Freediver exploring a sunken shipwreck in clear blue tropical water

The independent guide

The island is better underwater.

A WWII wreck you can walk to. Sunfish the size of vans. Manta cleaning stations, black-sand critter hunts, and walls that drop forever. This guide maps all of it — free, honest, and with nothing to sell you.

photo: unsplash

The chart

Every site, one map

Tap a pin for the short brief, open the full guide for the real one. Purple pins were added by divers like you — know a site we're missing?

reef / wall / bay wreck muck / macro community-added

Site briefings

The dive sites

Snorkeler gliding over a sunlit hard-coral bommie

Amed

Jemeluk Bay

Amed's sheltered home bay — an easy shore dive over reef and black sand, a proper wall on the east point, and the centre of Bali's freediving scene.

3–25 m · beginner · shore entry

Several reef manta rays feeding near the surface with snorkelers above

Nusa Penida

Manta Point

A cleaning station under Nusa Penida's southern cliffs where reef mantas — some over four metres — circle divers year-round in 10 metres of water.

8–16 m · beginner · boat entry

Freediver descending through sunbeams into deep blue water

Nusa Penida

Crystal Bay

Nusa Penida's signature bay — a beautiful coral garden on its own, and from July to October one of the world's most reliable places to meet the bizarre, bus-sized mola mola.

6–30 m · intermediate · boat entry

Diver over golden soft corals surrounded by a cloud of orange anthias

Padang Bai

Blue Lagoon

A small white-sand bay around the corner from Padang Bai harbour that punches far above its size — easy conditions on top, some of Bali's best critter-spotting underneath.

3–22 m · beginner · boat entry

Black, white and orange chromodoris nudibranch on the reef

Tulamben

Seraya Secrets

A featureless-looking black-sand slope east of Tulamben that is one of Indonesia's great muck dives — harlequin shrimp, frogfish, and nudibranchs by the dozen.

5–30 m · beginner · shore entry

Two scuba divers approaching a sunken shipwreck on the sand

Tulamben

USAT Liberty Wreck

The most famous dive in Bali — a 120-metre WWII shipwreck lying 30 metres off a pebble beach, shallow enough for beginners and snorkelers, rich enough to dive twenty times.

5–30 m · beginner · shore entry

Divers silhouetted above a channel between two coral walls

West Bali National Park

Menjangan Island

A small island inside West Bali National Park ringed by coral walls that drop into blue water — the calmest, clearest, most relaxing serious diving on the island.

5–40 m · beginner · boat entry

Pick your coast

Where should you dive?

Tulamben & Amed (north-east) — the shore-diving heartland. The Liberty wreck, world-class muck, easy reefs, and Bali's freediving scene at Jemeluk. Stay a few nights; dive at dawn.

Nusa Penida (south-east, by boat) — the big-animal side of Bali. Resident mantas all year and mola mola from July to October. Cooler water, real currents, unreal encounters.

Padang Bai (east) — compact, convenient, and crawling with critters. Blue Lagoon is one of the best easy dives on the island.

Menjangan & Pemuteran (north-west) — calm, clear wall diving in a national park. The quiet, beautiful end of Bali.

When to dive Bali

Bali works all year. The dry season (April–November) brings the calmest seas and best visibility almost everywhere; the wet season means afternoon rain and the occasional blown-out day. The one hard date: mola mola season runs July–October. Mantas don't read calendars — they're residents.

Diving solo?

Never dive alone — SamaDive is coming

We're building SamaDive, a free app for travelling divers to find dive buddies in Bali — see who's diving this week, join dive plans, and buddy up. Starting hyperlocal in Amed & Tulamben.

Join the waitlist