Bali, Indonesia: Undercurrent 11/2025

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Dear Fellow Diver,

View from Menjangan Island At Sidem off Tulamben in east Bali, I slipped into the dark water, inwardly grumbling that this night dive kept me from a timely dinner and early bed. But the dive became special when I heard the dive guides whoop as they exulted over a perfect pair of tiny filamentous scorpionfish, a white hen and a red male. Back on the boat, photographer Rob van der Loos (a legend in the dive industry for pioneering muck diving in PNG's Milne Bay) said he had only seen these creatures twice before, once in Milne Bay and once in Tulamben. Usually, I am a lazy slug when it comes to night diving, but it was so great in Tulamben that I hopped into the boat four nights in a row.

My buddy and I had decided on an all-Bali dive trip to avoid Indonesia's inter-island flights and to maximize our relaxation time. Destinations like Raja Ampat, Lembeh, and Wakatobi require flying from Bali and other islands (and in the case of Raja Ampat, often three flights). The uncomfortable flights are crowded and often late. So, it would be a week in Bali's far northwest, the Pemuteran-Menjangan area, and nine days in Tulamben, on Bali's east coast, with relaxing stays at south Bali hotels in between. This meant long drives on slow roads, but it would be spectacular scenery along the way.

We began our May-June stay in Bali at our favorite hotel near the airport, The Balé Nusa Dua, where the pool villas are so private that swimsuits are optional. After we spent a few days chilling out, an SUV arranged by our Menjangan hotel took us on the five-hour drive (it's only about 90 miles) over the volcanoes to the far northwest. Country roads in Bali feature hairpin turns and slow trucks on two narrow lanes, so we packed our patience and enjoyed the views! Still, it's better than flying on Lion Air.

But first, a word about our two luxurious dive resort choices. Before you reject them because they sound so pricey, in Bali, you get twice the luxury of Caribbean resorts for half the price, less than $2000 a week for two, and in one case, extraordinary meals were included. And you will see more fish and unique fish in a day than in a week in the Caribbean. So, read on.

Though there is a Mimpi dive resort on Menjangan Island, I wanted more privacy and space, so I booked a seaside mangrove villa at the Plataran Menjangan ecotourism resort in the West Bali national park. It holds about 50 guests in 17 luxury villas. I chose to dive with Sea Rovers, not only because it had stellar reviews, but also because I enjoyed my emails with its owner, Paul Turley, originally from Newcastle, UK. Billing themselves as "the pirates who dive," they proved to be passionate about conservation -- as well as pirates' booty. We stopped by their headquarters on the way to Plataran to unload our scuba gear so we didn't have to mess with it until the week's end, when it was washed, dried, and ready for transport....

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