The Ultimate List: Best Snorkelling in Bali

After living for one year in Bali, I went on many snorkelling and diving trips with my fellow teams. You can say that I have been to many good (and bad) snorkelling spots, and it never made me regrets on all of these places I have been. Because of that I finally come down with this lists to make YOU, snorkelling newbie or not, to find destinations for snorkelling across Bali. If this is your first time to try snorkelling, consider reading this first before you go. Nonetheless, I am gonna put down my favourite and the complete ultimate list of the best Snorkelling in Bali island you have to visit!

1. Menjangan Bali

Menjangan Island has always been on top of my list and I always come back over and over again every year. It is a special island for me as it was my first time ever I encountered the art of free diving. Read the full guide post and story here. 

Since the island is included as West Bali National Park, the underwater corals and fishes are untouchable from fisherman and any other profitable organization. Good thing is that tourists are able to visit the island by hiring the local guide which already been served by the National Park. The underwater view has a superb wall with many lively colourful corals and endangered species, therefore snorkelling here is suggested for intermediate or advance snorkellers, although I often bring my beginner friends here and the local guide are nicely help them get through. In the end, they had a nice time enjoying the underwater and would love to try again! 🙂

Snorkelling level: Intermediate – Advance

Location: North West Bali, West Bali National Park

2. Nusa Lembongan

Another get-away paradise island from the hectic Bali, which is also one of my favourite place to go. Take a public boat from Sanur beach that cost around 100.000 IDR – 200.000 IDR for one way, even cheaper if you bought two way immediately. The journey itself only takes an hour or so. Expect some quite beautiful resorts with many secret beaches to spend your day here. The island is famous for the seaweed garden, surfing place, and of course, snorkelling and diving spots. I have never tried to dive here but already spent a couple of times snorkelling with many different groups. If you were planning to do some snorkelling here, you need to rent a motorbike to go to the south-east side of the island and rent a boat there.

The one spot that I would recommend for beginners is the Mangrove Point. I have been here several times and it never gets so boring with the long view of corals underneath and those cute little fishes everywhere! Read the full guide of Nusa Lembongan here.

Snorkelling level: Beginners – Intermediate

Location: South Bali

 

3. Nusa Penida

Nusa Penida is a large and secluded island just kilometres further away from Nusa Lembongan. Most of the public boats make some rounds to visit Nusa Lembongan after stopping by to Nusa Penida. The island is, even more, quieter and less crowded with people, but don’t let it sway you, as the place has many exotic and special spots for divers and snorkelers. The popular spot that even most divers go from Bali island is the Manta Point where you can see manta and the rare Sunfish (a.k.a Mola-mola) in August until October. Even if you were in Nusa Lembongan already and rent a snorkelling boat, the driver always come over to this island as it has many amazing spots for snorkelling. You can even see Manta swimming here just by swimming!

The unfortunate thing about snorkelling here is the strong current that can be dangerous, especially for the beginners. I remember that there was news about a divers accident here and were found a couple of days later. So please beware when you decide to come here. Always ask for a professional local guide for your snorkelling trip. Read here for your beginners guide on snorkelling.

Most tourists prefer to sleepover in Nusa Lembongan and visit Nusa Penida for day trips just for snorkelling and diving. My most favourite spot in Nusa Penida was Crystal Bay, since it has a pretty view and steady current. Located in a bay and has shallow corals and fishes, made it as probably the safest spot to snorkel. I personally enjoyed myself floating here near the afternoon, as the view of the island was superb.

Snorkelling level:  Intermediate – Advance

Location: South Bali

4. Amed

Amed is the first beach I have ever gone to Bali where I can do snorkelling right away without even renting any boats. I totally recommend this place for newbies to enhance your snorkelling skills. I was a bit hesitant when I saw the sand of the beach was black, because of the colours come from the Mount Agung’s volcanoes and has been black ever since. But then, when I got into the water and saw lots of big fishes swimming around. Wow!

So far, Amed is the cheapest and safest place that any beginners can do to learn snorkelling in Bali. One thing that you have to be aware of though, as there is no one to be the guide, you need to take care of yourself. No need to worry as the locals have already spread on rope and buoy as the distance limit. Amed beach is pretty much wide and there are so many spots that you can go here, but my friends and I usually find the restaurant near the beach where they rent snorkels equipment, cos we usually got super hungry afterwards! So we just need to drop our bags, take off our clothes, get our gears and go snorkelling from the beach. Easy peasy!

The sad thing about this place is that there were so many people snorkelling here bought them bread to pull the fishes closer. And so the fishes here are already getting used to the routine. Please, I am begging you, do not feed them. It will make them suffer and die in the end. Read more about the snorkelling guide below or in here.

p.s: Oh, don’t forget to drive through the hill at the end of the road as you can see the whole view of Amed and Mount Agung from afar. Exquisite!

Snorkelling level: Beginners – Intermediate

Location: East Bali

5. Tulamben

Tulamben is my favourite spot to dive in Bali! Among all of the snorkelling spots, Tulamben is probably the most enchanted place you can go. Even though it’s almost the same with Amed, where you can swim right away from the beach, this spot has very unexpected waves, also (some) dangerous underwater animals. Even though this place has a charm that you can’t resist as it lies the Liberty Shipwreck, one of the famous shipwreck dive in the world back from the World War II. As I have always been a history buff, diving on this freaking enormous shipwreck was truly an experience, although it surely needs more than 2 days to explore them all.

After I had some fun diving here, one the guys from the dive centre asked if I wanted to try snorkelling here. And boy, it was also damn gorgeous sight! You can see the tip of the ship from above and plenty of fishes comes around. If you already mastered free diving, then this is also the best spot to have a beautiful sightseeing underwater. One thing to note: to reach the shipwreck tip you need to swim farther from the shore and it is best to go with a local guide, even though it will cost a bit but your safeties are the most important!Snorkelling level: Beginners – Intermediate

Location: East Bali

6. Padang Bai

Padang Bai is famous as the harbour to cross over to the Three Gilis in Lombok. Not many people plan that much to stay in Padang Bai, but I assure you it has some secret beach and snorkelling spots that you really should see! The easiest thing to see is just to come over to the dive centre and asked them to rent a boat and equipment for snorkelling. We went to two different snorkelling spots back then; one is called Tanjung Jepun, which is a bit far from the Padang Bai shore. The corals were stretched long out very nicely with lots of colourful fishes and therefore we snorkelled for a long time here. The other one is called Blue Lagoon, one of the famous secret beaches to come if you ever plan to explore Padang Bai. A good thing about this beach is that you can find this place from the Padang Bai by motorbike or car and snorkelling from the shore. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed with this spot because of many trash floating on the water. And you can guess that the corals were also damaged enough to make the fishes go away. Not so secret anymore eh?

Aside from snorkelling, you can also dive here. I went here originally for diving with my dive buddies and it was my first time ever to see sharks at the Shark Point. And funny thing is that the shark point is not that far from the beach! I had a great time diving here though as I did not have to go further for diving. But as much as I like to dive, I originally prefer snorkelling as it has less cost and not much heavy equipment to bring.

Snorkelling level: Beginners – Intermediate

Location: South East Bali

If this is your first time ever to try snorkelling, please read the snorkelling guide for beginners. It can help you and save time to learn how to do it properly! Other than that, please enjoy your time underwater and be prepared to get addicted! 🙂

Let me assure you, nothing beats the feeling once you are down there in the sea with your mask and snorkelling gear on. With those little fishes and beautiful amazing corals, you will have so much fun in the water but please don’t forget to be alert all the time.

Let me know your experiences of snorkelling once you finished reading this! 🙂

© 2017 Writing & Images copyright of Marina Utami.

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