Secret Bay
Gilimanuk is a large town and lies on the tip of a peninsula that borders the Bali Barat National Park in
West Bali.
It is an important port town for the ferry that connects Bali and Java.
Gilimanuk Bay (Teluk Gilimanuk) is about two kilometres across and very shallow with an average depth of 4 to 5 metres.
There are two small islands inside of the bay:
Pulau Kalong (the name means flying Fox - these are large fruit bats) and Pulau Burung (Bird Island).
These islands are actually barely more than sandbanks. The bay and the surrounding mangrove areas, known as Secret Bay, are a nursing ground for fish, the water is fed by upwellings brought by the
daily tidal changes from the Bali Strait that are rich with plankton but cold. Diving here is again best to do as a day trip from
Pemuteran.
General dive conditions:
The dives at Secret Bay are very shallow (no more than about 10m) and visibility is not always that good (5 to 15m).
The best time to dive is around high tide or on the incoming tide when visibility can sometimes be up to 20m.
The water temperature is almost
always between 23°C - 25°C so bring on the warmer suits (5mm full minimum!).
This dive site is located in front of the docking area of Gilimanuk Harbour about a 40 minute drive from Pemuteran. Be prepared to dive on
fine black and gray volcanic sand and rubble and not on a Coral reef!
Great place for macro-photography and already compared to Lembeh strait in North Sulawesi.
Here you find different Frogfishes, special
Nudibranchs, ghost Pipefishes, the rare picturesque Dragonet and Gobies, several species of sand Eels, Stonefishes and Devilfishes, mimic Octopuses
and even the Ambon Scorpionfish, Crabs, Shrimps and many other critters that like to live on or under the sand.