Best Dive Spots in Bali: Complete Guide to the Top Underwater Sites

1. USAT Liberty Wreck, Tulamben

The USAT Liberty is Bali's single most famous dive site — and one of the most accessible wrecks anywhere. This WWII cargo ship sits just meters from the beach at Tulamben, broken across the reef slope in 5 to 30 meters of water. Snorkelers can see the top of the hull while certified divers explore encrusted cargo holds, resident bumphead parrotfish and schooling jacks.

Because entry is a simple shore walk over black volcanic pebbles, the Liberty works for everyone from new Open Water divers to underwater photographers doing repeat dives at different depths.

Best for: All levels. A must-do first or second dive in Bali; pair it with the nearby Tulamben Drop-Off wall on the same day.

2. Manta Point, Nusa Penida

Manta Point is a shallow cleaning station off Nusa Penida where reef manta rays with wingspans up to 4 meters glide past divers, often just a few meters away. Depths are typically 5 to 15 meters, making it approachable for reasonably confident Open Water divers, though surface swell and surge can make entries choppy.

Season: Manta sightings happen year-round, with the best odds and calmest conditions April–November.

3. Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida

Crystal Bay is Bali's best-known site for encountering mola mola (ocean sunfish), which rise from deep water to shallow cleaning stations here roughly from July to October. Outside mola season, the bay still offers pretty coral and, on the right tide, playful green turtles.

Currents can be strong and unpredictable at Crystal Bay — dive with an experienced local guide who knows the day's conditions.

Best for: Open Water divers and above, ideally with drift-diving experience or a strong guide-to-diver ratio.

4. Amed

Amed is a relaxed string of fishing villages along Bali's northeast coast with excellent shore diving straight off black-sand beaches. The Japanese wreck at Banyuning sits shallow and calm, while the reef slopes nearby are full of soft coral and reef fish — good territory for a first Open Water course.

Related: Open Water Course in Bali

5. Menjangan Island

Inside West Bali National Park, Menjangan Island is prized for calm, virtually current-free walls dropping from shallow reef flats into deep blue water. Visibility is often excellent, and the vertical drop-offs are covered in gorgonian fans, sponges and reef fish.

Best for: Beginners and underwater photographers who want easy conditions with dramatic scenery. A longer drive from South Bali, so most divers combine it with Puri Jati.

6. Blue Lagoon & Padang Bai

Blue Lagoon, near the Padang Bai ferry port, is a sheltered bay with easy coral gardens — a favorite for try dives and Open Water training. Just offshore, Padang Bai's deeper reefs and the nearby Blue Lagoon wall attract reef sharks, and the crossing towards the Lombok Strait occasionally brings sunfish and pelagics into range for more experienced divers.

7. Gili Tepekong, Candidasa

Gili Tepekong is one of Bali's most demanding — and rewarding — dive sites. Strong currents, thermoclines and the site's famous "Canyon" formation draw larger pelagics, including occasional oceanic sunfish and reef sharks. Downcurrents are a real risk here, so this is a site for experienced, current-comfortable divers with a knowledgeable guide.

Best for: Advanced Open Water divers and above. Not a training site.

8. Seraya Secrets, Tulamben

A short boat ride from Tulamben, Seraya Secrets is Bali's premier muck-diving site. The black-sand slope hides frogfish, ghost pipefish, seahorses, mimic octopus and dozens of nudibranch species — a magnet for macro photographers willing to move slowly and look closely.

9. Nusa Penida Drift Dives

Beyond Manta Point and Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida's coastline offers a series of exhilarating drift dives — Toyapakeh, Gamat Bay and Malibu Point among them — with strong currents, healthy coral cover and frequent sightings of reef sharks, turtles and large schools of fish. Currents here can be fast and change direction quickly, so a local guide who reads the tide tables is essential.

Tip: Book with an operator based on Nusa Penida or Nusa Lembongan for shorter boat rides and more flexible timing around tides than a day trip from Sanur.

10. Puri Jati

Near Menjangan on Bali's northwest coast, Puri Jati is a second excellent muck-diving site — flat black sand hosting mandarin fish at dusk, robust ghost pipefish, and a rotating cast of unusual critters. It pairs naturally with a Menjangan day trip for divers who want both a calm wall dive and serious macro hunting in one day.