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Tulamben |
Padang Bai |
Sanur |
Liberty Wreck
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The USAT Liberty is Bali's most famous dive site. This cargo ship was equipped with guns in WWII and was torpedoed by the Japanese off Lombok on the 11th of January, 1942. The damage was immense, she was taking too much water and her crew ran the vessel up onto the beach of Tulamben 70km away from the nearest safe harbor. In 1963 the Liberty was pushed to her present location by the fatal eruption of the volcano Gunung Agung. During this process the hull broke into two pieces. Now she is laying only 30 meters from the Tulamben beach on a sandy slope 90° on her side parallel to the shore.
The wreck is 120 meters long, it's pretty broken up so no penetration is possible but you can still see the guns, toilets, boilers, anchor chain, etc. It is a lovely dive site and possibly the world's easiest wreck dive.
Mild to moderate current, running from northwest to southeast and vice versa.
The wreck is now completely covered in healthy coral growth, Soft corals dominate here, with Crinoids, Featherstars and Hydroids. Fish life here is simply awesome with marine biologists estimating that about 400 different species of Reef Fish live on the Liberty alone. Most of the medium sized fish have become tame and will literally swarm divers in the shallows. Night diving the wreck especially on a full moon is an amazing experience where Spanish Dancers and Flashlight Fish can be seen amongst the swirling phosphorescence.
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