The main draw at Tulamben is the wreck of the USAT Liberty. The Liberty was torpedoed during WW2 and was beached at Tulamben to allow salvage. The eruption of the Mt Agung volcano in 1963 caused the wreck to slip off the beach. She now lies at a very convenient diving position of around 5 m to 30 m depth. If you want to know all about the wreck start a conversation with Mark Andrew!

Other dive sites at Tulamben included the coral gardens, temple, and the dropoff. Slightly west of Tulamben we also spent a day at the much more recent Boga wreck. Although the sea life is similar to Australia there were a few new and exciting finds including pygmy seahorses, devil fish, ribbon eels and a lot of leaf fish.

In total the group completed a total of 126 dives, with some members of the group doing their first night dives. All of the diving throughout the week was shore based. Although this sounds easy there were a few challenging days trying to enter/exit the water down a pebbly beach, through the surf, whilst in dive kit. There were a few impressive face plants at the start of the week by those who tried to go it alone but we soon learned to ask the helpful and sure footed dive guides for support.  

When not diving there were trips out to the local markets, a Hindu temple, and former royal water palaces. Two explorers also set off on a pre-dawn excursion to climb a local volcano. There was also much eating of Nasi Goreng, drinking of Bintang, and consumption of pre-dinner cocktails at the nearby beach-side bar.

Many thanks to Will for getting us all organised in the first place, and to Kathryn and Gavin who helped out with last minute details.

Laura Bellis

[Thanks to Laura, Andre, Jos and any others for the photographs below.]