Muck Diving in Bali – Discovering the Weird and Wonderful Critters

03 Mar Muck Diving in Bali – Discovering the Weird and Wonderful Critters

If you think of muck diving in Indonesia, the first location that comes to mind is probably Lembeh. But did you know you can do some amazing muck diving in Bali as well? Muck diving is probably not for everyone. If you are in it for the beautiful corals and lots of fish, these types of dives are not for you. Fortunately you have plenty of other stunning dive sites to choose from on Bali. But if you like exploring and enjoy the excitement of finding the weird and wonderful critters of the ocean amongst rubble, muck diving is probably your thing.

Why Dive in the Muck?

It never appealed to me. I can remember reading the word for this first time and thinking how can any word that contains the word muck ever be great. But when I was in Sulawesi and dived in Lembeh for the first time, I was sold. I love scanning the bottom for the slightest change of movement and the satisfaction of finding something special. Because that is just it with muck diving, you can find the most wonderful creatures that you would not encounter on your regular dives. 

Muck Diving Sites on Bali

Bali has a number of muck diving sites. The best ones in my opinion are Puri Jati (North-West of Bali), the Jetty in Padang Bay and Seraya (East of Bali). Puri Jati has the additional benefit of beautiful surroundings. To get there, you go on this small road through the rice fields and end up on the beach. There is just one simple house where they sell some drinks and nowadays simple food as well. Recently the family even built a shower, a toilet and dive cleaning facilities. In between dives you can enjoy the amazing view of the rice fields. For me, this is Bali at its best. During our dives here we have seen mimic octopuses, frog fishes, ghost pipe fishes, dragonets and even a star gazer. You would have to combine this with an overnight stay in the area due to the distance. 

Seraya is slightly different. It is more popular as it is so easily accessible from the East of Bali where you will find many dive centres. Where you hardly ever encounter other divers in Puri Jati, you will probably see a few during your dives in Seraya. One of the main attractions on Seraya is the amazing harlequin shrimp, but you will find many more other critters there. It is great for macro photographers. 

The Jetty in Padang Bay is a relatively newly discovered dive site. It has the benefit it is relatively close by and we spot great critters there. As the name already suggests, you dive around a jetty. We have spotted a wide variety of frog fish, weedy scorpion fish and blue ringed octopus here. Great for any photographer. 

On all sites you can easily make 2 dives as they are big enough to be able to dive on a different part each time. Puri Jati can best be visited as part of a dive safari, Seraya and Padang Bay can be done as a day trip if you are staying in the South or East of Bali. 

To find out more about the Bali dive sites, visit our dive site section.