Dive trips you wanna take
Wander With Weiss
Come with me to Bali, Indonesia
Krista Weiss
6/14/20265 min read
I am a newbie to this whole “blog business,” but I hope something you find here will either be useful or entertaining. If not… um… I can’t really do much about that. 😊 I’m hoping that as time goes on, I get better at this!
This was our first trip to Bali, and honestly, I was pretty nervous about getting everything together for our group. I watched reviews, YouTube videos, and read travel tips trying to think of everything I should prepare for. In the end, I still wasn’t quite as prepared as I hoped.
So let’s start from the beginning.
Once we decided on Bali, the first challenge was finding flights. After comparing all the options from the Boston area, Turkish Airlines ended up being the best fit with the best connection times. The downside? An 11-hour layover in Turkey. ☹
Because of the unrest in that part of the world at the time, our group didn’t feel comfortable leaving the airport to explore the city. Plus, the timing really didn’t work anyway.
That sent me down a complete rabbit hole trying to figure out lounge access for the airport.
After researching credit cards with ridiculously high annual fees, I somehow found an amazing option: the US Bank Altitude Connect card. It includes four Priority Pass lounge visits per year and even gives you $100 toward Global Entry — with NO annual fee. I KNOW, RIGHT!?
And trust me, if you’ve ever spent time in the Istanbul Airport, you know everything there is SUPER expensive.
Thankfully, the flights themselves were great, and we arrived in Denpasar, Bali without any issues.
I found a wonderful Holiday Inn Express (Baruna) for all of us to stay overnight, and it turned out to be a great choice. It even included airport transfers, which was a huge help after such a long trip. Breakfast the next morning was interesting and gave us our first taste of Balinese cuisine!
At 9:30 the next morning, we were picked up by a little box truck for all the luggage and two small vans for our group of 12. Then began the drive through Denpasar and all the way north to our resort.
The drive itself was an adventure; There were constant stops and starts, confusing four-way intersections, and motorbikes EVERYWHERE. Seriously… OMG, how can they fit all that on one motorbike?!
As we got farther north, the scenery became absolutely beautiful. We started seeing mountains, lush greenery, and rice paddies everywhere. After what felt like forever, we FINALLY arrived at the resort.
And thankfully… it was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL.
We were greeted with a delicious cold juice concoction while the staff gave us an overview of the resort, the diving, and what to expect for the week.
After that, we headed off to our little bungalow to change into cooler clothes and bring our dive gear over to the dive area. One of the best parts? If you packed all your dive gear into one bag and left it outside your bungalow, the staff would bring everything to the dive area for you!
The dive area was broken up into sections, with each diver having their own space to hang gear. They also had these multi-layer circular mesh holders for all the smaller items — absolutely brilliant! It made everything easy to organize and kept all your smaller gear easily accessible.
We met our guides (with a 1:4 ratio) and headed out for our checkout dive. The diving there was SO easy because our gear was already waiting for us in the water. No awkwardly hefting heavy tanks and gear down the beach! There were also several young helpers assisting everyone, making the whole process smooth and stress-free.
And honestly? The diving was fantastic… even right off the house reef.
After the checkout dive, we were definitely ready for dinner. Let me tell you — the food at Alam Batu Beach Resort was FANTASTIC.
Our whole group ate together each night and spent time relaxing before heading off to bed. And if nothing else impressed me there, I have to say: the beds were WICKED comfortable!
The staff at the resort were truly one of a kind — from the servers, to the chefs, to the staff always nearby ready to help with anything. And let’s not forget the spa ladies… OMG.
Danny found us some "exotic dancers" for Mike's Birthday celebration! Two beautiful ladies performed the Bird Dance - it was unforgettable! He also got his chocolate cake (homemade by one of the fabulous staff)!
When they say “all-inclusive,” they really mean it. Excursions, spa treatments, food, and diving were all included. The only extra charges were juices, alcohol and gratuities.
I ended up doing 27 dives while I was there… honestly, it might have been more if the spa treatments and excursions hadn’t also been included! I even did two BLACK WATER dives.... no tether!!
#1 House Reef 66 ft 56 min Water Temp 85F
#2 Ketut 104 ft 50 min Water Temp 86F
#3 Karang Kecil 104 ft 50 min Water Temp 85F
#4 Dreamland 69 ft 60 min Water Temp 86F
#5 Jamat 71 ft 52 min Water Temp 87F
#6 Utan Muda 97 ft 51 min Water Temp 85F
#7 House Reef 64 ft 64 min Water Temp 85F
#8 Kubu Kiri 93 ft 50 min Water Temp 84F
#9 Tembok Cantic 81 ft 56 min Water Temp 87F
#10 House Reef 82 ft 60 min Water Temp 85F
#11 USAT Liberty 86 ft 50 min Water Temp 84F
#12 Black Forest 102 ft 45 min Water Temp 85F
#13 Adventure 69 ft 57 min Water Temp 87F
#14 House Reef 73 ft 56 min Water Temp 87F
#15 Melasti 104 ft 49 min Water Temp 84F
#16 House Reef 71 ft 51 min Water Temp 87F
#17 Drop Off 89 ft 54 min Water Temp 86F
#18 Dreamland 81 ft 55 min Water Temp 85F
#19 Karang Kecil 78 ft 58 min Water Temp 86F
#20 House Reef 70 ft 53 min Water Temp 87F
#21 The Wall 96 ft 54 min Water Temp 85F
#22 Ketut 108 ft 46 min Water Temp 84F
#23 Jukung 103 ft 44 min Water Temp 87F
#24 Ketut 104 ft 43 min Water Temp 87F
#25 Utan Muda 106 ft 57 min Water Temp 86F
#26 Tembok Cantic 75 ft 53 min Water Temp 87F
#27 Adventure 75 ft 47 min Water Temp 87F
Our return trip was uneventful. It's funny how much more you remember the arrival! The return is just a blur of trying to sleep anywhere you can.
Bali completely exceeded every expectation I had. The diving, the people, the scenery, the food, the spa days, the laughs with friends — all of it made this trip unforgettable.
For someone who was nervous about organizing a big international dive trip, I’d call this one a Wicked Awesome success.
And honestly? I already can’t wait for the next adventure.
So… where will we Wander next?! 😊
