Tulamben

Tulamben is a small fishing village on the north-east coast of Bali. It is among the most popular dive sites on Bali since the wreck of the Liberty, a US Army Transport ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942 lies just off shore. During high-season, up to 100 divers descend to the wreck each day. The town's name is derived from the word batulambih, which roughly translates as "many stones" a reference to the destructive eruptions by Mount Agung that have effected this part of Bali from time to time. The modern name evolved over time, first to "Batulamben" and finally settling on the contraction Tulamben ("batu" means "stone" in Indonesian). [Tulamben Wikipedia Articles] Tulamben Bali is a wonderful place to learn to dive and to learn about underwater life. There are occasional sightings of Mola-Mola (Sunfish), Manta Rays, Whale Shark, tuna and other pelagics but it is the permanent population of Tulamben that brings people here for the 1st and 100th time. The fish life is similar to that found on the wreck but being a much larger area, is less dense. However, more often than on the Wreck, you will see white tip reef shark, large Napoleon Wrasse, big Bumphead Parrotfish, some big Filefish (including Scrawled), and large Moray Eel. Late afternoon is the time to see the wide variety of Lionfish that live here, I'm not the person to ask why we see so many of them! There have been sightings of Whale Shark in as little as 9M of water, and much deeper, Hammerhead Shark. The back reef at the top of the Wall, averaging 5M, contains an excellent 'aquarium section', including cuttlefish, octopus, boxer crabs and many other unexpected treasures, enabling you to finish your dive at around 5m for pretty much as long as you want to. This is, of course, also very popular with snorkellers. The Coral Garden Running along the middle section of Tulamben beach is a shallow reef (averaging 8-12m so also excellent for snorkelling) of mainly table and fire corals interspersed with anemones as well as barrel and other sponges. The fishlife, as with the Drop-off and the Wreck, is very diverse. It is here that you can see a surprising number of Blue Ribbon Eels (the juveniles are black) and octopus, the variety of shrimp is surprising too along with the different anemonefish. The bigger fish seen here are Bumphead Parrotfish and Black Tip reef shark. The depth and location make the Coral Garden a very good, and popular, Night Dive on which you may see Spanish Dancers and flashlight fish. In fact the diving actually extends much deeper than 12M, if you carry on down the sand slope, you'll find barrel sponges with many surprises: juvenile Emperor Angelfish, Two-spot Lionfish, maybe a school of juvenile catfish; cleaning stations with shrimp and wrasse, a shoal of Razorfish swaying in their hiding place. If you continue along the slope, towards the start of the Drop-off, you'll come to a dry river bed, scooped out into a bowl-shape, marked by ridges radiating outwards. These ridges are often the best places in Tulamben to find unexpected specimens. Although it is certainly not an area for divers looking for a profusion of marinelife! Batu Kelebit (Kelebit Rocks) A 15 min. jukung (local outrigger) ride east from Tulamben Bay will take you to these two large rocks that lie just offshore. The dive site is quite dramatic and consists of three steep ridges encrusted with an incredible diversity of hard corals, beautiful sea fans, fire corals and sponges and between these ridges are channels of white sand. In fact, it is not only the colour of the sand that differs from Tulamben Bay, the species of even the most common reef fish are different too. The marine life varies from the tiny up to the very large: the steepness of the site combined with the structure of the ridges (and plankton-rich water) means you also have much more chance to see pelagics including barracuda, tuna, manta and white tip reef shark here than you do within the Bay. The diving here is colder than within Tulamben Bay and not only because the diving here is generally deeper: there's a cold water eddy that comes up from the depths. Visibility is generally as low as 15-20M due to the amount of plankton in the water. The current can be quite strong at times but the channels are well-protected.  [Diving AquaMarineDiving.com Articles]

Youtube Video Description. USAT Liberty shipwreck, Tulamben, Bali Scuba diving in Bali in September 2007 with AquaMarine Diving. Featuring the USAT Liberty shipwreck at Tulamben, mola mola at Crystal Bay, a whitetip reef shark at Nusa Penida, and lots of macro critters such as nudibranchs and shrimps from Coral Garden, Seraya Secrets and Puri Jati.