Main Menu
Join Undercurrent on Facebook

The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
X
 

Dive Review of Scuba Seraya Resort in
Indonesia

Scuba Seraya Resort: "Volcano greatly exaggerated", Jul, 2018,

by Alexander Armintor, AL, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 10341.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 2 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments [None]Scuba Seraya Resort good: Nice Bali style bungalows with the typical beautiful detailing, outdoor garden bathroom and doors that don’t quite close right. Beautiful grounds on the ocean with a pool and outdoor restaurant. Indonesian and European food, breakfast included, US prices for other meals. Good A/C, the wind blew and no bugs to speak of. Did I mention the wind blew? The wind that didn’t blow in Pemuteran, was all here, all the time, but at least we didn’t cuss the heat. The volcano that dominates Tulamben behaved itself, but a small plume was steadily coming out of it the week we were there. I suppose that's why we were almost the only ones there.
Scuba Seraya Resort bad: We both tired of the food quickly, it’s about 3 miles to town. After the $7 hour long massages in Pemuteran, we were in no mood to pay $25 for the same thing here. How quickly one becomes spoiled. I about met my maker in the private garden outside my room. A loud crash caused me to turn around to a 12 foot coconut frond sticking out of the ground like a spear where I’d been standing a few seconds before, leaves all over the place like an explosion. That got me looking, but the coconuts had all been plucked, so I thought: what are the chances of that? Within 30 minutes another frond landed in almost the same place.
Scuba Seraya Resort bottom line: Beautiful place, I’d go back, but I’d also be tempted to try another hotel nearer to town.

Scuba Seraya Diving: Suit up on shore next to the restaurant, 20 ft walk to a steep black sand beach full of rocks with 1-3 foot breakers, swim 50 feet to shoulder deep water to board a RIB 10 minute ride to Tulamben, staff carries gear to the RIB. We found if you shore dive, the staff will sit there, watch you struggle by yourself and enjoy the spectacle of old people getting knocked off their feet by the breakers, don’t expect any help. Once on the boat it’s a 10 minute ride to Tulamben. We were the only ones in the boat all 5 days, so private diving - almost. We’ve done quite a few wrecks now and to both of us the Liberty is the first one we’ve seen that looked like a real shipwreck should: Ancient. But we weren’t alone, the only reason the divers didn’t outnumber the fish, like at Cozumel, is because there are so many fish here. Fortunately the wreck is broken into huge pieces to swim around and thru, so you only see so many divers at any time. After an afternoon warm-up on the liberty, the next morning we dove at 06:00, hoping to see the resident school of bump-head parrotfish, slipping into the pre-dawn water we found the bump-heads pressed against the beach by a wall of photographers lights a going. Disappointed, we meandered around the different sections of the wreck when the school of bump-heads materialized from around a corner and we suddenly had 3-5 foot long fish all around us. Then came the herd, a wall of lights approaching at full fin and the fish were gone, but for 30 seconds or so it was pure magic. We did 8 dives on the Liberty and were impressed every time. Don’t miss the wall directly south, simply outstanding, tons of fish, lots to see, we saw few divers there although it’s only a few hundred feet from the Liberty. The next bay south we had a great dive to ourselves at an underwater concrete structure in about 30 feet of water, I could have spent the day there and not moved 50 feet. Tried the aforementioned house black sand dive at Seraya, we didn’t try it again even though our package had 5 house dives pre-paid. When they mentioned we paid for the shore dives, we expressed our feelings about the shore dive experience and they comp’d us a free boat dive.
Top side: Went by private driver to the Rajahs water gardens one afternoon, very nice, stopped in Amed on the way back and watched the sun go down from sunset point, quite the view and worth going to for that alone.
Websites Scuba Seraya Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Florida, Alabama, Texas, Bahamas, Roatan, Turks and Caico's, Cozumel, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Moorea, Fakarava
Closest Airport DPS Getting There Getting there: Private driver from Pemuteran, east along the coast to Tulamben, sites along way turned 3+ hr drive into 6+ hrs for us. Going to Bali and not taking in the culture and sights is like going to the ocean and not looking underwater.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, dry Seas no currents
Water Temp 83-88°F / 28-31°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile ?
Enforced diving restrictions Come up with 30 bar
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
Was this report helpful to you?
Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here
 

Subscribe Now
Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1386 dive reviews of Indonesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

 
Featured Links from Our Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Reef & Rainforest, Let our experience be your guide -- Reef and Rainforest
Reef & Rainforest
is an agency for travelers that scuba dive. Looking for Biodiversity, critters, Komodo, Raja Ampat, temples? We specialize in adventures to Indonesia.

Want to assemble your own collection of Indonesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home


Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email.
And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent

Free Undercurrent Issue
Get a free
monthly email and
a sample issue!


Find in  

| Home | Online Members Area | My Account | Login | Join |
| Travel Index | Dive Resort & Liveaboard Reviews | Featured Reports | Recent Issues | Back Issues |
| Dive Gear Index | Health/Safety Index | Environment & Misc. Index | Seasonal Planner | Blogs | Free Articles | Book Picks | News |
| Special Offers | RSS | FAQ | About Us | Contact Us | Links |

Copyright © 1996-2024 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.

Page computed and displayed in 0.15 seconds