It's at this time of the year that we start looking ahead to the June holidays and booking Bali, like many Australians. When the rest of Asia is too hot or too rainy, Bali always seems perfect at that time of the year, and the ease of travelling there after a busy half year of work is appealing for many of us. This year, no Australians are going to Bali.
And so I'm left looking at photographs. I've been thinking about Amed all week because someone has started a free diving venture on our coast, in the cold waters of Southern Victoria for the ridiculously expensive price of $150 dollars a session. Sure, they gotta survive, and in Australia, that's probably what it's worth, but I can't bring myself to pay that much for diving in freezing waters. Instead, my mind dives in the crystal waters of Amed, on the North East coast of Bali in the Jemeluk Bay.
The divers of Amed call the bay a swimming pool - whereas some areas of Bali can have waves and strong currents, Jemeluk Bay is calm and serene. From here, you can get a boat to Lombok or the Gili Islands, and it's only a few hours from the more populated Ubud or from the coast. Plenty of surfers come up wanting to learn free diving, hoping it will add to their survival skill set by teaching them to hold their breath underwater.
That's exactly what we did - learnt to freedive at Fusion Freedivers, owned by an Australian guy called Kev Henry, a talkative, funny and empathetic tuna fisherman and deep sea compression diver. There's a few freediving schools there, well at least there was pre COVID, but we were glad we chose Fusion as they made us feel comfortable and even lent us gear to freedive on our own after the course was over.
Amed is also famous for it's black sands, arising from the volcano that dominates the view to the north. Whilst we were there it was puffing away spectacularly - something that can ground flights, as it did this year. It's always worth checking Agung's activity before flying as some insurance won't cover you if that is the case.
North of Amed is more freediving - there's the wreck of the USS Liberty at Tulamben, easily accessible by motor scooter. It's deeper waters than the Japanese wreck to the south, and the day we visited, we weren't even sure where it was, and followed the scuba divers to find it. The current was a bit stronger out there and it was much harder to dive, but I felt proud of myself for swimming out there to start with!
There's not as many places to eat in Amed as there is in other villages in Bali, but there is a few great places, one with a wonderful view over the bay where pizza and beers is a popular fare. Other restaurants had wonderful fish fare, and you'd quite literally see fisherman carrying their haul right from the bay into the restaurant. Fresh fish and papaya - yes please! Blue Earth and Warung Enak Amed were highlights for us. The quality of food at Warung Enak Amed was excellent, although there are cheaper places. We did eat a cheaper eatery and ended up with Bali belly for the first time, resulting in a taxi ride to the hospital and me throwing up on a mountain road - not fun. There was no pharamacy in Amed to speak of so if you do go bring antibiotics, anti nausea tablets or things like ginger tea and slippery elm. In this case the charcoal you buy cheap over the counter didnt work - I needed stronger stuff as somehow I ended up with a UTI at the same time which was awful. Thank goodness we had a nice place to be sick in and a whole week to chill as that would not have been nice on a quick trip and we could have missed some really fun things like freediving!
I wouldn't expect to go shopping in Amed, so if that's your thing, stay elsewhere in Bali! Things to do range from riding the motorscooter along the ocean road exploring different restaurants and swimming spots, free diving, scuba diving, beach time and generally chilling out. I'd give anything to be back there right now and can't wait til we are allowed to leave the country again.
There's lots of gorgeous accomodation in Amed - if you're lucky, you'll get one without construction noise or livestock sounds. We moved twice before we were happy. The first was a really large room in a homestay accomodation, looking out onto a garden. Later we moved to a place with a beach view with an outdoor shower, which was just gorgeous. I worry about what these people are doing for money now that there are no international tourists there. It seemed hard enough for them as it was.
Given the fact we don't like to revisit the same place twice, the fact that we'd go back to Amed in a heart beat is testament to how much we loved it. The chance to see a real life exploding volcano was pretty awesome, though it was touch and go whether we'd be able to leave the country at all. Funny how we keep getting stuck in these situatoins - leaving India was also dramatic two years later as we fled borders due to the pandemic! Bali is renowned for earthquakes and volcanos, though - nothing too life threatening, but boy when the earth tremors you'll notice.
Amed will always have a place in our hearts, and we can't wait to get back there one day - perhaps by driving the Defender after shipping it to Timor. At the moment it feels like we'll never leave Australia again, but I'm sure that won't be the case. COVID hasn't quashed our adventurous spirit and Bali will welcome Australians back as soon as it can, I'm sure.
Have you been to Bali?
Have you been freediving anywhere in the world?
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I haven't been to Bali but now it's on my list. What you said about fishermen carrying the fish to the restaurant or directly to your plate reminds me of some bay nearby my hometown. It's also a place where people learn to dive, scuba and other water sports. However, it does not that the beautiful chimney in the background and there's no black sand but we have a white sand beach. Beautiful pictures and enticing review. It's almost like a brochure on the nice things Bali has to offer.
Oh Bali is just lovely, and your beach sounds amazing too! Any beach with fresh fish and watersports is A1 to me, smoking chimney of a volcano or not!
!ENGAGE 25
I agree with that!
ENGAGEtokens.Aaaah... yes... the lure of travel.
Bali IS OPEN and I have several friends who extricated themselves from challenging western countries (including South Africa) and who are happily there now. A plane load of them arrived here in TH a few days ago from Bali - experimentation of a new semi-Q arrangement. They are talking here of NO Q by April, provided you are vaccinated and arrive into certain (rather expensive) controlled resort environments. A glided cage, basically. But after 2 weeks you can stay here and travel freely for up to 9 months.
Tell me when I need to think about putting the billy on....
Oh yes, we'll be extricating ourselves as soon as we are ready - it annoys the fuck out of me that we're NOT ALLOWED to leave the country without 'good reason' decided by bureaurats.
Feeling happy for those who ARE travelling, albeit having to do little self quarantines here and there.
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I sort of remember a post you did a ways back on learning to free dive....
Ah yes this is the same time!
Beautiful and rugged. After a long winter up here in the great white North, swimming in warm waters is very appealing.
Oh I hear you, that's why we go to Bali in Winter - but not this year, sadly!
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I honestly can not believe how people can live around active volcanoes i could not sleep nor relax.
All I wanted to know was if the scooter could go faster than lava, and if it could flow up hill :P
Other than that it was SPECTACULAR!
Depending how good a rider you are i say you would be able to escape it 🤣
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