This was actually the first dive we did in Bali at Tulamben, our second being at the Coral Garden which was the subject of an earlier post. The dive starts with a swim across an area of sandy bottom where our guide pointed out several different kinds of brightly coloured Nudibranchs (Sea Slugs) dotted around. We soon reached the start of the wall that drops away to 40 metres and gives the dive site its name.
There were some impressively large Sea Fans here of various colours along with Barrel Sponges and patches of Broccoli Coral and other soft corals. A shell which I initially thought might be home to some sort of Sea Snail instead revealed the bright yellow hairy legs of a Hermit Crab poking out of it! The Clams here had multi-coloured mantles with the most amazing psychedelic patterns that wouldn’t have looked out of place on 1970’s wallpaper. 😉
Just after we turned to head back toward the starting point a Bumphead Parrotfish appeared munching away on the coral accompanied by a few smaller fish that were picking up the scraps. Back in the shallows we came across a Star Puffer lying on the sand and a large shoal of Jackfish swam past as we carried out our safety stop. It nicely rounded of what had been a great dive that forced us to re-think our preconceptions of the diving in Bali!