Pemuteran Bali Dive Site

Pemuteran Bali Dive Site

Located north of Matahari Beach Resort and a short boat ride of about 15 minutes. This submerged reef starts at a depth of 15m and decends down to 50m. The reef itself is not very big, it's around 2000 m2. It is full of soft coral, almost 90% coverage at some places. With some good observation skill, you may find Ghost Pipefish, Leaf Fish and several types of beautiful Nudibranch. To dive at this place, divers require to have good buoyancy control to be able to make a safety stop from a drift line / float. If you are in doubt with your buoyancy skill, our Instructor will be happy to give you some tips. EANx may be useful.

Mucky Priates Bay, is located in the shallow water 10-12m deep. It  has a sandy bottom and is home to sponges and seagrass with plenty of muck. There is an abundance of critters such as the many varying species of pipefish, robust, ornate, common. Then we get to the seamoths, seahorses, unusal scorpionfish, devilfish and Mandarin fish they can all be found here on the opposite side of the bay and with it being so shallow you have lots of time to look. This site is great for the occasional night dive.

Close Encounters is a rather large three sided reef, two of which are excellent for diving, the last side is a large sandy slope which disappears into the great, deep, blue, beyond. Situated a couple of kilometres from shore, Close Encounters has steep sloping sides coming up to a flat top, all of them range from 12m at the far deepest to 3 - 4m in the shallow. The slopes themselves start to level off to a gentle sandy bottom at 25 - 30m. The thriving coral cover along the slopes is a great variety of hard and soft covering; the east side is particularly good with many little fissures, healthy sponges, providing many hiding places for a variety of interesting macro marine life. The top also has a good variety of corals, sponges, many small fish and is often home to baby sharks who like to hide under large table corals. The site is also a great oppertuinty for those who prefer to use the Mask and Snorkel.

Napoleon Reef is again a few kilometres from the shore, a flat topped gently sloping reef, with a small wall which reached towards the south side, depth range is very similar to those from Close Encounters. This site was hit the hardest by El Nino, Napoleon has shown a tremendous amount of recovery and is again home to a healthy variety of coral and marine life. The soft coral garden towards the west is particularly stunning; offering a nice range of gorgonians heading off into the blue. The deep end of the Napoleon Reef offers the usual and unusual fish from Close Encounters plus rays and cuttlefish are a regular sighting. Also the site of a small wreck, the Zoe, ex-dive boat scuttled back in 2004. Now beyond the wreck lies an interesting little deeper reef. This deeper section, nicknamed 'Beyond' Napoleon, has interesting fields of short staghorn and sponges. This site is a regular night dive spot, offering a wide variety of night critters plus cat shark. (Also known as Pasir Putih)

Gede's Reef is only accessible with a drop into the open blue ocean before seeing the reef rising to meet you. With this reef descending to a depth of 40-50m with the shallowest point is at 13m, this reef is alive with marine life and is complimented by the dense variety of coral formations. This pristine little reef makes for a fun blue water rush. With a large area of thiriving, excellent coral covering which is surprisingly full of many macro critters. Many interesting and unusual nudibranch have been seen here amongst the other amazing sea creatures. A bright yellow gargonian, which we think is about 2m high, at twenty-four metres where we are still hoping to find a yellow pygmy seahorse.

The Temple Garden site was constructed as one of the three BRF/Aus Aid funded projects, with the local divecentres. This is an eerily spooky location consists of a number of small temples as part of a complex starting a 30m and works its way back to Temple Wall. Amongst its statues of Buddha, Ganesha, turtles abound behind the ornate Balinese gateway. Behind the central statue is an interesting little bommie with Buddha heads covered in a variety cleaning shrimps. Up the wall and in the crevices behind you can find electric clams, sparkling away. Then at 15m you come to area of plinths and statue heads sitting in communion.

Kebun Batu or Rock Garden is in front of the Karang Lestari coral project, just off the beach in front of the local hotels and is clearly marked with a very prominent white buoy. It also has a line running from in front of Pondok Sari Hotel to the site for those whose navigtional skills are not up to scratch. The Rock itself rises from a sandy depth of no deeper than 18m and rises as a pinnacle or coral with a flat top at the 4m mark. The base of the rock on the shore side rises in a small coral mound to 8m. The surrounding sand slopes gently up to the beach. The rock itself is an interesting dive during the day offering a lot of critters and small fish. But it really comes alive during the night with small lobster, shrimps, crabs and even electric clams at the base.

Karang Lestari: is an award winning artificial reef project which stimulates coral growth on manmade metal structures using electricity. The process can stimulate coral growth by purportedly up to five times its normal rate, plus producing a healthier and stronger colony better able to resist increased water temperatures and other variables. The frames also make for nursing grounds for fish, which have come to regard them as homes. Frogfish can oft times be found on sponge covering areas of the structures. Most of the larger structures are marked with buoys and are easily found as most are right in front of the beach.

Good snorkelling but both sites being close to shore visibility can be a little low, depending of course on tides and sea conditions.