Bali Environment — Muck Diving
Muck diving sites Bali
Bali has some incredible muck diving sites for those avid macro photographers and Diving Indo has some amazing eagle eyed divemasters who have a talent of spotting the small stuff.
Tulamben USAT Liberty wreck is home to Laureia Siagiani (Wally’s squat lobster) discovered by Wally Siagian in the 1980’s. Other critters that can be found are skelton shrimps, ornate ghost pipefish, pygmy seahorse and leaf scorpionfish.
Seraya is true muck diving, in amongst the sandy crevices you can find harlequin shrimp, nudibranch and hanging out at the artificial reef, frogfish.
Amed has an artificial reef called the pyramids where you can find frogfish, leaf scorpionfish and nudibranch. In the shallows before the drop off, mimic octopus, wonderpus and seahorses.
The ultimate muck dive is the Jetty at Padang Bai, strewn with rubbish its home to mantis shrimp, rhinopious, flying gurnards, pipefish, cockatoo waspfish and much, much more!
Other muck diving sites include Puri Jati, Melasti and Secret Bay.
The do’s and dont’s of muck diving
The strangest of the strange awaits you in the sand silt and rubble. Just make sure that when you visit, you don’t muck it all up!
DO
- Take an experienced guide who knows the site and where the critters hang out
- Move slowly — a lot of critters are well camouflaged
- Look for movement — it’s the best way to spot well disguised animals
- Let your guide know you don’t want them to touch or disturb the marine life
- Stay off the bottom and watch your fins to avoid damage to marine life
- Practice good buoyancy and dive in a horizontal position so that you are not stirring up sediment
DONT
- Manipulate the animals or their habitat
- Encourage your guide to manipulate animals for a better view or picture
- Hog the critters; give diver a chance see the animals in a way that causes minimum stress to the animal
- Crowd any critters you find, make sure they have an escape route if they feel threatened
- Rest or lie on the bottom until you can be absolutely sure that the area is devoid of marine life
- Remove any souvenirs from the site such as shells — these can be important habitats
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If you really love muck diving, try our 3 day macro package