Hotel on Bali

[Pete]

We are cruising with the Paradise Dancer in the fall. After that we want to spend 4-5 days on Bali. Would like a couple of days to dive and a couple to site see. Struggling with where to stay on Bali. At the moment we are looking at Alam Asmara Dive Resort in Candidasa. Does any one have any experience with them?

[DocV]

Hi petie,

This is an absolutely fabulous resort.  I'd be very surprised if you didn't fall in love with it.

Enjoy your trip.

Regards,

DocVikingo

[Niagara]

Petie,
   Hi.
   Plan to sail on the Paradise Dancer in Nov., 2010. Maybe we will meet.
   Haven't been to the Alam Asmara; but if Doc V. says it's okay, that is good enough for me.

               Niagara

[Pete]

Niagara-
We are also cruising in November, the first week. Which one are you on? I also have to ask, are you from the Niagara Falls/Buffalo area?  (We are upstate NY)....

[Ehkzu]

We've been to Bali on dive trips 6 times in the last 10 years, most recently last October.

For sight seeing, stay in Ubud. We like the Cendana. Ubud is the cultural capital of the island, more or less in the middle. November is the start of the rainy season.

For diving--depends. For high voltage current dives (be sure you know what you're doing!) I'd stay in Padang Bai (just down the coast from Candidasa). From there you can do boat dives across the straits to Nusa Penida, and more locally to Gili Biaha and Gili Tepekong. Blue lagoon right by Padang Bai is much easier diving and pretty nice.

For the most relaxed diving--and by far the least rain--stay at Addi Asri Bungalows in Pemuteran at the northwest corner of the island and dive with their in-house shop, Sea Rovers. Paul, the Scots guy who owns the shop, has a fast dive boat with twin 80hp outboards that can get you to Menjangan Island quickly. It has some of the most scenic diving around Bali. It's about 4 hrs. drive from the airport. He also has a second dive boat for nearby diving--just five minutes out to some nice coral reefs in the bay there. Pemuteran has sandy beaches for easy beach diving. Not much coral but we found a fair number of interesting fish/critters around the pilings of the dock nearby.

The most famous dive site is Tulamben on the NE coast. Also drier than anywhere else but Pemuteran. Great wreck there (for critters, not so much for the wreck itself), and a nice little wall and a rubble field in the middle with coral and all sorts of critters. Downside is the rocky "beach"--entry/exit can be tricky. Stay at Palm Paradise Bungalows. Emiko the dive shop manager there can hook you up with a local guy who'll help you in/out of the water. You can also go out in the fishermens' boats. Just be sure they have a ladder!

People often use Bali as a jumping-off point for other parts of Indonesia, but it's got very good diving too.

Paul at Sea Rovers can make all the arrangements for you, so you do just one money transfer, if you choose the Pemuteran option. From Pemuteran you can also explore that part of the island.

[harvroit]

just returned from Raja Ampat on the Paradise Dancer  -- wonderful trip (trip report to follow).  stayed in Bali 2 nts on arrival and 1 nt leaving.  Bali Spirit in Ubud and Puri Santrian in Sanur.  enjoyed both hotels.  their grounds are beautiful, staff is exceptional and the rooms are very comfortable.

[jbell]

It is a nice hotel, but I would recommend The Hyatt Hotel or another hotel in Sanur Bali, which has access to the best dive sites in southern Bali.  I was there recently and used ENA Dive Center. (They are on the web.) It is the largest and best dive operation in Bali.  A dive guide is with you on every dive.  The boats are nice and well maintained.

I had one of the best dives I have ever done in Bali.  The high light were the Mola-Mola fish and the Manta Ray dives. Just Awesome!  But every dive was wonderful, except the shore beach dive due poor vis (rain storm the night before.)   It was he first time I used my 2G storage on my camera on one dive.  Sites not to be missed are Manta Point, Sampalan, Sakenan, Benga, Goa Lawan, Malibu Point and Batu Aba. 

Ena will also take you to Tulambe Bay to dive the world famous USAT Liberty Wreck must do life time dive. It was an incredible dive! Muck divers dream. (Leafy sea horses, tons of colorful nudi-branchs, etc)

[Mach10]

If you are only interested in a place to stay to get acclimated to the time change/rest from the flights I have been staying at the Wida which is 2 blocks from the beach in Kuta.  It's not luxurious, but clean and comfortable and only costs $38/night including breakfast.  Cab fare from the airport is only $15.  Contact Mr. Ayub at Indigo-Bali travel (Indi-go Bali <indi-go@dps.centrin.net.id>).  He also can arrange sight-seeing around the island.  My wife and I did this in November of 2007 and a full day with private car, guide and driver was only $50.

[marob]

Clearly we all have our favourites places on Bali, too many to choose from.

Perhaps the location should be dictated by the type of diving that you want to do after the Paradise Dancer.

Muck, general macro, and good walls with quiet locations I would suggest North West corner - PJ, menjangan, secret bay..
Coral encrusted wreck, some macro, busy - Tulamben (USS Liberty wreck)
Candidasa some good current diving close by - Nusa Penida, Tepekong, Manta Point (fairly reliable - possible Mola Mola at the right time).
Nusa Penida, Tepekong etc can easily be dived from any of the main areas in the south (sanur, nusa dua, seminyak etc - or even Kuta if that's your thing!) - personal preference would be a small private villa in Seminyak rather than Sanur - some good restaurants, great sunsets..


I can recommend Blue Season Bali who can also put a package together for you including diving, travel, accommodation - have used them 5/6 times in the last few years usually pre & post cruise on Paradise Dancer, Komodo Dancer, Pelagian etc. We have a Menjgangen trip booked after our Komodo Dancer cruise this November. See their suggested itineraries and adjust to yourself..
link  
www.baliocean.com

[chrys]

we are going to Bali in the spring. want to do a liveaboard first for not longer than a week. Not into muck diving as much as other types of diving. what does eveyone recommend? or is there a superb land resort in Raja or Komodo that would be better? sounds to us from initial research that liveaboard is best option.
once on Bali hope to do 2-3 days also, with a friend who is not as experienced a diver as we are and another non-diver. Sounds like maybe Pemuteran is best for that option? thanks for ideas.

[Pete]

As a follow up to my original post...We had an incredible time on the Paradise Dancer and then spent 5 days on Bali. Stayed at Alam Asmara Dive Resort in Candidasa. We dove the wreck, with arrangements made through the hotel. All was good although the resort is not really what we consider a dive resort. The staff was extremely accommodating, and the hotel is lovely. We chose to site see and kick back in Bali as we felt that we had seen "the best" while on the Dancer.