Tulamben

The USAT Liberty was a United States Army cargo ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Lombok Strait in January 1942, towed to Tulamben and beached; she sat on the shore for twenty-odd years until the 1963 eruption of Agung shifted her off the beach and into the water, where she now lies on a slope between about five and thirty metres, a hundred and twenty metres of hull encrusted in coral and gorgonians a short swim from the shore. That combination - a large accessible wreck entered by walking off a beach - made Tulamben one of the most dived sites in Indonesia, with the village given over almost entirely to it. Divers walk in over rounded black stones, which is harder than it sounds with a tank. Early morning is when the site is quietest.

History

The name comes from batulambih, roughly "many stones", a reference to the destructive eruptions of Mount Agung that have reached this part of Bali, and it changed over time to Batulamben and then Tulamben. The wreck of the Liberty, a US Army transport ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942, lies just offshore, and in high season up to 100 divers a day go down to it (Wikipedia, Tulamben).

What you'll find

• The Liberty wreck - a hundred and twenty metres of hull from five to thirty metres deep.
• A shore entry - the wreck reached by walking off the beach, no boat needed.
• Coral and gorgonian growth - eighty years of encrustation on the hull.
• A village built on one site - Tulamben given over almost entirely to diving.

When to go

April to October; dawn dives to avoid the crowds. Two days.

What to expect

The site is very busy from mid-morning - dozens of divers on one wreck. The stone beach entry is awkward with equipment. Currents are usually mild but the drop-off is deep.

Nearby

Amed is south along the coast; Agung and Besakih are inland.

Key facts