10 Best Dive Sites in Bali in 2023

The wreck is the Cargo Ship USAT Liberty is a fantastic shore dive which makes it an easy and accessible dive site for all levels of diving. The walk to the dive site is along the large volcanic pebble beach which can be quite challenging. It is advisable to wear dive booties to protect your feet.  Once you reach the waters edge, the pebbles quickly transition to black sand. Here you can get in the water and swim out to the wreck. Its shallowest point is the stern sitting at 10m, as you continue along its side you will reach the other end of the wreck sitting at 20m of depth.

What will you see:

Like most wrecks in the world, the Cargo Ship USAT Liberty has turned into a big of an artificial reef. The isolated structure along the sand having invited many species to call this manmade skeleton their home. While diving you will see a variety of soft sponges, soft corals, gorgonian fans all housing unique small creatures. Check out the many reef fish, frogfish hiding among the sponges, nudibranchs well camouflaged in the reef and Christmas tree worms rising from the wreck’s walls. Make sure to keep your eye out into the deep blue, as that is where you will see the bigger creatures such as sting rays, batfish and pelagic fish swimming around.

The Amed is a small quiet fisherman village located on the black sand coast located on the East of Bali. The area is still mostly unpopulated by tourists, so you can get the authentic Balinese experience. You will be transferred to the dive site in a traditional jukung boat. This is one of the traditional fishermen boat used in the Philippines and Indonesia. The boat is a small wooden sailboat which has the appearance of a canoe with two outriggers and a triangular sail. The transfer to the dive site is a short 5-minute ride on these traditional, and surprisingly fast little boats.

What will you see?

This part of the world has world class muck diving and on any given dive at Ghost Bay or House Reef, you may be treated with seeing a mimic octopus, ghost pipefish, schools of reef fish, clown fish hiding in the anemone, and well camouflaged frogfish. The drift dives along Amed Wall or the Pyramids allow you to see turtles, reef sharks, blue-spotted stingrays, schooling pelagic, and barracuda. If you prefer seeing the giants of the sea, then the sharks, barracudas, and seasonal Mola Molas (Sunfish) show up at Bunutan and Gili Selang.

Ghost Bay is a highly rated dive site with plenty of marine life, usually good visibility, and minimal current. It’s a fantastic place for muck diving and to test out your underwater photography skills. This dive site is an artificial reef created with bottles, wheels, and other manmade objects. If you take your time to peak into some of the crevices you will be greeted with many small critters who built their homes.

What will you see:

This muck diving site is the home to many lionfish, mimic octopus, pipefish, razor fish, and stone fish. Most of these creatures are experts at camouflage which makes them quite difficult to spot in the silty bottom. Local divemasters will probably be your best bet on finding the most marine life on this dive, as they know where to look and they have trained their eyes to find these bottom dwelling creatures.

If you want to get away from the big crowds which hang around the South tip of Bali, then make sure to include the West End of the island on your travel itinerary. There you will find the protected island of Mejangan which provides some fantastic diving opportunities. There is a 40,000 Rp fee to access the park, which has been under conservation protection since 1917. Due to these efforts, the coral and ecosystems are thriving with visitors enjoying the stunning colours in the shallow water. Make sure to contact the dive centres located in the village of Pemuteran to organise your trip, equipment, and guides. Since the dive sites are quite shallow, it is also a popular destination for non-divers so a great place to take the whole family. If you are an advanced diver, you can head over to the famous Menjangan wall dive which features visibility reaching 50m!

What you will see:

The wall dive drops down to 26-60m and features the highest concentration of Gorgonian sea fans in Bali. These stunning sea fans are the home to pygmy sea horses, so make sure to keep an eye out for those tiny little creatures. There are also many schools of fish, turtles, and the occasional manta ray passing by.

The deepest dive on Menanjan is the Anker Wreck and reaches a depth of 40m. The conditions tend to be extremely calm therefore the dive site is a beloved destination for Advanced Divers. The dive shops consider this deep dive relatively easy, and ideal for experienced diver. Any Wreck dive is magical, however this one feature some extensive sponge, hard and soft corals. No one knows where the small wooden boat comes from and it has now gained its name from the anchor that lies at 6m below the surface. The wreck has broken apart into several pieces and can be explored over an area of 50m. The dive typically starts at the deepest point at the anchor chain, down to the sandy slope at around 30m.

What you will see: 

Then divers can explore the copper sheeting, bottles, artefacts, and bits and pieces which comprised the boats cargo. It is in a national park and no picking up of artefacts is allowed. In terms of sea life you will be seeing gorgonians, nudibranchs, frogfish, fusiliers, batfish, and bannerfish. There are also many attractions besides the wreck, including the wall at 5-10m which is the perfect spot to complete your safety stop. There you will find many overhands, cracks, and caves teaming with fish.

The lava flow from Mount Agung which erupted in 1963 which originally pushed the liberty wreck into the sea created a spectacular 70m deep wall descent. The wall begins at a depth of 3m which allows the dive site to be accessible by all levels of diving. Beginner divers can stay near the shallow sections of the wall, while more experienced divers can utilise the great depth to increase their technical knowledge. The dive site is often frequented by students learning trimix deep diving, technical diving, and other certifications and qualifications which require depths below 4m.

What will you see:

The dive site is famous for being covered in massive gorgonian fans, colourful sponges, and unique black coral which predominantly gets its color from the lava flow. There are white tip reef sharks which swim along the wall, many reef fish which hide in the coral, and cute little pigmy sea horses which hang onto the gorgonian fans with their tails. To spot a seahorse, you will need to get in very close, as they are no bigger than your thumbnail!

Nusa Penida became a marine protected area in 2010, and now boast over 20,057 hectares in protected area of which, 1,142 hectares is covered in coral and is the home of 296 species of coral, 576 species of fish. All of this is a mere 25km from Bali and can be accessed by day boats or organised into a weekend dive trip with you staying directly on the island. The main diving season is from April to November. During that time, the temperature of the water is around26-30°C degrees, but eventually drops down to 22°C starting in October. The Ceningan wall is one of the advanced and beloved dive sites which drops down to 80m in depth.

What you will see:

The steep wall is covered in extraordinary corals, with gorgonian fans, staghorn coral, plate coral, and some soft corals working together to create a colourful reef. The deep blue and heavy currents attract many barracudas, massive tunas, and occasionally marble rays!

Have you always wanted to dive with the biggest bony fish in the world? Because at SD Point you can do just that. The Ocean sunfish, commonly known as a Mola mola, can weigh up to 1000 kg! Their diet consists mainly of the sea jellyfish which they must keep eating to allow for their enormous growth, they also exert minimal energy by flapping their two fins awkwardly placed on the size of their body. Female sunfish also hold the Guinness world book of record of producing the most eggs in comparison to any other vertebrate, with an astonishing 300,000,000 at a time. Before they reach adulthood and their massive size, they have many natural predators which is why they depend on extraordinary numbers of eggs. Sea lions, killer whales, sharks, and any fish bigger than them will hunt them when given the opportunity. The best time to see the Mola mola is in the early morning, when they gather below the surface in large numbers.

What you will see:

Along with the sunfish, the shallow waters also are the home to table corals, bamboo sharks, wobbegongs, turtles, stonefish, frogfish, nudibranchs and stingrays. The Mola mola however use this site as their cleaning station which means up to 50 sunfishes’ have been spotted there at once.

Seraya holds the secrets of some of the best much diving in Bali, it is an easy shore dive accessible throughout the year. Muck diving refers to diving on a silty seabed of black volcanic sand which is a teeming ecosystem of macro life. This is because the nutrient rich sand is the ideal environment for many species while they are young and vulnerable. Consider most muck diving sites as nurseries for the ocean. For this reason, the area is extremely popular for macro photographers as the myriad of species and shallow waters make it an ideal spot to take photos.

What you will see:

These ocean nurseries often have plenty of pipefish, nudibranchs, and seahorse well camouflaged with the seabed. Spotting these creatures can be difficult, which is why it is advisable to follow a local guide with their knowledge and key eyesight for spotting these critters. The night diving at this dive site is exquisite, as many of the creatures become far more active at night-time. You may also see plenty of cuttlefish, squid, and crabs scuttling on the seabed. To experience the full beauty of the night dive, try turning off your dive light for a moment and letting your eyes adjust to the darkness. You might see some bioluminescent plankton!

This gorgeous manmade dive site was constructed by one of the three BRF/AUS Aid funded projects in conjunction with the local dive centres. The temple garden is at a depth of 30m and proceeds to the dive site Temple Wall. The garden has statues of Buddha, Ganesha, Turtles, and various other sea creatures. There are little bommies scattered through out with one becoming the resting place of a buddha head. It’s location in the bay means the visibility is not always the best and tends to be limited around 10m. The depth of the dive site means it is predominantly designed for Advanced Divers, however Open Water certified divers with a lot of experience can be permitted to dive with a dive guide.]

What you will see:

The bommies and buddha heads have become the home to many cleaner shrimps, which will happily get their hands on you if you approach them slowly and gently. The garden also welcomes many schooling fish and most of the buddha statues have overgrown with picturesque hard and soft corals.