Deep Blue

Overview

Deep Blue is a boat-dived drift site on the Amed coast of north-east Bali, named for the point where the reef drops away into open water. Bali Aqua calls it one of Amed's most thrilling dive sites, best suited to experienced divers looking for depth, current and the chance of large marine life, and describes it as a deep wall and drift dive. Dive Concepts describes a medium to strong drift dive in the deep blue, with colourful soft and hard corals in the bay.

Location

No source gives a position for the site, so this record has no map point. Bali Aqua says it lies further south from Jemeluk and takes about 15 minutes to reach by traditional jukung boat; Dive Concepts places it in the Amed area without saying more. Both dive centres list Deep Blue as a separate site from Bunutan, Lipah Bay, Kusambi and the Japanese wreck, which have their own records.

How the site is dived

Both sources say it is dived from a boat. Bali Aqua says the dive begins in a shallow bay with coral bommies and sea fans full of small reef fish, then drifts deeper as the reef drops away into the blue. It describes the current as moderate to strong and says the drift is usually horizontal, along the reef edge. Dive Concepts calls it a medium to strong drift dive.

Depth

Dive Concepts gives 5 to 30 metres. Bali Aqua gives 10 to 35+ metres and says divers often drift to 30 metres and beyond. This record uses 30 metres as the maximum, from Dive Concepts, and marks it as disputed. It sets no minimum depth, because the two minimums come from ranges that disagree at their other end.

Marine life

Bali Aqua names giant trevallies, Napoleon wrasse, schools of batfish and barracuda, and says eagle rays or reef sharks are sometimes seen in the blue, with seasonal pelagics and sometimes bumphead parrotfish in large numbers. Dive Concepts names white-tip and black-tip reef sharks, snapper, batfish, Napoleon wrasse and giant trevally. Bali Aqua's short information box for the site lists small and macro life (nudibranchs, pipefish, frogfish, coral restoration frames and juvenile reef fish), which does not match its own longer description; this record reports both and does not choose between them. These are operator statements, not survey results, and none of them says how often any animal is seen.

Conditions and level

Bali Aqua recommends the site for advanced divers, and for Advanced Open Water divers and above because of its depth and current; Dive Concepts takes divers who already have experience with currents. This record rates it advanced on that basis. Bali Aqua gives visibility of 15 to 25 metres and a water temperature of 26 to 29 degrees; this record does not use those figures as values. None of the sources gives a season for the site.