Reef Sharks in Padang Bai

Reef Sharks in Padang Bai

Posted on 19. Jul, 2012 by in Indonesia

Despite admitting knowing nothing about Padang Bai we ended up agreeing to go diving during our stay.  How did we know if it would be any good? Well, the people at The Lemon House told us it was all right so why not?

Recommendations are always good so we followed their advice and booked to go the morning after arriving with Blue Bubble Diving. We sorted out all the gear the night before and didn’t have to worry about anything on arrival other than getting on the boat.

Before we even set off I overheard the divemasters talking about sharks and had to ask: “Are we likely to see any today?”

“You’d be very unlucky not to see sharks” was the reply. Amazing.

The trip was to two dive sites no more than 15 minutes from the bay, Tanjung Sari just in front of Padang Bai harbour and Jepun out to the left.

Our first dive was the closer of the two and as we drifted quickly along the bottom it was clear we were going to face quite a strong current.  I kept a close eye on Kirsty as it was the strongest current she has had to deal with so far but it still didn’t compare to my scare in Donsol in the Philippines.

We were rewarded with a number of white tip reef sharks which made all the effort worth while.  We even found ourselves sharing shelter from the current with a reef shark who sat patiently in a large crack in the rocks.

To top if off as we swam away from the reef to surface we came across these guys:

During an hour on the boat relaxing in the sun for our surface interval I began hating myself for having a flight booked home for so soon, why were we giving this up?

The second dive at Jepun included an artificial reef and a small wreck hiding lots of little fellas for you macro people out there but perhaps the most interesting, perhaps I mean startling, thing we saw was a tourist submarine cruising past us with lots of pairs of eyes and camera lenses peering out the small windows. We also got lucky and saw another couple of reef sharks which we were later told don’t normally hang around that area.

Diving with Blue Bubble was great and considering we were unsure about diving in Padang Bai it turned out to be somewhere I would recommend to everyone.

Our divemaster also took photos throughout both dives, which were given to us for free at the end of the day, here’s a sample of some of the best.

Padang Bai Diving

Blue Bubble Diving, Bali

Diving in Padang Bai, Bali

Blue Bubble Diving, Padang Bai

Blue Bubble Diving, Padang Bai

Diving in Bali, Indonesia

Thinking of diving in Padang Bai? Do it!

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12 Responses to “Reef Sharks in Padang Bai”

  1. Pamela

    20. Jul, 2012

    Nice you went with it, you can never reject an invitation to see sharks! It sounds like a great time. We recently dove in Labuan Bajo (Flores) and it was one of the best places I’ve been. (much better then Thailand).

    Cheers,
    Pamela

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      26. Jul, 2012

      I ALWAYS want to see sharks haha. We were reading about Flores a lot and it sounds great, glad to hear it lived up to expectations!

      Thanks for commenting!

      Reply to this comment

  2. Andi of My Beautiful Adventures

    20. Jul, 2012

    WOW what an amazing dive!!!!!!

    Reply to this comment

  3. Audrey

    21. Jul, 2012

    So cool! You got so close to the turtles, and the underwater photos turned out really well. :D

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      26. Jul, 2012

      It was great seeing the turtles, I’ve been told on a number of dives we were likely to see them but this was the first time.

      Reply to this comment

  4. Shalu Sharma

    15. Aug, 2012

    Swimming with the sharks is something that will really terrify me.

    Reply to this comment

  5. Gina

    04. Sep, 2012

    You guys saw some great animals on that dive! Great shot of the eel and I love the video of the sea turtles. They’re my favorite. :)

    Reply to this comment

  6. Pawel

    30. Sep, 2012

    Great pictures!!!!!!! did you use some special underwater kit?

    Reply to this comment

  7. Lizzy

    17. Oct, 2012

    It looks amazing down there, really great pictures.

    Reply to this comment

  8. Mumun

    21. Mar, 2013

    There’s a wreck around Padang Bai? Waw, I should drop by there one day.
    Great pics by the way.

    Reply to this comment

  9. GHM

    19. Apr, 2013

    That is one MEAN looking eel… You have some fantastic photos of what looks to be a great dive spot. Do you have any plans to dive again someday?

    Reply to this comment

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