Wreck Diving in Tulamben

Missing the ocean, we decided to head out of Ubud to the northeast coast of Bali, to a place called Tulamben which reportedly had an amazing ship wreck just off the coast. The wreck, the USAT Liberty, a WWII supply ship that was destroyed near Lombok and towed to Bali, sits just 25 meters offshore, which made diving it very easy. Although Beth had decided she didn't want to see anything bigger than her in the ocean, there was absolutely nothing to do in Tulamben, so she opted to go.

The dives($50USD for two dives) were fantastic! We were greeted right away by a 1.5 meter napoleon fish and we saw lots of large, colourful butterfly fish and even some stingrays skulking in the sandy bottom. The actual wreck was incredible - completely covered with colourful fans, coral and giant clams, and there were lots of nooks and crannies and swimthroughs.

The most amazing part was that the dive shop was located about 400 meters down the rocky beach from the dive site, so our equipment had to be transported. Now, I had seen women in Ubud carry fruit and other market goods on their heads, but when I saw this little woman as scrawny as my 80 year old grandmother put on a BC and tank, 3 weight belts, a tank on her head and a tank on her shoulder, and proceed to walk quickly over the painfully rocky shore, I knew I had seen it all.

After the dives Beth was quite alarmed to learn that the native guides only had their open water licenses, but they did seem to make up for it with experience - 700 dives in a few years for one guy.

We stayed in the beautiful bungalows attached to our dive shop (Blue Coral Divers) for 20,000 Rupiah. As we were waiting for the bus the next morning, we were lucky enough to see dolphins playing 100 meters offshore. The drive up and around the northeastern coast in Bali is a must - the scenery is unbelievable - from dense tropical jungle, to lush farmlands, to land scorched and bombed by volcanic lava years earlier.