A week diving at Teluk Karang Dive Resort in North Bali – by Simon Mustoe, Wildiaries, author of Wildlife in the Balance: Why Animals Are Humanity’s Best Hope http://simonmustoe.blog
If you’re looking for somewhere peaceful, well-run, homely with exciting diving, this is the place for you. Thank you, all the staff of Teluk Karang for a wonderful week of relaxation and diving.
Highlights
- Very peaceful location away from the busy and noisy diving around Tulamben.
- The best house reef in north Bali, literally steps from the resort.
- Access to a dozen or more world-class and rich dive sites representing some of the best of Coral Triangle diving.
- Exquisite home-cooked food in a very comfortable and quiet location, in beautiful grounds overlooking the sea.
- A very small number of guests, meant we enjoyed individual service.
Why choose Teluk Karang?
We chose Teluk Karang because of its famous house reef and because Iluh and Ketut were so polite and attentive from our initial enquiry. From the moment we arrived we made to feel at home. It’s a lovely peaceful location for starters. The gardens are beautiful and the terrace, where the absolutely outstanding home-cooked food is served, overlooks the ocean.
Our nicely decorated room was spacious and cool and only seconds from dining and diving.
Throughout our stay we appreciated the little bits of personal service and the hospitality, smiles and daily welcomes from the happy staff.
We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know everyone at Teluk Karang. Thank you.
A pink and white Leaf Scorpion Fish
The House Reef
Angel Canyon is a popular local dive site right in front of the resort which is accessed from shore by simply walking down the steps from the dive centre. It’s a really diverse site with a lot of interesting animals. There are three very different dives you can do from this spot, central, right and left of the resort.
Angel Canyon is a popular local dive site right in front of the resort which is accessed from shore by simply walking down the steps from the dive centre. It’s a really diverse site with a lot of interesting animals. There are three very different dives you can do from this spot, central, right and left of the resort. A week diving at Teluk Karang was enough to get to know this site well.
The house reef at Teluk Karang
Ropes guide you out (which also provide a convenient way to find your way back) and there is a mixture of black sand and coral to explore. Along the reef drop-off there are some patches of upwelling with sea fans and barrel sponges at about 15m. To the west are large outcrops that attract big schools of grouper, snapper and sweetlips. Green and Hawksbill Turtle were also present here every morning when we snorkelled.
Black (juvenile) Ribbon Eel
The central part is a mixture of black sand and coral. Here is where we saw Leaf Scorpion Fish, Black (juvenile) Ribbon Eels, a great variety of nudibranchs, cuttlefish and Emperor Shrimp.
A psychedelic batwing slug on the house reef at Teluk Karang
Cuttlefish among coral restoration on the house reef at Teluk Karang
Night diving at the house reef
Night diving the house reef was one of the best we’ve ever done. A week diving at Teluk Karang was enough time to do this twice. The mixture of black sand and reef is very rewarding. We saw Porcelain Crabs, Stargazers, Spanish Dancers, Blue-spotted Rays, Psychedelic Batwing Slug, Orangutan Crab and Spiny Devilfish, among many others.
The shallows are also, as we discovered, a rich snorkelling spot at night. We mostly snorkelled among the boulders near the shoreline after dinner. Although these can look quite lifeless in the day, at night they come alive. We found the ‘Marilyn Monroe’ and other nudibranchs, several species of Moray Eel, the strange Banded Sole, Striped Catfish, Anemone Hermit Crabs, cuttlefish.
Boat trips
During the trip we visited a number of nearby sites, none more than a 15-minute boat-ride away, and saw a wonderful diversity of reef life. Probably our favourite was ‘Wonderland’, which has a patch of low-growing coral among a desert of black sand, absolutely jam-packed full of life (we went back twice).
Variable Neon Sea Slugs among a landscape at ‘Wonderland’
Other highlights during the week included the pink version of Leaf Scorpion Fish, a ‘denise’ Pygmy Sea Horse, Pegasus Seamoths (a rare sighting here), Hairy Squat Lobsters and a huge variety of other sea creatures, crabs and shrimp, too numerous to mention!
Hairy Squat Lobster in a barrel sponge
The ‘denise’ Pygmy Sea Horse
A selection of some of the nudibranchs we saw during our stay
A wonderful place to stay, with incredible diving!
Teluk Karang is a quiet dive location which you’ll love if you’re looking to escape busy Tulamban. Their equipment is well maintained and the guides are excellent. The boat rides are short to spectacular patches of reef but we kept coming back to the house reef, which is probably the best in the area.
We were lucky to have a fabulous week of good weather. North Bali is quite sheltered but northerly swell and wind can stir up sediment. It also makes launching for dives a little tricky … bring reef shoes. There are some rocks to navigate on the shore but the guides will help you. Visibility settles quickly though, as the sediment is quite coarse.
Overall, we loved our stay and hope to come back some day.
