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Divers on a tight schedule could dive
Cemeluk in the morning, and the Tulamben wreck-just a few kilonieters away-in the afternoon,
But these are both excellent dive spots, so why rush? Cemeluk-sometimes called Amed-offers the
best variety of fish life we have seen in all of Bali. In this regard it matches even the
teeming reefs of Manado and eastern Indonesia.Cemeluk is just off Bali's main east coast
highway passes through Klungkung, then Candi Dasa, then swings inland past Karangasem skirting
1,175 meter Mt. Seraya, Bali's easternmost mountain. Just before it reaches the coast
again, about 10 kilometers before Tulamben, a paved side road from the little town of Culik
drops directly to the coast at Amed, kilometers away. From Amed, the paved road turns right
and passes a long stretch of traditional salt works. Two kilometers from Amed, you're in
Cerneluk, a fairly small bay with a beach of black, volcanic sand, crowded with dozens of
color jukung, local outrigger fishing canoes powered by sails or small outboards.
 Diving Cemeluk
The reef off Cemeluk curves around a rock outcropping just
east of town. We took a jukung, out into the bay, and dropped into a very slight
current pushing us southeast along the reef. At about 8 meters we came down on an
extensive spread of staghorn Acropora teeming with with damselfishes and
cardinalfishes. A short slope led to a coral wall, where we dropped to 43 meters, hanging
there about 8-10 meters above the sandy bottom. The wall was magic. Schools
of fish of several species cascaded down the wall or took the electric stairs back
up in orderly, two-way traffic. The numbers were staggering, the best we have seen in Bali
and only rarely matched or surpassed to the east. The schools included black triggerfish,
lots of banner fish, black snappers, pyramid butterflies and countless others. Further off
from the wall, the usual school of yellowtail fusiliers kept an eye on proceedings.
According to Wally Siagian, my stellar dive guide, by beginning our dive towards
the southeast part of Cemeluk Bay we left the best coral formations behind, although there
were still impressive outcrops along our 200-oddmeter journey, covered with sponges, sea
fans and crinoids.One sponge sheltered a small lionfish, and in another a wellcamouflaged
tassled scorpionfish would have passed unnoticed except for Wally's sharp eyes.
Towards the end of dive, the dense growth of sponges and gorgonians created a tunnel
between two of the outcrops. Inside, it was wall-to-wall with life. Large barrel sponges
poked out from clearings in this forest. Acouple of mean-looking Titan triggerfish eyed us
with undisguised hate, but refrained from charging. A clown triggerfish approached, then
fled. On a small sandy patch next to an out crop, a little juvenile blue ribbon eel (the
juveniles are black stood his ground bravely. The larger fish included
a longnose emperor, a patrolling giant trevally, and several bluefin trevallys. Two
very large tuna both over a meter and in the 30-40 kilo range, shot by quickly. As we
finished the dive, we saw a mismatched pair of Napoleon wrasse: a very large adult and a
very small juvenile. Wally often sees reef white-tip sharks here, although we saw none on
this day. Our visibility was around 10 meters, but can double under the right conditions.
The area is calm year around with only very occasional surge and high current conditions.
A Dive from the Beach
A dive directly from the black sand and pebble beach at
Cemeluk gave a very different perspective: smaller fish, but a great number and variety of
corals. We had barely donned our fins and dropped to the less than two-meter depth when we
saw a scattered group of orangeband surgeonfish (Acanthurus olivaceous),
some 15 strong. Their bright orange marks are distinctive, and we had seen very few in
previous dives.
Neon blue devils darted around, two Parrotfish paddled furiously, and a graceful pair of
Moorish idols swam into view. Two Yellow-maitned triggerfish were doing headstands while
furously blowing at the sand hoping to uncover some worm or spiny thing to eat. A dozen
striped convict tangs (Acanthurus triostegus), which we had not seen in Bali
before, swam across our path. All this within 15 meters of shore!
Just a bit further out (we were heading due north) all life
stopped, the sloping grey sand offering nothing until we saw crate-like enclosures holding
bit, of coral, an experiment conductted to determine coral growth in this environment. A
few dozen meters beyond the crates, several scattered coral outcrops jutted up from the
sand, little oases in the sandy desert. From the outcrops we headed east at about 20
meters, crossing a stretch of grey sand bottom until we came to the reef wall, which
follows the coast from this point. About 10 meters from the surface, the irregular wall
started sprouting fan gorgonians and pastel trees of Dendronephthya. Tube sponges were
numerous. The reef here is topped by a relatively flat area, just 2-5 meters deep and 30
or more meters from the rocky shore.The relatively small area between here and the sandy
beach holds the greatest variety Of corals we have seen in Bali, and they are swarming
with fish. Perhaps the area's stable conditions and clear waters are responsible for this
abundance. |
