Padang Bai
This little ferry harbour is located at the east coast of Bali on the way from Klungkung to Candi Dasa only a few kilometres away from the main road. Padang Bai situated in a beautiful bay with white sand beach and crystal clear gemstone blue water next to the harbour. It is a perfect location for relaxation or walking on pristine white sand beaches, for fishing, snorkelling or diving as well as it is a cultural destination with one of the oldest temples in Bali. Visit the over 1000 years old interesting Silayukti Temple and you will see authentic Balinese ceremonies at this place. The Silayukti Temple is one of the four oldest temples in Bali. The Hindu priests who came from Java to Bali more then 1000 years ago brought the Hinduism to our beautiful island. They started with strong and deep meditation at this place.
If you pass the harbour where you can catch a ferry to Lombok and you go to the north (left) you will visit a little fishing village called Padang Bai.
From here a lot of interesting dive sites can be easily reached by boat. In some of this dive sites it is easy to dive but in others you will need some experience to feel good! Have a look in our descriptions and make your decision.
1. Blue Lagoon (Tanjung Sari)
This varied dive site in the north-east of Padang Bai offers dives for novice divers but the wall is also interesting for experienced divers. It is a very good place to start diving again after a pause. In shallow water in the depth of three until five meters you can exercise your buoyancy first on a sandy slope and visit afterwards a wonderful wall which is falling down until 30 meters. Here you will notice a variety of healthy hard and soft corals and a lot of smaller critters which tend to stay in more sheltered areas. On this boat dive you can see a lot of gorgonians, shrimps and prawns, sweetlips, perch, scorpion fish, frog fish and the blue and yellow striped ribbon eel and lots of colourful nudibranches. In 20 meters you can visit sometimes sleeping reef sharks and from august to September you can look of Mola mola.
Blue Lagoon is a perfect beach for snorkelling as well and the white sand invites you for relaxation.
2. White Beach (Bias Tugal)
Bias Tugel is one of the most popular beaches with pristine white sand and a couple of small warungs which serve food and drinks. White Beach is located in the south of Padang Bai a perfect place for relaxation and snorkeling as well. But sometimes the waves can be a little bit bigger here. Only a few meters away from the beach we start our boat dive at a pretty drop off falling down into the deep blue. Here you will see a variety of different soft and hard corals. In the depth area you will see lots of gorgonians which are the home of tinny little pigmy-seahorses and you will look of ghostpipefish, scorpionfish, batfish, nudibranches etc. It is a good place to see Mola mola from august to September as well.
3. Padang Bai Chanel
Only 100 metres away from the beach this dive site starts near the harbour where you will visit a beautiful drop off with little caves inside. Sometimes you can see sharks, turtles and Stingrays and Mola mola as well from august to september.
4. Gili Biaha („Shark Cave“)
This is a dive site for experienced divers! At this dive side the conditions can vary quite dramatically. Depending on the waves and currents which can be strong and unpredictable some days this dive site can be easy or quite difficult sometimes. The currents can be like a washing machine. When we arrive with the boat at this place we can watch this. On the island is a Blow-hole. If the conditions are fine the water is quiet. If the waves are high water will be pressed into the cave which is located app. seven meters under the surface. In this time it is impossible to dive here. In the cave you can look of sleeping white-tip reef sharks. The cave is big enough that some divers can swim together into it. If the conditions for the dive are fine the boat will follow us along a nice wall falling down into the deep blue.
5. Mimpang / Batu Tiga
At this dive site we start at a slope and follow it down until we find a nice drop off. This drop off is rich of hard and soft coral species and colourful fish. You will see huge gorgonians and sometimes reef sharks cross our way. You can watch big schools of different fish and it is hard to identify all the different animals you can see on this dive site. Sometimes the current can be a little bit stronger but you will know at this place where it comes from. Right at the end of the dive you should be a little bit more careful, because at the end of the wall there is a downward current which can bring you 40 meters down if you are not careful.
6. Tepekong (Island of the goat)
The small – only 50 meter long – island is surrounded by deep blue water.
We start our dive in a canyon. Dense hard and soft coral colonies are growing on big basalt stone blocks. Huge groups of fishes will swim around us and with a little luck you will see reef sharks as well as moonfishes.
This dive site can be the same like in Gili Biaha. Therefore we can recommend this place only for experienced divers! At the wall on the east side you can find sometimes strong down currents which can make this dive difficult as well.