Diving In The Garden Of The Gods, and The Close Encounters Dive Sites, In Pemuteran, Bali, Indonesia

 

Diving In The Garden Of The Gods, and The Close Encounters Dive Sites, In Pemuteran, Bali, Indonesia 

Sometimes paradise is hidden in plain view.

For me, this remote beach on the northern coast of Bali is paradise.

Forget about the remote village of Shangri-La, mysteriously claimed to be an earthly paradise, hidden in the mountains of the Chinese occupied Tibetan Territory.

I doubt that the climate there allows for the beautiful, juicy, life nourishing tropical fruit you can find here in Bali.

Pemuteran is not so hard to get to, nor is it undiscovered, yet it attracts many fewer tourists than other parts of Bali.

It has no sleazy bars, no real shopping, except for the essentials, and no surf, so there is no surfing culture here.

But it offers great diving in calm conditions, and very relaxed chilled vibes.

The restaurants around the village are great, and you can eat fresh and yummy foods at very good prices.

Of course you have to enjoy dining in your shorts with sand between your toes, or dining in simple places like a family’s courtyard or a guesthouse’s gardens.

The islanders are beautiful in their gentle features.

The women rarely color their beautiful hair.

They do not inject botox into their lips or foreheads.

They wear no makeup, do not glue fake eyelashes to their eyes and do not sculpt their eyebrows in a scary fashion.

Yet they glow in sweet natural beauty.

I  am truly baffled at the ridiculous ways in which bloated botox lips and grotesquely long fake eyelashes rimmed with truly ridiculous eyebrows, have become a new standard of beauty in many parts of Europe and the Americas. 

This place is totally devoid of sarcasm and of the power games that many people play in our societies.

The people are hardworking and honest, and they truly feel inner joy and satisfaction when you compliment them on the good drink or delicious dish they made for you.

They smile and glow in pride and happiness. 

An hour’s fragrant oil massage costs about $9. 

We took massages daily, after my daily dives.

While I dived, Jules was running on the beach and swimming with a snorkel to enjoy the beautiful reef.

The massages helped strengthen and move the flow of Chi in our bodies, and rid us of the pollution accumulated in our lungs while we were in Laos.

For me, this kind of life is pure paradise.

Here is my daily schedule:

I get up in a clean, airy, air conditioned beautiful Balinese Villa, have a fresh squeezed juice and a light, fruit based breakfast. 

Then I go diving and see beautiful coral and marine life while immersed in warm tropical waters, with the guidance of kind people who are very passionate about diving and marine conservation.

We have a surface interval break between the two dives, in which a fruit plate is served.

I chat with other divers and hear interesting stories and the world views of people from all over the world.

In the mid afternoon, we return to shore, I shower and wash my diving camera and lights.

We walk to have a delicious lunch in the village or we stay in our bathing suits and have a lunch at the resort.

Food is great at fabulous prices.

We return to the resort and read or relax in one of the many places to relax and lounge.

Maybe we sleep a little until evening.

We get an hour’s massage by warm, wonderful ladies who are SO grateful that we came.

We go to dinner at one of the many good places in the village.

No matter how much we eat, we never pay more than $15-$20 for a dinner for two.

Here are six of the Dive Sites that I dived while in Pemuteran:

Name: The Garden Of The Gods and Reborn  Reef
Depth: 0 to 20 meters 
Location: Pemuteran (shore dive)

See Hindu statues that have been sunk into a sandy bottom.
Characteristics and Marine Life: Table corals (artificial reef), big bommie, lobsters, squat lobsters, nudibranch, banned shrimp, hermit crab, porcelain crabs, anthias, parrot fish, surgeon fish, garden eels, lion fish, pipe fish, sweeper, anemone fish.

Name: Close encounters
Depth: 5 to 30 meters 
Location: Pemuteran (boat dive)
Characteristics of Marine Life: Coral garden on the top, sea fan, table corals, banned shrimp, sleeper lobster, marble shrimps, cleaner shrimp, ghost pipe fish, leaf scorpion fish, turtle, shark, bat fish, jacks school, sweetlips, morays.

Name: Deep middle reef
Depth: 6 to 30 m
Location: Pemuteran (boat dive)
Characteristics and Marine Life: Big sea fans and table corals, nudibranch, anemone, cleaner shrimps, anemone shrimps, sleeper lobster, clown fish, sergeant fish, anemone fish, surgeon fish, shark, turtle, cuttlefish.

Name: Boat cemetery
Depth: 5 to 28 m
Location: Pemuteran (boat dive)
Characteristics and Marine Life: project, sea fan 25m, shrimps, anemone shrimps, nudibranch, clown fish, bat fish.

Name: Deep boat
Required level: Advanced
Depth: 2 to 12 m
Location: Pemuteran (boat dive)
Characteristics and Marine Life: sea fans, banned shrimp, squat lobsters, cling fish, moray, ghost pipe fish and unlimited small creatures.

Name: Deep reef (also known as Gede’s reef) 
Required level: Advanced
Depth: 15 to 36 m
Location: Pemuteran (boat dive)
Characteristics and Marine Life: Big sea fans, healthy coral, banned shrimp, squat lobsters, cling fish, moray, ghost pipe fish and unlimited small creatures.

From Pemuteran with love,

Tali