Good to know
Good to Know
- Amed is not a single iconic 'blue hole' destination — its reputation is built on an unusually dense cluster of small, shore-based Molchanovs/AIDA/SSI schools rather than one standout formation, so expect a friendly, community-feel scene rather than a huge dive-resort operation.
- Most schools train directly from the beach with moorings in the 40–55 m range close to shore, which is genuinely convenient for depth progression without needing a boat.
- The famous USAT Liberty shipwreck that many Amed schools reference and run trips to is actually in Tulamben, roughly 20–30 minutes' drive north — worth knowing if you expect it to be walkable from your Amed accommodation.
- Multi-day international events like 'Deep Week' happen only periodically (not year-round), are typically priced in euros by the organizer, and require separately arranged accommodation and travel.
- Dry season (roughly April–October) generally brings calmer seas and clearer visibility, which matters more for freediving training than for scuba.
- Always dive with a buddy — this is treated as an absolute rule by every Amed freediving school, not a suggestion, given the real risk of shallow-water blackout.
- If you're already AIDA3+ certified, you can often join informal, near-daily training sessions coordinated via a WhatsApp group for a small buoy fee rather than booking a full course — ask at the schools in Jemeluk Bay.
- Not every mooring buoy in the bay is free to use; some belong to fishermen or are paid for by dive schools via a fee to the local community organization, so ask locally before hooking onto one.
- Amed is fundamentally a scuba-diving and snorkeling village first — its calm, sheltered bay and shore-accessible reefs are what drew divers here originally, and freediving has grown as a genuine but secondary specialty on top of that.
Notable Sites
Jemeluk Bay
- Type
- Bay / depth-training area
- Notes
- The main freediving hub of Amed itself, used as the home training bay for several schools.
Japanese Shipwreck (Banyuning)
- Type
- Shipwreck
- Notes
- A small WWII-era wreck close to shore in the village of Banyuning, part of the Amed coastal strip.
Lipah Bay
- Type
- Coral reef bay
- Notes
- A short distance along the Amed coast road.
Bunutan
- Type
- Coral garden / wall
- Notes
- Just north of central Amed along the same coastal strip.
USAT Liberty Shipwreck (Tulamben)
- Type
- Shipwreck
- Notes
- The most famous wreck referenced by virtually every Amed freediving school, but it is genuinely located in Tulamben, roughly 20–30 minutes' drive north of central Amed — not within the immediate Amed village area, despite being treated as the area's signature site by local operators.
Certification Schools
Apnea Bali
- Agencies
- AIDA and Molchanovs
- Notes
- AIDA & Molchanovs courses from beginner to instructor, direct shore access near the famous USAT Liberty shipwreck.
Bali Freedivers (Amed)
- Agencies
- Molchanovs, AIDA and SSI
- Notes
- Offers beginner through Level 3 courses; their Level 3 base has moorings set at 40 m and 45 m for depth training, a two-minute walk from the school's air-conditioned theory studio.
Freediving Amed
- Agencies
- Molchanovs
- Notes
- Runs progressive Wave 1–4 courses plus an intensive 'Master' program combining daily ocean and pool training with yoga and pranayama, based beachfront in Amed.
Fathom Freedive
- Agencies
- Molchanovs
- Notes
- Fathom Freedive, situated in Jemeluk Bay, Amed, East Bali, is one of the most popular freediving schools in the area, offering certified Molchanov courses plus spearfishing courses and underwater photoshoots.
Apneista (Training Group)
- Agencies
- Molchanovs / AIDA framework
- Notes
- A community/coaching program (not a full standalone school) for divers already certified to at least Level 2, offering an early-morning training group plus a paid safety-assessment pathway to progress toward Molchanovs Level 3/AIDA 4.
Deep Sensations (Retreat Operator)
- Agencies
- N/A (retreat format, uses local sites)
- Notes
- Runs periodic 7-day freediving retreats in Amed for all levels, capped at small group sizes.
Deep Week (Adam Freediver / Molchanovs)
- Agencies
- Molchanovs
- Notes
- A periodic (not year-round) freediving camp/festival held in Amed; historically notable as the first time the Molchanovs Education and Training System was run outside Russia, with world champion Alexey Molchanov personally training attendees.
Typical Course Pricing Examples
Apneista Single Training Session (Shared Gear)
- Apneista Single Training Session (Shared Gear)
- IDR 300,000
Apneista Package of 5 Sessions (Shared Gear)
- Apneista Package Of 5 Sessions (Shared Gear)
- IDR 1,300,000
Apneista Package of 10 Sessions (Shared Gear)
- Apneista Package Of 10 Sessions (Shared Gear)
- IDR 2,100,000
Apneista Single Session (Own Full Gear, Weights Only)
- Apneista Single Session (Own Full Gear, Weights Only)
- IDR 150,000
Amed is a genuine, well-established secondary freediving hub — not a globally top-tier blue-hole destination like Dahab, but a small coastal village that has attracted a real cluster of Molchanovs/AIDA/SSI-affiliated schools thanks to calm, warm, clear shore-accessible water.
Safety Culture And Community
- Buddy System Norms
- The buddy system is treated as the non-negotiable core safety rule across Amed's freediving schools and informal training groups, not an optional add-on. Schools teach it from the very first beginner course, and it's reinforced at every level up through advanced/instructor training.
- Buddy System Detail
- Beginner courses (AIDA/SSI/Molchanovs style curricula run by local schools) explicitly build in buddy-system practice and rescue drills alongside theory on blackout risk. One Amed school's beginner curriculum lists "Buddy system practice" and "Rescue drills" as core modules alongside equalization and breathing.
- Safety Infrastructure
- Formal safety-diver coverage in Amed is organized mainly at the school/session level rather than as permanent lifeguard-style infrastructure at open sites. Schools run supervised sessions using training buoys anchored close to shore, and one operator notes trainees get access to "excellent training buoys just a short swim from the shore" with sessions described as consistently supervised.
- Informal Training Scene
- Beyond formal courses, Amed has a genuine grassroots training culture: certified freedivers (roughly AIDA3 and above) can join near-daily, half self-organized training sessions run out of a local school, where a training buoy is provided and divers coordinate buddy pairings via a WhatsApp group for a small fee.
- Community Size And Character
- The freediving community in Amed is small but genuinely active and dedicated, centered on a handful of specialist schools (commonly cited names include Apnea Bali, Apneista, Freediving Amed, and Fathom Freedive) clustered around Jemeluk Bay. Amed is broadly described as a village with a bustling community of divers and ocean enthusiasts, most of whom are there specifically to be in the water.
- Primary Vs Secondary Identity
- Freediving is a real, active, and growing niche in Amed, but it is NOT the town's primary global identity in the way Dahab or Kalymnos are globally synonymous with freediving. Amed's underlying identity is as a quiet former fishing village and long-established scuba-diving/snorkeling destination on Bali's east coast; freediving schools have grown up as a secondary specialty within that existing dive-town ecosystem, drawing on the same calm, sheltered bay conditions and shore-accessible wrecks (e.g. the nearby USAT Liberty at Tulamben) that made the area a scuba hub first. Some diving-industry sources market Amed and neighboring Tulamben as freediving "meccas," but this reflects a niche within Bali's dive tourism rather than Amed having the standalone, championship-level global freediving reputation of true freediving-icon destinations.
- Mooring And Local Arrangements
- Not all training buoys/moorings in Amed are free to use — many belong to local fishermen or are paid for by dive schools through a fee to the local banjar (village community organization), so freedivers are advised to check before hooking onto a mooring rather than assuming open access.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.