Menjangan Island SCUBA Dive Sites
Category: Bali › Menjangan Island
Map Legend:
| Menjangan Island at a Glance | |
|---|---|
| Access: | 3 hours drive from Sanur to Labuan Lalang and 20 minutes boat ride |
| Reef Type: | Wall |
| Marine Life: | Turtle, various reef fishes |
| Visibility: | 10-40 meters |
| Current: | Normally no current |
| Accomodation: | Luxury resorts in Labuan Lalang & Pemuteran area, cheap losmen in Gilimanuk, or stay at Lovina |
| Tips: | Nice white sandy bottom will enhance the color of the coral reef and fishes |
| Difficulty: | Easy to moderate |
One of three major dive sites in West Bali is Menjangan Island. This site is also known as the best dive site in Bali. Mostly all sites here have wall. We have been diving here not as often as Tulamben but we love it. The only reason we did not dive here is the remoteness of accommodations here. If you don't want to stay overnight then you should get in a car for 4 hours from south area to Labuhan Lalang and another 30 minutes to get you to the island. Four more hours to get back, so if you go early in the morning you will get back to the south area about early evening. Only for 2 dives? Later on we found an alternative, we stayed at Lovina for 2 night, beginning on Friday, then we can have 3 dives on Saturday and 2 dives on Sunday before getting back to south area.
This dive sites will offer you very rich and colorful wall. We have seen our very first Barramundi Cod (Cromileptes altivelis) here. The other interested thing is Kapal Budak shipwreck. It is to be believed that this wooden shipwreck is Balinese slave ship from early 19th century. Her cargo included sheets of copper sheating and glass and ceramic bottles.
If you use Nitrox, I think this is the best place to get the advantages of lengthen your bottom time to watch the beauty of the wall, but be careful do not exceed your maximum allowable depth. You can choose among many white sand beaches for your surface interval.
Written by: Erwin Kodiat
