Liberty, the most famous wreck in Bali

I talked about it in the previous article. The wreck of the LibertyTulamben (about 15 kilometers west of Amed) is the most popular dive site in Bali, Indonesia.

I had already dived into the Liberty in 2002. And this is the very first dive I decide to do, the day after my arrival in Amed...

The history of the Liberty : To learn more about this U.S. Army freighter and understand how it ended up stranded like this, on the northeast coast of Bali, just off the beach, I invite you to read this other article below:

Delicate launching

I had the memory of an easy and spectacular dive, in clear water. If the show was still great, this Tuesday's dive was rather sporty, with a rather strong current and a more limited visibility... The fault, it seems, of a few days of rain and wind, last week, which shook the bottom.

Just getting into the water is difficult on this windy day. Big waves are crashing on the black pebble beach.

Despite the precautions and warnings of our guides and the help of theEco-DiveSeveral of us lost our balance on the pebbles and fell into the rollers with all our diving gear on our backs...

No injuries for me, fortunately. An Australian girl was less lucky: she smashed her knee while getting out of the water. The trick is to jump in at the right time, right between two waves. The Aussie did well, though, she may hobble for a few days, but nothing is broken.

The wreck of the Libertya steel monster full of life

Here is to start with a small video of the wreck. Sorry for the poor quality, I recall that it was made in 2008, with my modest compact camera of the time, far from what we can do today with cameras that film in HD or 4K ...

 Underwater, we can only see the huge mass of the cargo until the very last moment, when we are almost on top of it, as the visibility is so bad. I plan to dive again on the wreck in a few days, hoping that it will have improved a bit.

But even without being able to fully embrace this steel behemoth, I am captivated.

The wreck is, as I remember, covered with corals, gorgonians, swarming with life. Stingrays in abundance, of all sizes, all colors...

But it is not easy for me to take pictures. This Tuesday, there is a current that could have been a nudibranch. We had to enter the wreck, to take shelter of the hull, to breathe a little.

Nothing scary about it. The openings are wide, easy. All the "swim-through" where we went let the light constantly filter.

Only photographer of the palanquée ...

But my palanquée palm a little too fast for me, the only photographer of the band. I am hardly posed in front of a pretty yellow leaf-fish, in a corner not too exposed to the current, that already the others spin towards the end of the hull ...

Oh, boy. I need a few minutes in front of my little fish to try to draw its portrait with its mouth open.

Mission accomplished! I join them quickly, in two strokes of my fins, carried by the current. The others clung under a broken part of the hull, to contemplate the aquatic ballet of a school of big jacks. Yes, the current means more life and more fish...

Except that, once again, I barely have time to settle down in a corner, to admire the show, to raise my lens towards the bench which is cut out against the light towards the surface (how beautiful!) that already the others are moving away to go back to the interior of the hull... Fortunately, the dive-master who is driving the broom is waiting for me.

But here is the problem: by swimming too much in the current, some of them have already used up their air... Two of them have to go back up, a Frenchman and an Australian, accompanied by the dive-master who closes the group.

Muck diving on the black sand

I finished the dive with the "thrifty consumers" of which I am one, another Australian, impressive with all her "tek" diving gear, and our dive-master Kadek. We sneak into the holes of the hull and have the good surprise to meet two very strong napoleons at the exit. With the pleasure to finish the walk at a small depth, on the sand, in "muck-diving".

In front of big holes in the sand, Kadek hits two stones one against the other. He emerges soon the elongated and bulging eyes of a big "manta-shrimp" or squish. Hop, I'm totally flashing!

When I got out of the water, I made a firm resolution to come back. This wreck is too big! There are too many things to see, we don't know where to put our head!

Mister seahorse-pygmy

And among the beautiful rewards, at the beginning of the dive, Kadek found us, in the branches of a gorgonian fixed to the hull... guess what? A Pygmy seahorse,!

Yes, one more! Yippee! Come on, I can't resist the pleasure of putting up his little picture for you. He's so cute, that one.

But when we come back, the beach is already invaded by divers in black overalls, diving tanks and women carrying their gear, sometimes two complete equipments balanced on their heads...

All these people, who disembark at Tulamben on the stroke of 11 am, arrive from further away (Kuta, Sanur, Padangbai, Ubud) for an express dive on the famous wreck.

Hey, hey! We, who are on the spot, had it all to ourselves or almost!

Good plan for accommodation and diving in Tulamben: I went back to Bali several times since this trip in 2008 (in 2011, in 2012, in 2015) and I dived again on the fabulous wreck of the LibertyBut now with a guide for me alone and at the right times (those when there are less people)... I point out this real good plan of resort for divers, which is also an excellent address, especially if you are an underwater photographer, and you want to discover the wreck in the best possible conditions →  Liberty Dive Resort

→ See also: all my articles on the wreck of the Liberty