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Indonesia Indian Ocean----- SCUBA Dive In Resort Bali Indonesia Online Information -----
Geography and Climate
The island of Bali was shaped by the action of volcanoes, which produced the rich, black soils that nourish Bali's beautiful and productive rice paddies.
Just 8-9 south of the equator, Bali is always warm-a mean 27.2 C, although the highlands are about 6 C cooler. Humidity is an almost constant 75 persent. Most of Bali's annual 2,500-3,000 millimeters of rain falls from November through March.
Bali's great strength is that it is NOT isolated. The island's reefs are ideally positioned to recieve a cosmopolitan assortment of plankton and juvenile animals from the Indonesia Throughflow, a massive flow of water that passes from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. Because of this combination, perhaps Bali is just to familiar to be considered a great diving area.
Dive Sites
There are five main areas for diving in Bali, working counter clockwise around the island from the airport in the south: Nusa Dua and Sanur; Nusa Penida; Candi Dasa (Padang Bai, Gili Mimpang, Gili Tepekong); Amed/Cemeluk and Tulamben; Pemutaran, Menjangan and Gilimanuk ( Secret Bay). Each area offers dive locations for novice, intermediate and advanced divers. At most sites, divers can plan a dive to match their degree of experience, and dives can be made around the year.
Depth of dives
The best diving lies between 5 and 40 meters.
Marine Life
The varied inhabitants of Bali's reefs. " different fields, different grasshoppers."
Visibility
Variable, 5-15 m, exceeds 30 m.
Water Temperature
Normally 26 - 27 C (78 - 80 F). During July and August, the temperature drops to 21 C (70 F)
High seasons
July-August and around Christmas and New Year.
Highlights
The Liberty Wreck 120 meters long Tulamben,
Wooden anker wreck, cave and craggy wall Menjangan,
Pelagics, and between the months of August - November Mola-Mola (Sunfish) at Nusa Penida,
Rare critters muck diving at Secret Bay/Gilimanuk
Canyon at Gili Tepekong/Cand Dasa
Other
Very tricky current, strong surge, uncomfortably cold in some dive sites.
more info about Bali Dived Site In General including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Colombia Pacific THIS IS HARDCORE SCUBA DIVING more info about Malpelo Island including maps, reviews, and ratings...
BahamasAll sorts of opportunities for photograhpy. Great shark dive, lots of life, both big and small.
more info about South shore of Grand Bahama including maps, reviews, and ratings...
PortugalLearn to dive at a nice and comfortable place, warm and clear water, beautiful divesites.
about DIVING MADEIRA website The fascinating wreck of the "Bowbelle", see some pictures on our web site.
website more info about Madeira including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Greece Ionian SeaA Great dive site in Lefkas island. A wall becoming a canyon and in the end of the canyon there is a swim through cave 30 m long. Vissibility great max depth 43m
more info about The Canyon including maps, reviews, and ratings...
United States PacificMonterey California.
Perfect diving for everybody. The water is a bit cold so 2 layers of 7mm or a dry-suit is needed. The viz can range between non or 50 ...
There are plenty of sites for all level of divers, Breakwater is perfect for first-timers and night dives. Monastary beach is more for the experienced divers, watch the beach entry because it can be quite tricky.
Diveshops, daytrips (boat) are available.
The dives are full of sea-lions, lingcod, cabezon, kelp .. etc etc
For some examples:
website more info about Monterey, California including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Gibraltar Mediterranean Seagibraltar has a good deal to offer all levels of diver from as shallow as 8mtrs to as 60mtrs+ for the techy wrecks reefs and drop offs
see also
website more info about los pecos including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Mexico Caribbean Seathere is several activities in cancun,and it really scuba diving in cancun is not that famous cause is a big party center,we would like to show you the great areas of cancun
if you want more information please e-mail us to info@squalodivers.com.
we want to share the great blue with you !!
more info about wreck tulum including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Bahamas AtlanticThis dive has to be one of the most exhilarating drift dives out there. The channel, or Cut, between North Eleuthera and Current Island forces the tide to stream through at 6-10 knots, making for a challenging dive. Your buoyancy skills have to be real sharp to be comfortable on this dive.
I went with Ocean Fox, a small and well-run dive shop on Harbour Island. The checked my diving experience and requested that I take a dive with them prior to being permitted to dive Current Cut to ensure I was 'up to it'. I liked that they were safety conscious, and understood their requirement after one pass through the Cut!
We made a total of three runs through the Cut. The first lasted 12 minutes, in which time we must have travelled nearly 2 miles! Dr Andy, the divemaster, made sure we stayed together as a group (there were 3 other divers on the trip) and that we saw what was down there - 3 sharks and 7 eagle rays on just the first run!
The starting depth is around 35ft, and my computer (which didn't like the dive at all - it kept beeping at me) registered a max depth of 61ft. The bottom is hard rock covered with sea fans, sponges and small corals. As you get into the dive the bottom becomes pock-marked with large holes, and Andy did his best to get us in as many as possible. Once in the holes you are somewhat out of the current, so can catch your breath and look around. Many of the holes are packed with lobster, parrot fish, and big queen angels.
The visibility isn't great, since the rushing water stirs up the bottom. We made the dive on an incoming tide, which Andy said is a cleaner run than the outgoing tide. The fast-moving water also tests your photography skills. I managed to get a couple of shots off of the sharks as we flew past them, but positioning yourself in the water at speed isn't that easy!
This is not a dive for the inexperienced or those who avoid 6 Flags! It is an amazing dive, however, and one I will remember for a long time.
more info about Current Cut High-Speed Drift Dive including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Bahamas AtlanticThe Grouper Hole is one of the most outstanding dive sites in the North Eleuthera/Harbour Island area for sheer density and diversity of marine life. The stie ranges from 65ft to 90ft and boasts huge overhangs and grottos covered in hard and soft corals and sponges all in pristine condition. The site is a few hundred yards from a 2000ft drop-off and provides the only real protection for schools of fish in the area. As a result the site is packed full of fish: big schools of Bermuda Chub, Bar Jacks, Black Jacks, Horse-eye Jacks, Goatfish, Yellowtail Snapper, Grunts...the list goes on. From December through April, around the full moon, large numbers of Grouper visit the site to spawn, and so divers are treated to the rare opportunity to photograph schooling Grouper. The visiting Grouper also attract sharks, so be prepared for close encounters with Carribean Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks, and on occasion Bull Sharks.
The site is 7 miles off-shore and is often subject to strong currents, making the site undiveable. Ocean Fox Diving, on Harbour Island, has figured out when the tides are slack at the site, so contact them in advance to see when the site is available to dive. If you are in the area during a grouper spawn, you will not be disappointed!
more info about Grouper Hole including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Vietnam South China SeaNot so many large animals, but nice place, nice people (Rainbow Divers divebase,
website more info about Turtle Island by Phu Quock Island including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Dominica Caribbean SeaScotts Head Pinnacles straddles the top of a submerged volcanic crater,creating the southern rim of the Soufriere Scotts Head Marine Reserve, the isthmus seperates the Atlantic from the Caribbean and is a nutirent mixing zone. This brings in small fish which are fed upon by larger.
The mooring pin is on top of a large rock riddled with cracks and crevices and one swim through, on a shalf of 10m depth, filled with lobster and soldierfish. From the pin one swims to the main pinnacle where two large rocks abut forming an arch, this is filled with soft corals, lobster and fish. Going through the arch takes you from the Atlantic into the Caribbean, the wall begins in 3m and drops vertically to 35 before sloping to approximately 1500m, on a good day you tend to ignore the huge gorgonains, barrel sponges and other life dripping from the wall and spend the dive looking out to sea at the schooling fish, on a bad day the wall is more than enough for the jaded reef diver to come up saying "wow!", remember this is a mixing zone loads of nutirents so lots of life and opportunity for growth on the reef and in the water column. If the current is running it is a drift along the wall back to the edge of the reef and onto the shelf,but the ride is worth it. From the edge of the reef heading back to the shelf is a garden of macro life and well worth loking for seahorses frogfish etc. in addition to small barracuda looking at you like you owe them money, going through the swimthrough under the moring pin will bring you to the top of the first pinnnacle and under the boat for your safety stop.
This is one of the dives I do to remind myself that theres more to life than stress.
more info about Scotts Head Pinnacles including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Micronesia PacificDiving in Yap has made the top 5 lists in recent years by premier photographers and authorities on dive travel. M'il Channel is legendary for the majestic manta rays that feast in the coral channel which is also used as their cleaning station. The giant mantas of Yap weigh upwards of a ton and stretch more than a dozen feet tip to tip.
A single manta encounter may be the most awe-inspiring event one can hope to experience in a lifetime of diving.
There are other equally spectacular dive sites around Yap. And more have yet to be discovered. We encourage visitors to stay longer and visit all the dive sites. Your tour guides are always friendly and helpful. Visit our website for more information:
website more info about M'il Channel including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Oman Arabian SeaFor me the dive that summed up our whole trip was Limah Rock. This is a large island that juts magnificently up from the sea. It is over 300m high and sinks down over 60m into the depths. We dived Limah Rock on our last day, the tide was just about to turn so there was no tide movement and the sea was flat calm it was perfect conditions for a dive. We stepped off the dive platform and slowly descended through what felt like an aquarium. The fish below us would move aside and as soon as we had passed the gap would close so that we were constantly surrounded.
This dive we were on a mission. The dive guide had told us that seahorses live on a large rock at 29m so we were off to find them. At that depth we would not have long so I was relieved to be able to see the rock from 20m away, there would be no searching in low visibility for us. Approaching the rock there was no seahorses to be seen. Then as we looked closer one was found holding onto a piece of soft coral. It was small and blended perfectly with its surroundings, using natural camouflage to hide from predators.
Unfortunately we did not have time to look for more but as we turned to ascend I was amazed at the sight that met me. From nearly 30m down I could see the bottom of our dhow. There were several pairs of divers gliding over coral through so many fishes that you could not possibly count them all. Silhouetted against the sun was a school of large batfish. I turned and looked along the reef. Larger fish were gathered a little way off, the water was so clear that they appeared to be floating in mid air with nothing to support them. Further up a shoal of fish swam by at speed as if they were in a rush to go somewhere important. We slowly made our way up the side of the reef looking into every hole and under every overhang.
I could not believe the colours in the coral. It seemed as if every colour you could think of was there in every shape imaginable. There was large soft cabbage coral in a soft green, spiky teddy bear coral in red and yellow, purple soft coral and no end of brown and green table coral. All too soon this dive was over and we had to ascend to the surface but it is one that will get a special mention in my log book.
The dive trip came to an end that day as we arrived back in Dibba but for the divers it will live with them a long time. We took nothing but pictures, we left nothing but bubbles......we will be back.
more info about Limah Rock including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Belgium North SeaDuring winter you should go diving in one of our quarries like La Gombe in Esneux (near Luik (Liege) In summertime Diving on the wrecks in the North sea is very good and popular among belgium divers. Also The 'Oosterschelde' in holland is popular (Wemeldinge)
more info about Belgian diving including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Bahrain Arabian SeaDiving in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, it is very different from the Red Sea. Lots of silt here with a few coral reefs, sea grass beds, and interesting oyster beds here in Bahrain. Haven't been to UAE or Oman, but have been doing lots of diving here in Bahrain. Water temp is dropping. Starting putting on shorties a few weeks ago, almost time for full wet suits. During November, water temps can drop 5 to 7 deg C per week. It's down to the 20's now. A month ago, we were in t-shirts!
more info about The Gulf including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Antigua & Barbuda Caribbean SeaI don't know how helpful I can be because I was there in 1989. I'm sure many things have changed there especially in light of the storms that have hit. I stayed at a friends timeshare right on the beach and there was a dive shop within walking distance. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name. But the dive shop was owned by a guy named "Big John" and I would dive with him again in a second. He is somewhat of a legend there and actually founded some of the more popular dive spots. I was there in November and water temp was 75+ and air was 85 avg. The viz was fair...not great for Caribbean diving though....avg was 40 ft. I saw huge ray ( 8 ft wing span ), turtles, lobsters, an octopus, lots of nurse sharks. If you can, try to do a dive that is called... I think.... "The Shoots" or "The Slides". It's a big rock crevice and the current actually pulls you through it just like being on a ride. It might be near English Harbor but I'm not sure. It's a very cool dive though and VERY different from any other dive I've done. English Harbor itself is about a 100 ft dive. It's ok and also some crevices and neat rock formations that you can go through. But the one I mean actually PULLS you through and it's in about 50 ft of water.
more info about Various including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Turkey Mediterranean Sea The highlights are 'Mexican Hat' , 'Aladdin's Cave' , 'Three
Tunnels' and the night dive on 'Rabbit Island' .
Mexican Hat was excellent! We descended to approx 20 metres from where we
entered a tunnel (3-4 m in diameter) through which we finned upwards until we
did a safety stop at 6 m where the water becomes like a 'heat haze': natural
spring water mixing with the salty seawater. We surfaced in the most amazing
'cavern' and when we turned our torches off we could see the light coming
through the rocks and the sea shone a brilliant turquoise. Another dive site
similar to this one was Aladdin's Cave, but where we surfaced there was a hole
in the top of the rocks and it was equally beautiful with the sun shining
through to the water where we bobbed about on our inflated BCD's. The Three
Tunnels was another 'adventurous' dive as it involved diving in and out of
narrow ravines. The highlight of that dive was waiting for the group to emerge
and seeing the air bubbles permeate through the tunnel 'roofs'.
Rabbit Island night dive was fun as my buddy and I busily searched 'Navy
Seals style'(!) with our torches under rocks and in nooks and crannies and felt
a sense of achievement when, amongst the more usual array of marine life, we
discovered 2 octopus and watched as one changed color to a pale blue and then a
pale pink. We also saw a red baby octopus with white spots, not such a great
camouflage!
There were only two disappointing dives (in terms of lack of sea life and
topographical interest): Aldiana Bay and one of the night dives at Aquarium
Reef . Aldiana Bay, I gathered from general chit chat, is not considered one
of the better dive sites and it is possible that we just got bad timing with the
night dive at Aquarium Reef. Rabbit Island for the night dive, however, we
recommend highly.
more info about Rabbit Island including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Germany Baltic SeaWe travelled to the port of Greifswald in the former East Germany to board the Artur Becker. This is a converted survey ship that has been refitted for the needs of sport divers with an air compressor and recompression chamber on board. The captain, Karl - Heinz Hanke, has wide experience of the Baltic and the entire crew were helpful and supportive throughout our charter. Conditions aboard were basic but comfortable although we had to cater for ourselves.
WRECK LOCATION REMARKS Cypriot Freighter 54 22.800, 16 14.200 Wreck upside down in 20 m
Vulture 54 57.800, 15 05.300 Not found in reported location
Zulu 4 Submarine 55 14.720, 14 39.430 Upright in 35 m
Koronowa 55 13.283, 14 33.072 Located but not dived
Odin 55 24.366, 12 36.333 Not found in reported location
Knippla 55 18.400, 12 47.850 Well broken wreck in 20 m
Tinda 54 55.133, 13 12.000 Not found in reported location
Unknown Wreck 54 53.908, 13 23.158 Large wreck upright in 48 m
more info about The Baltic including maps, reviews, and ratings...
Croatia Mediterranean Sea
is a wall\rock dive down to 30mtrs with
Amphora to spy.
BANJA , Very rocky with lots of holes to poke about in.
The GARDA is a flat wreck and worth a good rummage and at 23 metres
SESTRICA , Lighthouse rock. A site with rocks within 2mtrs of the surface
in the middle of a channel we thought maybe we would find something, afraid not,
but lots of life.
MAJSAN , a swim down to 30mtrs to look at an anchor dumping ground
including a thirteenth century anchor, three metres tall stood upright on the
bottom
The BOCA , in 10mtrs a total awe-inspiring 28yr old huge wreck which
stands proud of the surface. It is very intact with all parts assessable
including the engine room, machine shop with lathe, cargo, spare prop, main prop
and portholes. (Don't touch). The story is that the skipper was drunk and didn't
see the shore, bang. You can see the hulls concertina shape as the bow stopped
and the stern didn't. You must visit this site.
DUBA East , Octopus reef, 25mtrs Octopus and Conger.
DUBA West , A rocky wall dive with Amphora wedged in the rocks.
more info about Kneza including maps, reviews, and ratings...