Customer Reviews

Diving Bali: The Underwater Jewel of Southeast Asia (Periplus Action Guides)

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I received my copy of Diving Bali : The Underwater Jewel of Southeast Asia (Periplus Action Guides)yesterday, and lost a good night's sleep reading it. My only regret in buying this book is that I didn't get it before going diving in Bali last summer. The pictures are outstanding and the maps are of a very high quality. I think I'll be cancelling my diving trip to the Philippines in July and returning to Bali instead!

Best dive guide I've read about any location. Get this one if going to Bali.

I know that this sounds like hyperbole, but this book is so far above and beyond any other dive guide I have used that I cannot resist. The maps are works of art and acurate, to boot.

After reading this book, my dives at the Liberty, the Tulamben drop off and Batu Kelebit seemed like visits with old friends.

As a terrific bonus, you can even dive these sites with Wally Siagian (+62 363 41869, persistantly) as I did.

Our dive club just spend 2 1/2 weeks diving around Bali last September, and this was our best guide--especially useful for places we hadn't visited before, like Menjangan. Periplus really does it right. And BTW there's a Periplus bookstore in Ubud, where divers who also like the local culture tend to stay when they're done diving.

We also recommend the Periplus Indonesia dive book for other places that don't have books of their own, like Wakatobi, Raja Ampat, and Komodo.

Indonesia has arguably the best diving on Earth, and Bali is best place to start. It's a culturally cohesive society with a low crime rate, a sophisticated civilization, and a fondness for Americans (we tend to treat the locals in a more egalitarian fashion than Euros and Chinese do). The danger of terrorist attacks is nil except in Kuta where the Aussies go to party--and that's nowhere near any place we stay or go on the island. And Indonesia has been going great work on nabbing terrorists before they blow things up--as well as executing the masterminds of the Kuta bombing, which they just did.

You will probably want to bring your own gear, but, that said, I had a local beach guide field-repair a free-flowing Air II right on the beach, delaying my entry only by a few minutes.

One note of caution: the "beach" at Tulamben is quite rocky--no sand. Many of our group found entry and exit difficult, but Paradise Palm Bungalow's guide Made was a wonder at getting us in and out with our camera gear. That's a little tip I don't recall reading in the Periplus book, but it could make a big difference for your diving there.

This is an outstanding and reliable resource on diving in Bali. The author writes with clarity. It is an enjoyable read even if you can get out there as often as you'd like. Worth reading!