Bali Dive Sites: Tulamben Area – Emerald

Tulamben Dive Sites – Emerald

Emerald Dive Site

Emerald and the nearby area is another of the great dive sites just to the south east of Tulamben Bay. Basically one ‘step’ on from Batu Kelebit. This site is accessed using a jukung (small outrigger fishing boat).

There is a sunken car and some other pieces of artificial reef on the sandy slope – which itself is a natural home to cuttlefish, gobies, Decorated dartfish, Helmut gurnard and nudis. There are some areas of Garden eels too.

“I am often surprised both by the variety of reef fish here and by how many Gorgonian sea fans (with attendant Pygmy seahorses – sometimes up to 10 per fan) there are on this sloping reef. The marine life includes ghostpipefish, octopus, lionfish and scorpionfish”.

Around 20-30m depth, the reef becomes richer with a large number of sponges, including Barrel sponges, and is a good place to see reef sharks. Thresher sharks and Eagle rays are (occasionally) seen here.

There is a small drop-off with Elephant-ear sponges and hard corals, and some large, semi-resident Napoleon wrasse.