Ghost Bay

Overview

Ghost Bay is a shore dive at Amed village on the north-east coast of Bali. Amed Jepun Divers places it near Amed harbour and calls it Amed's premier muck dive: a sandy, seemingly featureless slope where small, unusual animals live. Amed Dive Center calls it its house reef, in front of its dive centre and the Hotel Uyah Amed & Spa Resort, and names it Amed Ghost Bay. SSI's dive site guide on scubago gives the position -8.3339, 115.6425, which is the point used here; it lies within about 10 metres of the OpenStreetMap coastline, about 190 metres from OpenStreetMap's point for the hamlet of Amed and about 2 kilometres west of Jemeluk Bay. The dive centre Bali Aqua titles its entry for the site Café Garam (Ghost Bay), places it just in front of Café Garam (Uyah hotel), north of Jemeluk Bay, and says the dive is locally known as Ghost Bay; this record therefore lists Cafe Garam and Café Garam as other names for it. bali.live lists Cafe Garam, a sandy reef slope opposite the Garam Cafe, as a site apart from Ghost Bay, so the sources do not agree that the two names always mean the same dive.

How the site is dived

Amed Dive Center says its divers simply walk to the beach, and Amed Jepun Divers describes easy shore access and minimal current. Amed Jepun Divers says the dive goes slowly across the slope among artificial reef structures, ropes and discarded debris. Amed Dive Center says it has been building an artificial reef here since 2003. Blue Season Bali describes pieces of artificial reef installed by a local dive company, areas of gentle and of steep slope, a flat bottom in places and patches of coral a short distance from the main area. Amed Jepun Divers calls the site especially rewarding at dusk or at night, and SSI calls it a site for photographers by day and by night.

Depth

Amed Jepun Divers gives a maximum depth of 25 metres and an average of 12 metres; this record uses 25 metres as a single-source maximum. Amed Jepun Divers also says experienced divers can visit the Marina Srikandi fast boat wreck at around 25 metres, surrounded by schools of five-lined snapper. SSI lists a Srikandi Speedboat wreck as a separate dive site, reached from the beach in front of the Srikandi restaurant and lying at around 25 to 35 metres. This record does not decide whether the two are the same wreck and uses neither figure as the site's depth.

Marine life

Amed Jepun Divers names ghost pipefish, scorpionfish, stonefish, clown frogfish, boxer shrimp hiding in bottle necks, razorfish, lionfish under the artificial shelters, many nudibranchs, coconut octopus and starry night octopus. Amed Dive Center names clown frogfish, several kinds of ghost pipefish, mimic octopus, large stonefish, crabs, juvenile lionfish, seahorses and razorfish. Blue Season Bali names large stonefish, moray eels, mimic octopus, wonderpus and juveniles on the artificial reef. SSI names frogfish, leaf scorpionfish and harlequin shrimp.

Conditions and level

Amed Jepun Divers rates the site for all levels and calls it ideal for beginners, photographers and anyone who wants a relaxed dive. These are operator statements, not measurements. None of the four sources gives a current strength, water temperature, visibility range or season that this record uses.