Bali and Lombok

Hi.

Can anyone recommend good diving clubs on these islands? I am also
interested in opinions about the best divesites.

Regards.

T.R. Norway

In article <0lIPc.5997$v04.131917@news2.e.nsc.no>, no.sp@m.no (T.R.)
wrote:

> Hi.
>
> Can anyone recommend good diving clubs on these islands? I am also
> interested in opinions about the best divesites.

For Bali try Annabel at AQUAMARINEDIVING, her outfit looked after me and
my wife pretty well.

I think we dived Nusa Penida, nice location, strong currents if i
remember.
Also the Liberty wreck up at Tulumben, not the best wreck in the world
(not after Chuuk anyway) but a nice dive, also at Tulumben is a great wall
dive......lots of little critters in the wall.........

Not done Lombok.....sadly.

Dave Morgan in the Uk
Take out the "goesdiving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

"T.R." <no.sp@m.no> wrote in message
news:0lIPc.5997$v04.131917@news2.e.nsc.no...
> Hi.
>
> Can anyone recommend good diving clubs on these islands? I am also
> interested in opinions about the best divesites.
>
> Regards.
>
> T.R. Norway
>
>

This is a good book for reference....

Suzanna Hinderks knows her stuff.

http://www.fetchbook.info/search_Sus...By_Author.html

You can find the Lonely Planet book series available at just about all large
online book sellers.

Forest Aten

Places to go are:
Tulamben - Shore dive on a WWII wreck over 100m long, starts at 4m and goes
down to 30m. This is a world class dive for photographers especially macro,
you will see some stuff here that you will be hard to see anywhere else.
Nice easy dive, no to very mild current. Up the beach a few 100m is a wall
dive that is also worth a visit starts at about 5m and goes down to over
60m, wall is cover in hard and soft corals, and some of them are massive.

Nusa PendiaLembongen - This is the place to do drift diving, depending on
where you go it can be mild or unbelievably strong. These can be some of the
most exciting dive you do, boat drops you off and picks you up so there is
no fighting the current just let it take you and enjoy the ride. The coral
here is very healthy and this is the place to see big pelagics.

Menjangan Isl. - Mild current here, all wall dives with some beautiful
corals, big fans.

Padang Bai Tepekong - Padang Bai is a nice little dive with an assortment of
corals and fish life can get some big fish action here too. Tepekong and the
other sites around here are big current sites with heaps of reef sharks
sometimes to many to count. If you want sharks this is the place to go, if
you listen and FOLLOW the dive guides instructions you should be ok.

Kintamani Volcano - Very scenic, a beautiful place to go and see the beauty
of Bali, don't however go on the tours there as they stop off a lot to let
the locals try and sell you stuff can be a pain in the arse. Try and get a
private car to take you, you will see more and get harassed less.

Rafting - There are heaps of places that do rafting, they take you to the
lava flow valley at the side of Mt. Agung and you do an enjoyable ride down.

Reptile Park - About 30mins or so north of Kuta, worth a visit if you like
seeing the native animals of the area.

Water sports - You think of it and you can do it over there,

Gili Islands off Lombok - These islands are situated off the coast of
Lombok. They are very relaxing the ideal place to get away from it. The
diving isn't as good as Bali but if you want to see turtles there are
hundreds there. Lombok is a 20min plane flight for Bali and the return
flight shouldn't cost more than 100 pounds. The drive thru Lombok is very
scenic, with rain forests and monkeys everywhere.

When we go we stay in Kuta and travel to the dive sites, you get to see a
lot of Bali that way and still have shopping and a night life when you
aren't diving. Sanur is a bit quieter but still has stuff to do.

Have heaps of pics and a few write-ups on my web site from some of the trips
we have done over there. If you have any questions or need the contact
details of some guides just drop me an email.

As for Lombok, here's something I wrote a year or so ago. The Gili islands
are the place to head to.

Having paid in full for my next diving holiday to Bali the day before the
bomb went off, it was a little unsettling deciding what to do. Especially
since I was taking two of my children with me. After talking it over with my
beloved wife we agreed that you can't just hide away and cancel all your
plans. So the next working day I rang the travel agent to make sure all was
still go. Apart from having to change airlines, as we had booked onto Air
Paradise; a new airline which had now cancelled it launch indefinably, and
changing hotels, as ours was situated right behind Paddy's Bar and had it's
entrance blown up, nothing had changed except for the $100 hike in fees each
for the new hotel.
We had been to Bali twice within the last 18 months and had always been made
to feel very welcome and it's good to say nothing has changed, if anything
its just gotten better.
For the last two trips we have intended to go to the Gili Islands off the
North West coast of Lombok but had never made it for several reasons, one
because we didn't really have any idea how to get there, the other being a
serious lack of time. We had made up our minds to get there at any cost this
time. After extensive searching through the internet, we found a few dive
shops located on Gili Trawangan the biggest of the three islands. Having
settled on Manta Dive as our dive store of choice, Marcus the owner
helpfully advised us of the best route to the island.
With the ferries cutting back on the days they crossed from Bali to Lombok
it was decided to fly across. I pre-booked the flight from Bali to Mataram
airport on Lombok, flying with Merpati airlines, via the net. The first
flight departed Denpasar at 7:30am and arrived in Mataram at 7:55am, yes
that's only a 25minute flight and cost US$50 return. From there we took a
taxi to Telok Nara arriving there at about 8:45am. Be aware that the taxi
booking office is just inside the airport doors. This is the place to book a
taxi and the price is a set one (approx 48,000rp or US$5 for Telok Nara)
depending on where you are going, if you walk outside the airport door you
will be set upon by several locals wanting to transport you at double the
price. Once at Telok Nara we were picked up by a pre arranged Manta Dive
speedboat and arrived at the dive shop in Trawangan at 9am. Marcus greeted
us there and directed us to some nice cheap accommodation at the Aldi
Homestay. At 35,000rp or US$3.50 a night for a clean room with twin beds, a
western toilet and a fan with breakfast included, it was a real bargain.

We arrived back at the dive store at 10:45am to prepare for our first dive
at Shark Point, a site located on the west side of the island. Transport to
the site was by a large outrigger boat with ample room to stand and kit
yourself up. Once in the water it was hard not to notice the amount of
damage the coral had sustained due to El Nino a few years ago, most was
dead, but fortunately there are signs it is springing back to life. This is
the site if you want to see turtles. We came across five big Hawksbill
turtles within the first ten minutes who didn't seem to mind us swimming
around with them. A bit deeper, around the 25m mark and you are into
whitetip shark territory, we saw six during this dive all sitting in the
slight current that flowed through the gullie. Due to the current most of
the other life tends to hang around the numerous bommies at this site,
juvenile ribbon eels, big green moray eels, trevalley, clown anemones and
wrasse to name a few. The diving at this site is suitable for all levels
starting at 5m and slowly slopping down to 30m, beyond that there is only a
sandy bottom.
We returned to the resort for lunch and a relaxing rest in the shop front
hammocks before heading off to Manta Point located on the southern tip of
the island. The current was slight stronger here, but nothing dangerous, the
worst thing being the thermoclines that are everywhere and drop the water
temperature a good 5 degrees when you pass through them. There are numerous
white and black tip reef sharks here but they are very timid and it is hard
to get close to them. The coral here is in slightly better condition than at
Shark point.
After getting our gear together for the night dive we headed off to find
something to eat for dinner. Marcus had recommend Vila Ombak a hotel 500m up
the beach and we were not disappointed, a superb meal was had by all.
The night dive was to be at Meno Wall on the North West side of Gili Meno
the second island in the chain, no sooner had we hit the water and we were
surrounded by Krill. Thousands of them, they were everywhere and seemed to
be attracted to our lights, getting in our hair and ears was a little
annoying but it was a sight to see, it was like diving in a soup of krill.
Once again the turtles were abundant as were lion fish and moray eels. This
is one of the few places around this region I have seen crayfish in packs.
We were also treated to a large solitary Barracuda. The coral here seemed to
be worst hit of the lot, which is a shame because the dive was great with
the damage and you are left to wonder what it was like before the coral died
and only hope a full recovery can be made.
The following morning we had decided to go snorkelling at the Northern end
of the island were the coral is in the best condition and comes all the way
into the shore with little or no current. We encountered several turtles
here and some barracuda. A duck dive down to one turtle and the temptation
was to much. As I reached out to touch it I was reminded why we should look
and not touch as it spun around very quickly and took a snap at me, looked
me straight in the eye and then continued on. We continued snorkelling for a
good 3 hours before heading back for lunch. As we sat in the sunshine on
this beautiful island there was thunder and lightning on Lombok about 3km
away, and the same back on Bali. We reluctantly left the island later that
afternoon to catch the plane back to Bali and wonder why we didn't make the
trip eariler.




Regards
Gary
www.marinedomaindiving.com

0
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Take only pictures, leave only bubbles!
"T.R." <no.sp@m.no> wrote in message
news:0lIPc.5997$v04.131917@news2.e.nsc.no...
> Hi.
>
> Can anyone recommend good diving clubs on these islands? I am also
> interested in opinions about the best divesites.
>
> Regards.
>
> T.R. Norway
>
>

"T.R." <no.sp@m.no> wrote in message news:<0lIPc.5997$v04.131917@news2.e.nsc.no>...
> Hi.
>
> Can anyone recommend good diving clubs on these islands? I am also
> interested in opinions about the best divesites.
>
> Regards.
>
> T.R. Norway

http://www.kapalselam.org/

This is the address of the local diving club in Bali. I don't think
they run trips themselves, but they can probably point you in the
right direction. I found good dive site information on their website.

Michael