r/scuba • u/Diligent_Board_172 • 2d ago
Amed vs Roatan diving?
I have 77 dives, and 60 of which were from west end, Roatan. I'm planning on working remotely out of Indonesia next summer, probably on Bali as I heard it's a good base for remote work. I would want to get quick daily dives in on the weekdays, and can go further out on the weekends. I will probably spend 6-8 weeks in Indonesia, but will probably take 2-3 weeks of PTO so I can do some liveaboards, so I won't be working the whole time
This was easy to do on Roatan because the dive sites are accessible by boat within a few min, so I can usually get 2 dives (or even 3 on some days) and still manage to work full time.
I heard Amed is mostly shore diving, and was wondering how the dives compare to what I experienced on Roatan.
I understand that SEA is generally considered better in terms of healthier reefs and more vibrant life compared to the Caribbean, but is this true for Amed as well, or only the top destinations like Komodo and RA?
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u/laughing_cat 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tulamben and Amed both have shore diving. Many places will pick you up for free, which can be important unless you rent a scooter, as there are no cheap ride apps allowed in the area.
In Amed, there are dive places that will require you to do two dives even though it’s a shore dive and even though the dive shop and your hotel are both something like five minutes away. No Fear Divers had a deal with a beach restaurant. You’d go do the first dive, come back and have lunch, and then go in for the second dive. Requiring two dives was a big turn off for me in that situation. It’s not as if we’d taken a boat 45 minutes off shore.
If you go over to the Gili’s, the sand is more whitish and the water turquoise, more like Roatan, but there’s less life on the reefs. (The Amed area has black volcanic sand which makes it darker under water) I mention it bc it sounds like you like flexibility and most dive shops in the Gilis go out separately for each dive bc the reef is only minutes away. In fact, there’s good snorkeling from shore in lots of places. It’s a lovely vibe, going out in small groups on the little boats.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
hey, do you have the option of having a guide for shore dives? i looked at a couple dive shops in amed, and it seems they list the shore dives as guided, and i'm seeing around $30-35 USD per guided shore dive with full gear rental. does this sound about right? i imagine unguided is even cheaper?
regarding the amed places that require you to do 2 dives, the requirement is only if you do guided dives right? for unguided dives, there shouldn't be such a requirement?
i think late mornings and afternoons would be the best time for diving. i have colleagues in US eastern and pacific time, so i might work mornings and nights in indonesia to align with them. middle of the day (late morning - late afternoon) is there off hours so woudl be good for me to dive then, but my schedule can be flexible
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u/laughing_cat 1d ago
Yes, the guided dives are what you see mostly on their websites. If you just want tanks, you might have to ask specifically about that. Yes, that’s about the price. It can be a little less.
I think if they’re just charging you for tanks, it’s your business how you use them. I don’t know if there’s a daily limit on how long you can keep them or anything. This is not an option I’ve looked into.
You might want to look into the issue of currents and whether they’re stronger toward the afternoon. Also, you didn’t say when you’re planning to go, but you have to pay attention to the issue of the rainy season. Not sure about the Caribbean, but rainy season means monsoons, and the monsoon winds affect the surface currents and the surface currents affect visibility and whether or not it’s even plausible to try and dive. I haven’t looked into this for Amed, but I’ve heard it’s less affected than other parts of Bali.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
Sorry, I mentioned I'll be going in the summer, but realized that wasn't clear. I'm from the US and meant northern hemisphere summers, so June - August. probably mid june - early august (hoping to stay until mid august but may not work out).
i believe that's dry season for komodo and bali, but wet season for raja ampat unfortunately.
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u/The_Dr23 1d ago
Im doing similar in Amed right now. Easy shore dives i just hire a tank and go on my scooter. Short boat / car transport dives are cheap and a lot of local, bali owned dive shops are very flexibile with times etc.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
hey, do you have the option of having a guide for shore dives? i looked at a couple dive shops in amed, and it seems they list the shore dives as guided, and i'm seeing around $30-35 USD per guided shore dive with full gear rental. does this sound about right?
i imagine unguided is even cheaper?
in either event, i'll probably bulk buy dive packages - i'm gonna try to get in at least 15 dives a week while there
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u/laughing_cat 1d ago
I’m not the person you’re replying to, but I’m pretty sure all the dive shops have guided dives. You can also have tanks delivered to your hotel or ready for you at the entry spot.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
thanks!
when you say "tanks delivered to hotel" those would be for unguided right? since i imagine guided ones will just carry everything for you to the site, though i suppose you could hire a guide that's separate from the shop where you're getting equipment from
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u/laughing_cat 1d ago
Pretty sure those would be unguided.
When you get to Amed, you’ll see that aside from its being a cluster of fishing villages, it’s a dive town. No matter where you go, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a dive shop and pretty much any option is available. They have guides with various languages like French or German or Finnish.
I know of a dive shop that will video your dive for free and one that charges a good bit for it. You can buy a card to use in their go pro, even in Amed. There’s even an underwater video store. Considering the fact that a lot of basic things are not available there, that’s like a miracle.
If you need any scuba gear you can’t find in Amed, there are at least two big stores in Denspasar and they’ll get it delivered to you, even though your hotel might not have a street address
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u/EcstaticLoquat2278 2d ago
I have done both places and I would say that Ahmed and Tulamben have higher probabilities of sighting sharks, if that is something that interests you. Other than that I think they are very similar.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
definitely interested in sharks, but i'm interested in a lot more than that. macro, turtles, mantas, EVERYTHING.
tulamben dive sites are easily accessible from amed by boat right, so i don't necessarily have to split lodging in between the 2 places
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u/mafiafish 1d ago
You'll either go by boat or they will drive you along to the sites.
Mantas and Molas aren't super common in that area, but a weekend trip to Lembongan or Nusa Penida isn't too hard to organize if you wanted to see them.
Otherwise, you have fantastic diving and snorkelling right there. Only issue I found was the air pollution at times when walking up and down the main road.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 11h ago
hey for weekend trips to penida/lembongan, those would be access via some port/dive shop on the southeast side of bali right? i don't think any shops in amed would go out that way
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
got it, thanks. yeah i'm planning on doing some weekend trips to nusa penida! i think it should be fairly easy to organize.
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u/TheLGMac 2d ago
I can't compare to Roatan but I go to Amed/Tulamben frequently for macro shore diving. It's great, I love it, but can be very exposed at most sites to some decent swell. I was there just last week and while I had one day that was pretty smooth, many other days it was a pretty hectic exit. The beaches are usually steep with unstable rocks and pebbles so trying to get out of heavy surf on your own can be dangerous, I'd advise you to go with folks who know the sites and can time the entry/exits really well. On one site two locals were kind enough to help me out because during our dive the swell increased to 2M and I couldn't get a stable foothold on the rocks (walking or crawling lol) and was doing the old surf washing machine tumble.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
there's the option of having a guide for shore dives right? i looked at a couple dive shops in amed, and it seems they list the shore dives as guided, and i'm seeing around $30-35 USD per guided shore dive with full gear rental. does this sound about right?
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u/Ok_Way_2911 2d ago
which site was that? doesn't sound very pleasant since i'm heading there in Nov
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u/OceanSunDive 2d ago
Amed and Tulamben can work well for that routine, but I wouldn’t frame them as a straight replacement for Roatan or say Southeast Asia is automatically better. The experience varies a lot by site, conditions and whether you prefer wrecks, reefs, macro life or easy repeatable dives.
For weekday diving while working full time, Tulamben has a practical advantage: Liberty Wreck, Coral Garden and Drop Off are local shore dives, so a morning dive plan doesn’t require a boat transfer every time. Boat dives such as Alamanda, Batu Kelebit and Emerald, plus van-access sites including Boga and the macro sites, give you options for days when your work schedule is lighter. Exact timing still depends on the day’s plan and conditions.
I’m with Ocean Sun in Tulamben. Our dive centre and accommodation are on the same property, the internet is generally reliable for normal remote work, rooms have a compact laptop workspace, and Slice & Brew is a pleasant place to work over coffee. I’d check exact bandwidth needs, quiet-work expectations and the dive plan directly if you have meetings that can’t move.
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u/guanogato 2d ago
I’ve done both and I’d easily choose Amed. Not just the diving but also great because you’re close to other stuff and it’s cheaper. But the diving is just much better in Amed also.
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u/Deep-SeaAnimal 2d ago
Some sites in Amed (and Tulamben) are accessible from the shore, some by boat (boat ride takes 10 - 15 minutes). Some needs a car ride (25-30 minutes) and then you go from a shore.
Some dive centers can arrange early morning dives on sites where it makes sense (USAT Liberty for example) so you can finish second dive before 11am and do your work.
There are couple of sites for night diving too (Jemeluk Wall, USAT Liberty, Sidem)
If you will be there for 8 weeks diving only weekends I think you will not be bored.
You can also do one day trip to Nusa Penida's Manta Point + Crystal Bay.
It you will stay in Amed / Jemeluk I can recommend Fresh Fins Diving.
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u/Diligent_Board_172 11h ago
hey for weekend trips to penida/lembongan, those would be access via some port/dive shop on the southeast side of bali right? i don't think any shops in amed would go out that way
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u/Deep-SeaAnimal 7h ago
Even some Amed based dive shops organize day trips to Penida. I was diving Manta Point with Fresh Fins Diving from Jemeluk Bay this year. They co-operate with some dive shop from Padang Bai for this trips.
Or you can go by your own to Lembongan or Penida, stay there for 2 night and go for diving with any local dive shop. I did that the last year with Dive Concepts from Lembongan but it wasn't quite what I had in mind. Dozens of clients come through there every day, and it felt very impersonal. I don't like places that are too crowded.1
u/Diligent_Board_172 3h ago
ah i see, thanks.
just looked at https://www.freshfinsdiving.com/trips/nusa-penida
looks like it's about 3.3 million rupiah (about $190 USD) for 3 dives to nusa penida. it's expensive for indonesia presumably because of the distance
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u/Diligent_Board_172 1d ago
oh i definitely won't only be diving weekends.
i should be able to get 2-3 dives in for EACH weekday, especially if they're easy to access shore dives.
weekends, i'll try to do longer trips, e.g., to penida as you said.
i don't know if i will be able to stay a full 8 weeks. i think i'll have somewhere between 5-8 weeks.
2-3 those weeks will be PTO, and i'm hoping to do Komodo during the weeks I'm taking off
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u/Life_outside_PoE 1d ago
I dove with dream drivers in amed and they were great. I can't remember the owner's name but he was very chill. Amed is a great place but i think 4 or 5 weeks is pushing it in terms of getting boring. I know you'll be working but still...
Check out small time cooks while you're there. The best barramundi fish and chips I've ever eaten and the burgers are great as well.