USAT Liberty Wreck — Attraction in Bali

Dislaimer: My dives were done quite long ago, these are some pictures taken using compact camera/manual DSLR, plugged from my journal.

I had done many dives in Liberty and around and almost every dive sites in Bali from Gilimanuk to Nusa Penida, including the less dived ones like Secret Bay and Puri Jati. Liberty was always a must-go for us.

What is it good for? Almost everything I guess. It is good for snorkeling, beginner, and advance. You can do day and night dive. If you are taking pictures, you will have a big dilemma every morning about whether you would need macro or DSLR, but that is only the problem for manual long-time-ago camera. For smaller compact, the lens can be outside the casing or grmbl, for modern people, you might be using go pro or whatever that free you from this!

So, back in my time, we needed to preset our lens since we could only fit the underwater housing suitable to those lens, and felt the pain of seeing others that couldn't be captured in pictures.

In Liberty we saw: Macro (term used for small stuff): frogfish, leaf fish, pigmy seahorse (pink and yellow), nudibranch, many many others Big stuff: giant barracuda, napoleon wrasse, turtles. sharks, eagle rays, manta rays, mola-mola (unusual there), grouper Bigger: school of jacks, school of humphead parrotfish (dawn dives) Special: ship wreck, you can 'penetrate' without having cave diving specialty. Be careful, don't hurt the shipwreck, don't be irresponsible Night dive: beautiful flash fish dancing

I am not sure about now, but I love...

My First Dive Experience in Bali

Trying scuba diving for the first time was both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. As a complete beginner, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the experience turned out to be absolutely magical.

Once I got suited up and adjusted to the gear, we slowly descended into the clear, warm waters. The first thing that struck me was how peaceful it felt underwater—just the sound of my own breathing and the gentle sway of the currents.

Seeing vibrant clownfish swimming among the anemones up close was surreal. I couldn’t believe I was actually there, surrounded by schools of colorful fish, gently floating through the water. The instructor guided me carefully, making sure I felt safe and comfortable throughout the dive.

One unforgettable moment was when I spotted a pair of clownfish popping in and out of the anemones—they looked just like the ones from the movies! It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat.

Looking around, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for the chance to experience such a beautiful underwater world. It was a bit challenging at first to get used to breathing through the regulator, but once I relaxed, everything just clicked.

Diving for the first time felt like discovering a whole new planet—one filled with colors, life, and tranquility. I can’t wait to go back and...

My wife and I went freediving / snorkeling here. It cost about 25k per person to drive your scooter in (checkpoint will stop you).

You’ll be hawked down by a local who wants to be your snorkeling guide but it isn’t needed. We did rent weight belts from him though, 75k rupiah for the day. He also had long free dive fins to rent.

When you walk down to the shore you will see TONS of people, mostly scuba divers. Just ask someone and they will point you to where the shipwreck starts. About 20 meters offshore.

The boat wreck runs parallel to the shore but it goes deep and then comes back shallow again further down. So when you see the first part of the wreck, it’s about 3 meters down and if you swim north, you’ll see some more shallow areas.

If you’re not a free diver and just snorkeling, this location would get boring quickly because the water is so deep surrounding the ship (not much to look at). But it’s still really cool.

If you can dive 3-10 meters, this spot is really cool because you can go down and look inside the rooms and go hang with the...