need a bit of luck to see one. To increase the odds, make sure to go in the heart of the season, go diving in Nusa Lembongan and plan enough to scuba dive Crystal Bay several times, at least twice.
The dive in itself is easy, as you can stay in very shallow waters and still see plenty of manta rays in 5 m of water, but the tidal current I felt may bother scuba divers prone to sea sickness. When the sea conditions are calm, this spot is also accessible for snorkellers.
Eels Garden is one of the 11 dive sites of Menjangan Island. It starts with a deep wall covered in elegant gorgonians, followed by a sandy bottom inhabited by garden eels (hence its name) and finally, a shallower colourful hard coral garden.
This is usually where scuba divers go after their morning dives on the Liberty shipwreck. But divers in the know, either because they are underwater photographers or tech divers, are all about this dive site in Tulamben. On the one hand, you have a wall with a breath-taking depth of 80 m which is perfect for tech diving training, and on the other hand, you can plenty of gorgonians where you can find pygmy seahorses and Denise seahorses.
Muck diving is not necessarily for every one but if you look scavenger hunts on black sand to look for the weirdest marine species, then Gilimanuk, on the westernmost point of Bali, is where you should go. Contact dive centres of Pemuteran to go diving there.
Near the east pontoon of the bay of Pemuteran, you can go on a sunset dive to hopefully meet the most romantic fish of the ocean, the mandarin fish. Beyond its superb green, blue and orange colour, they live as couples for life.
Power drift dive lovers, this one is for you. Starting from the mangrove of Nusa Lembongan north shore, depending on the currents of the day, the dive can last an hour like 20 minutes!
The wall of Amed is the most interesting dive site of the area, starting on the east side of Jemeluk Bay. While you can reach it by going diving from the shore, take the opportunity to go diving in Amed on one of the traditional fishermen jukung boat.
If you feel all your dives in Bali where missing some sharks, then put Padang Bai on your itinerary. Shark Point is a famous spot of the east coast where you can meet many white-tip sharks.
A dive only recommended to experienced divers who want to take a chance to dive in the current to maybe meet the pelagic marine life passing by including sharks, manta rays, stingrays and mola-molas.
This is a king of the new hottest spot around Bali for underwater photographers thanks to the beautiful corals that grow on the pillars of the jetty. Not the type of dive site you would picture for Bali among fishing lines but a rich marine life can be found. Frogfish, rhinopias fish, flying gunard, you name it!
We are certified and licensed Scuba Diving Operator in Indonesia.All Travel and Tourism services industry in Indonesia are required to have a valid and official permit to conduct any form of scuba diving program or travel services.It is a violation to operate and conducted any form of scuba diving programs or organising a dive travel services without a valid and official licensed in Indonesia.All Bali Fun Diving, scuba diving trips and programs are conducted, organise, arrange, and made by PT.BAHARI INTAN ABADI.
I dove around Nusa Penida, a small island just under an hour boat ride from Bali. The diving was absolutely fantastic! I did the famous Manta Point. When we visited there were not so many boats around and the water was very clear. I counted like 6 mantas swimming around me at once. They were so beautiful and curious about our bubbles. The Manta Point dive site is all about the manta rays and otherwise, there is not much else to see. It is still completely worth diving there as you get some great close encounters with manta rays. We also went diving at some local reefs and visited dive sites like the Temple and Sental. The current was just perfect and not too strong so we could have a nice easy drift dive. I spotted several nudibranchs, triggerfish, napoleons, trumpet fish, and lots of other fish plus beautiful coral. Also, there were so many turtles just passing us constantly. And to make the dive even better, we saw dolphins from the boat on our way to de dive site and then again underwater while diving. I loved every moment and can recommend the destination to everybody.
Diving Bali is something that should be on every diver's bucket list. Bali dive resorts are top notch, and very affordable when compared to many other dive destinations. We only dove in two locations in Bali - Nusa Penida and Tulamben - but both were world class dive destinations.
Nusa Penida is a small island off the Southeast corner of Bali, with reliably great manta encounters at Manta Point, and molas at Crystal Bay from June to October. We were there in April, which meant no mola encounters, but the water was very warm (comfy in a 3mm wetsuit), we had fantastic manta encounters, lots of turtles and octopus, and we had some phenomenal drift dives along pristine reefs.
Tulamben is on the north coast of Bali, and is quite different of a destination. The water is warm and calm all year round. There are amazing muck diving sites, full of fantastic macro critters, especially nudibranchs of all shapes and sizes. There is the famous USS Liberty wreck dive, one of the most famous dives in the world. And there are great wall dives with huge sea fans, and beautiful reefs. Not the best place for really large stuff, other than some hawksbill turtles, and the bumphead parrotfish on the Liberty...but still fun for wide angle shooting.
The best time to dive Bali depends on what you are looking for. The rainy season runs from approximately October to April, with the dry season from May to September. Rainy season just means that a lot of days will have some rain, but it is often not too prolonged. The rainy season is the low season. We loved being there in the shoulder month of April because the weather was overall quite nice (with some rain, but not too bad), but most importantly, there were not a ton of tourists around. So, dive sites in Tulamben and Nusa Penida were quieter than peak season. October would also be nice, as it is a shoulder month but it is still mola time. The resort we stayed at in Nusa Lembongan recommended coming back for molas in October. Bali is the kind of place that makes you want to return to, and I think we will have to do that sometime soon!
I did my Divemaster training and internship in Bali and have been coming back every year since! While the mola mola and manta cleaning station are the draw in the summer months (July/August), this is an excellent time to dive macro because everyone is...well...looking for mola mola! The Eastern side of Bali (Tulamben/Seraya region) is excellent for macro and muck diving photography. Mola are found at Nusa Penida. Mantas are generally at Manta Point. Amed has a lovely wall and lots of octopus. Padangbai is great for macro but the conditions are finicky so you really need to watch the moon cycle.
The only time you may want to consider NOT planning to scuba dive in Bali is on Nyepi, the most holy Hindu holiday and day of silence for Balinese. Windows will be covered, shops will be closed, lights will be off, streets will be vacant and most people will be indoors in silence to celebrate this special quiet holiday. You can check the local calendar in advance for this and other annual holidays to ensure an active and enjoyable vacation that you will not soon forget!
June 2016: We did a "diving safari" . We were in Bali for 3 weeks, and dove the southern part of the island, eastern Bali and the Menjangan area. We stayed at the Watergarden in Candidasa (southwestern Bali), the Ocean View Tulamben in Tulamben, and the Mimpi in Menjangan. The food and service at the Watergarden were exceptional. We ate all our meals at the restaurant it was so good. The restaurant at the Ocean View needs improvement. Fortunately, the Safety Stop--a local hangout--is a 15 minute walk, and the food was awesome. At the Mimpi, there is only their restaurant. There is nothing to do at night at the Mimpi Menjangan. My wife did a monkey/temple tour, but otherwise, we were there to dive. However, there is topside sightseeing available. 2ff7e9595c
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