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Dive Review of Sea Rovers /Tirta Sari in
Indonesia/Pemuteran Bali

Sea Rovers /Tirta Sari: "Tirta Sari / Sea Rovers", Jun, 2018,

by Alexander Armintor, AL, US (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 10340.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Tirta Sari Good: Tirta Sari is a resort, no dive shop, 3 minute walk to Sea Rover dive shop, mid-village location, 1 minute walk to store. Nice Bali style bungalows with the typical beautiful detailing, outdoor garden bathroom and doors that don’t quite close right. Beautiful grounds with a pool and outdoor restaurant, Indonesian food, breakfast included, buffet if there’s a crowd and a small breakfast if there’s not (you can buy more food cheaply). Smallish portions for dinner, but at $5-$7 US, you can work around it. 1 hr massages cost 100k IDR (about $7 USD, we kept them busy). No bugs to speak of, but I did hear a mosquito at night a couple of times. The bed mosquito net fit well and we had no bites.
Tirta Sari bad: The wall of mountains behind Pemuteran block the prevailing winds in June, so it’s dry and blazing hot. The A/C had a hard time keeping up. Could have been just our bungalow. We asked management if they had a fan we could use, but no. Hint #1: In retrospect we should have bought a fan, the USD goes a lot further here. Hint #2: Like everywhere else we went in Bali, they make coffee cowboy style, so if you’re used to filters and don’t care to drink mud, there’s fairly good instant coffee at the store 200 feet up the road. Oh, they don’t have bottled water available in the rooms, you can buy at the restaurant, or pay half the price for twice the bottle at the store.
Tirta Sari bottom line: Nice place, other intriguing hotels nearby, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again.

Sea Rovers Diving: Excellent service, whatever we asked, they did. A 5 minute ride in the back of a pickup to the beach, where you hot foot it across the black sand into knee deep water to board the shaded boat for the fast 30 minute ride to Menjangan Island, even though the 2 of us were the only customers. They do everything else for you. Like everywhere else we’ve been in Indonesia, they put your fins on you on the boat and you take your BC and fins off in the water, let them worry about that while you climb back aboard. Outstanding wall diving, beautiful reefs, lots to see every dive. You won’t be able to miss the juvenile sweetlips dancing like a kite, the guide will point out the frogfish, scorpionfish, crocodilefish and other stuff you didn’t see. Menjangan is protected (marine police made our captain show permits one day), but we didn’t notice anything bigger than titan triggerfish, turtles and the odd tuna. In a couple of spots the coral was decimated, I asked: the legacy of dynamite fishing that stopped over 10 years ago, we were told. On closer inspection the rubble is teeming with life, happily most of the area has very healthy reefs. We saw this everywhere in Bali, not largescale destruction, but here and there. The locals understand that dive tourism is their future, so the future is good. Good reef diving in Pemuteran bay and an interesting night muck dive at the local fisherman’s pier. After a recent return to Cozumel, where the divers outnumber the fish: we both agreed that no crowds, high marine bio-density, low prices coupled with private concierge service with a smile, coming out of the water to views of white temples and volcanos, made the long trip to Pemuteran and Sea Rovers worthwhile.

Top side: Pemuteran is small, somewhat isolated. Besides the $7 massages, you can stay busy trying to beat the heat by jumping in and out of the pool or showering 5-6 times a day.

Bottom Line: Pemuteran/Menjangan was our favorite of the stops on our 3 week Bali diving tour. Most bang for the buck too, I'd give it 6 stars for Moneys Worth. Highly recommended.
Websites Sea Rovers   

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 None]Getting there: Korean Airlines from Atlanta to Incheon (15 hrs), to Denpasar Bali (22 hrs air time plus 2 hr layover in Incheon). Korean Airlines is a first class operation. Private driver from Denpasar to Pemuteran, sites along way turned 4+ hr drive into 7+ hrs for us. Hint: If you have a layover in Incheon, look into the airport free tours into town, we found it very interesting and even got a serenade by an old-time 5 piece Korean string band.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 83-90°F / 28-32°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 15-100 Ft/ 5-30 M

Dive Policy

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

What I Saw

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

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Subscriber's Comments

By Lee The in CA, US at Jul 10, 2018 19:16 EST  
We've had the same quality of experience with Sea Rovers over the years. They also take you to Secret Bay when the diving's good there--unique muck environment. We checked out the other half-dozen or so dive operators in Pemuteran last time we went and Sea Rovers won our votes. Better, much faster boats, for one thing.
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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.

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