Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Diving in Tulamben Indonesia: USS Liberty Wreck


Wow, these pictures do not give justice to the scuba diving in Indonesia. At some points of the dive we were around 90 feet down, at these depths pictures become very difficult to show the true beauty of what we saw. Due to time and money we could only go on 2 dives in Bali. We decided to dive a famous Wreck on the north coast in Tulamben. The ship is huge, it was a US cargo ship that was sunk by Japan in WWII called the USS Liberty. 

We got picked up early in the morning from our hotel by the dive company. Then after some sizing of equipment and briefing about the dives, we made the 2 hour drive through the towering volcanic mountains and lush green rice fields to the north side of the island. Once we arrived to the coast, half a dozen Indonesian women quickly swarmed the back of the vehicle and hoisted our heavy tanks and scuba gear to the balanced position on their heads. It was impressive at how strong they were. It was very nice to have them carry our stuff from the parking lot to the beach where we suited up and entered the water. 

We loved the dives, it was absolutely beautiful. The ground and rocks were black because of past lava flows from the mountain that toured over the rocky shore. We saw fish and coral that only exists at the pet store back home. Everything was foreign and different to us, which made for constant excitement. Our 45-50 minute dives felt like we were only under for 10 minutes. Some of the highlights were the Garden Eels, dwarf sea horse, swim through in the ship, and sea turtles.  To say the least, it was the best dives of our lives. 

2 comments:

  1. very beautiful however if indonesian coral exploitation still in effect, there will be nothing left for your grandchildren.

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  2. Wow! Amazing! The corals are very beautiful. These are the reason why I really love Scuba Diving in Indonesia. Big Thanks for these photos.

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