Tulamben Dive Report~ GOD ‘s Inaugural trip 19th to 23rd June 2009
I had the honor of leading GOD’s first trip out of
I have done so many trips before but this being my first under GOD, kind of made me more apprehensive and I hope that all will go down well with the group of 7 divers whom I regard as “ The Magnificent Seven”. It was also nearly the two years ago that I first met these 7 divers when I brought them to
We arrived around 1 pm from
After a 7 am wake up call, we headed for breakfast ( 3 course selection ) and then walked over to the beach facing the most dived sites in
It was a huge cargo ship which was sunk by torpedoes during the WWII and although the damaged vessel was brought back to the shore, a massive Volcano eruption from Gunung Agung in 1963 pushed back the wreck back to the sea to its current position. The wreck is scattered in several large chunks and there are several big holes in the hull where divers can swim through. The wreck is scattered about 100 meters on steeply sloping black sand.
Getting to the wreck is challenging for most of us who are not used to shore dives and walking on black gravel, stones and rocks. The trick is to wade in and don your fins when you are chest high in water. Better leave the regulator in your mouth as I experienced a near death incident because of this. More later.
The first photographic customer we met was the ghost pipefish. There was a pair at just 10 meters depth. Next was just a few bump heads feeding on hard coral. On a given day, you will see hundreds of bump heads as the wreck is their hotel. A school of about 100 jacks circle above the wreck and on approaching the wreck, I could understand why so many varieties of fishes lived or sheltered in the wreck which provides protection and a good breeding home. Nevertheless, a giant barracuda will suddenly dart in to catch unaware prey. I headed to 28 meters depth and to a particular gorgonian where there were 3 pygmy seahorses or Bargibant’s seahorses, Hippo-camous bargibanti waiting to be photographed. Engrossed in photography could catch you unaware with deco time and luckily my early years of “errors “ messages in my dive computer, made me more aware and all of us made it up safely with different stories to tell.
We did the second dive to the right end of our resort at The Coral Wall which plunges to “out of bound “ depth. There is a massive sea fan at the corner and along the slopes are nice colorful soft corals, sponges and a variety of fishes. We caught the glimpse of the rare comet ( Calloplesiops altivelis ), a beautiful fish with elaborate finnage and a false eye.
The last dive of the day was in front of our resort, the Coral garden. At 3 pm , the current was around 1.5 knots and ribbon eels of all ages ( black for young to the yellow for old ) can be easily found. We surfaced about 50 meters before the
The second day we again did an early morning Liberty Wreck dive, followed by two dives at Seraya. Seraya is pure macro haven and is
We finished the day by doing a fourth dive at Alamanda which I consider the best dive site in the Tulamben area. The site profile was excellent which walls, little mounts, sandy resting areas and beautiful hard and soft corals. Good variety of fishes and nudibranches. This was our only boat dive.
The thing about Tulamben is that almost all the dive sites are shore dives so the right season to go there is important. Avoid the rainy period and period when sea is rough. Entering the water is one thing but getting out with high waves hitting your back and pushing you face down onto stones and rocks can be dangerous. Oh yes. My almost death drowning experience. I went into the water backwards and had just put on my fins and was watching the others coming in when I felt someone pushing me down into the water. I immediately inflated my BCD but in the struggle I could not find my regulator and I turned around underwater and realized that one of the divers was struggling and was climbing on top of me to keep afloat. I search for his inflator hose but there was no air entering his BCD. I managed to push my head out of the water and gasped a few breath of air. The dive guide managed to jump in and pulled the diver back to the shore.
I in the meantime was glad to be breathing and floating on the water with a fully inflated BCD. The diver panicked when he waded into the water and begin to sink when his BCD leaked. The slope steep sharply after just 3 meters from the shore. He also did not have his regulator on. Moral of the story, keep you regulator in your mouth. Less air for diving not important. Better to be safe. That happened on our second last dive and I am glad to say, after regaining his composure, the diver did the last dive on borrowed BCD. If he had skipped that dive, he may not have dived again.
We left the next day as we wanted to spend a relaxing night in Kuta and do some shopping and have some fine food. After dinner, we relaxed over a couple of drinks at Hard Rock Café where there was this 7 person band from
The next day, we boarded the 1pm flight back to KL.
Hammerhead John’s rating;
**** resort and food
***** divers
*** dive sites. We just didn’t like the shore diving
**** Overall package price
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