- Open Water course
- IDR 4,500,000
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- Amed diving is genuinely shore- and short-jukung-boat based — you do not need a liveaboard to dive this area, unlike some other parts of Indonesia.
- Entry conditions vary by beach: Melasti to Jemeluk are sandy and easy, while Bunutan to Banyuning (including the Japanese Wreck) have round pebbles underfoot that can be slippery — booties are worth having or renting.
- Gili Selang and Deep Blue are current-exposed sites best reserved for divers with Advanced certification or solid drift-diving experience; Jemeluk, Lipah and Coral Garden are much better picks for beginners.
- Speedboat connections from Amed direct to the Gili Islands have reportedly stopped due to safety concerns, so onward travel to the Gilis, Nusa Penida/Lembongan or Lombok is generally routed via Padang Bai harbour instead.
- Many Amed-based dive shops combine an Amed morning dive with an afternoon trip to Tulamben (about 20-25 minutes away by road) to dive the USS Liberty wreck, since it's the region's single most famous dive site.
- Amed is genuinely one of the cheapest places in Indonesia to get PADI certified — prices here are noticeably lower than in southern Bali hubs like Sanur or Nusa Dua.
- If freediving interests you as well as scuba, Amed is unusually good for combining both — it has dedicated freediving-only schools (not just scuba shops offering a token freediving add-on), and several of the same calm, shore-accessible bays and the USAT Liberty wreck area are used by both communities.
- Course prices vary a fair bit by operator and season (July–October is high season and can carry a supplement) — always confirm what's included (gear, transport, referral flexibility) before comparing quotes.
- Divemaster training exists in Amed but is a smaller, less standardized offering than Open Water/Advanced — get a direct, current quote from the specific shop rather than assuming a fixed rate.
Dive Sites And Conditions
- Access Summary
- Amed is a genuine shore/day-boat diving destination, not a liveaboard-dependent one. Several sites (Melasti, Coral Garden, Jemeluk Bay/Wall, Lipah, Japanese Wreck) are walk-in shore entries directly off black-sand or pebble beaches. Slightly further sites (Pyramids, Bunutan, Deep Blue, Gili Selang) are reached by short rides in a traditional wooden outrigger boat called a jukung, typically 5-15 minutes from Jemeluk Bay. No liveaboard is needed to dive the Amed area itself.
- Overall Best Season
- The dry season, roughly April to November, generally brings calmer seas and better visibility; the wetter months (December-March) can bring more rain, runoff and choppier surface conditions, though diving continues year-round.
- Visibility And Conditions Notes
- Visibility across the Amed sites is commonly reported in the 10-30 meter range depending on site and recent weather, with thermoclines noted at some deeper sites. Water is warm year-round (generally cited above 26°C).
Sites
Jemeluk Bay / Jemeluk Wall 1 & 2 (Amed Wall)
- Type
- Wall / shore reef, house-reef style
- Access
- Shore entry, directly off the beach in central Amed
- Best Season
- Year-round; locals recommend diving in the morning for the best visibility
- Depth Range M
- 3-45
- Marine Life Highlights
- Considered Amed's best-known reef, with a steep drop-off, gorgonian fans and barrel sponges, plus pygmy seahorses, turtles, reef sharks and moray eels reported on the wall.
Pyramids (Also Called Ghost Bay Artificial Reef)
- Type
- Artificial reef / coral slope, moderate drift
- Access
- Short jukung boat ride (roughly 5-15 minutes) from Jemeluk
- Best Season
- Year-round; built as a rehabilitation reef after a strong El Niño bleaching event
- Depth Range M
- 18-24 (surrounding natural reef down to ~5-18m nearby)
- Marine Life Highlights
- Rows of hollow concrete pyramid structures act as cleaning stations for snappers, sweetlips and surgeonfish, and are a well-known spot for pygmy seahorses and frogfish.
Bunutan Point
- Type
- Drift dive along a promontory
- Access
- Boat dive (jukung)
- Best Season
- Currents strongest around certain tides; best planned with a local guide/dive shop for tidal timing
- Depth Range M
- 20-40
- Marine Life Highlights
- Large schools of garden eels, barracuda, reef sharks and rays; currents here can be strong depending on tide, which also brings in more pelagic action.
Japanese Wreck (Banyuning/Lipah Bay)
- Type
- Small shallow wreck + sloping reef
- Access
- Shore entry (pebble beach) or very short boat hop; popular with snorkelers too
- Best Season
- Year-round, calm bay conditions
- Depth Range M
- Roughly 3-15 near the wreck, sloping reef continuing to ~35
- Marine Life Highlights
- A small WWII-era steel freighter now encrusted with soft corals, gorgonians and black coral; good for leaf scorpionfish, nudibranchs and schools of cardinalfish. Not much structural wreck remains — it's valued more for the reef life that has grown on it than for wreck penetration.
Gili Selang
- Type
- Exposed coral garden / drift, nicknamed "The Express"
- Access
- Boat only (jukung), reached from the Kusambi area a short drive/boat trip from central Amed; genuinely more remote and current-exposed than the Jemeluk-area sites
- Best Season
- Calmest in the dry season (roughly April-November); sits at the edge of the Lombok Strait so conditions are current-dependent year-round
- Depth Range M
- Variable, exposed reef with strong currents
- Marine Life Highlights
- One of Bali's least-dived sites; known for pelagics and a pristine coral garden with barrel sponges, gorgonian fans and plate corals. Some operators report occasional reef sharks and blue-spot stingrays, with hammerhead sightings mentioned by at least one local operator, though this is not consistently corroborated. Currents can run strong and unpredictable (up/down/swirling), so it's recommended for experienced/advanced-certified divers only.
Melasti Beach
- Type
- Muck dive
- Access
- Shore entry, northern edge of the Amed strip
- Best Season
- Year-round macro diving
- Depth Range M
- Shallow black-sand slope
- Marine Life Highlights
- A favorite with underwater photographers for muck-diving subjects on the black volcanic sand.
Ghost Bay (Cafe Garam) / Srikandi Wreck
- Type
- Muck dive with a small wreck
- Access
- Shore entry with boat option; the small wreck section is deeper
- Best Season
- Year-round macro
- Depth Range M
- 3-22 for the muck slope; the Srikandi wreck sits around 25-35
- Marine Life Highlights
- Named for its abundance of ghost pipefish; also a spot for mimic octopus and large stonefish. The Srikandi is a small fast-boat wreck that sank and now serves as an artificial reef and mini wreck dive.
Deep Blue
- Type
- Drift dive
- Access
- Boat (jukung)
- Best Season
- Year-round, but current-dependent
- Depth Range M
- 6-35
- Marine Life Highlights
- A moderate-to-strong drift site recommended for experienced divers, with reef sharks, schooling reef fish, turtles and moray eels.
Coral Garden / Lipah Bay
- Type
- Calm shore reef
- Access
- Shore entry
- Best Season
- Year-round; conditions at Jemeluk and Lipah Bay are generally calm
- Depth Range M
- Shallow, beginner-friendly
- Marine Life Highlights
- Gentle coral slopes suited to beginners, Open Water training dives and relaxed fun dives.
WWII Wreck / Reef / Muck
- Name
- Tulamben sites (USS Liberty Wreck, Drop-off, Boga Wreck) — nearby, not technically 'Amed'
- Access
- By road, roughly 20-25 minutes' drive north of central Amed; most Amed-based dive shops run day trips here rather than diving it as a shore site directly from Amed
- Best Season
- Year-round; best visibility typically outside the rainy season
- Depth Range M
- 3-40 (Liberty), varies for Boga and Drop-off
- Marine Life Highlights
- The USS Liberty is Bali's most famous wreck dive, now a huge artificial reef with turtles, reef sharks, ghost pipefish, garden eels and even reports of Napoleon/humphead parrotfish. Included here because it's the dive most Amed operators actually run their clients to, not because it's within Amed itself.
Operator Density
- Summary
- Amed has a genuinely dense cluster of named dive operators for a small village, not just one or two shops — at least a dozen distinct dive centers are actively advertising and taking bookings in the immediate Amed area.
Named Operators Found
- Amed White Sand Divers (PADI 5 Star, Lipah Beach)
- Two Fish Divers (PADI 5 Star)
- Ecodive Bali (PADI 5 Star IDC, described as Amed's oldest and largest dive center)
- Bali Fab Dive (PADI 5 Star)
- Bali Dive Resort Amed (PADI)
- Bali Reef Divers (PADI, operating since 2008 in Amed)
- Diving La Vida Loca
- Amed Dive Center (SSI)
- Amed Jepun Divers (SSI)
- Dive Concepts Amed (SSI-led, PADI also available)
- Blue Season Bali / Atlantis Bali Diving (has an Amed base)
- Momo Dive Center (contributor listed on PADI's Amed page)
Freediving Crossover
- Summary
- Freediving crossover in Amed is real and significant, not assumed — Amed is widely described as one of the best freediving locations in Bali, with dedicated freediving-only schools operating alongside the scuba shops, and the two disciplines sharing several of the same shore-accessible sites (notably the calm bays and the nearby USAT Liberty wreck, which both certified scuba divers and freedivers/snorkelers visit).
- Why Amed Suits Both
- Amed's shore diving is calm, shallow near the entry points, and clear most of the year, which is cited by both scuba and freediving operators as the reason the same coastline works well for beginners in either discipline.
- Genuine Crossover Confirmed
- Yes
- Freediving Certifying Bodies
- Molchanovs, AIDA and SSI freediving certifications are offered by Amed-based schools; Apneista uses the Molchanovs system.
Dedicated Freediving Schools
- Freediving Amed
- Bali Freedivers
- Apneista
Typical Freediving Course Costs
- Level 2 3 Advanced
- IDR 6,000,000
Range reported is roughly 4,500,000–7,500,000 IDR ($300–550); one named school (Apneista) quotes its Level 2 at 6.5 million IDR (~$413).
- Level 1 Beginner 2 3 Days
- IDR 3,750,000
Range reported is roughly 3,000,000–4,500,000 IDR ($200–300) depending on school and season.
Nearby Dive Sites
Hubs
Nusa Penida
- How to get there
- drive+boat
- Country
- Indonesia
- Travel time
- 2.5 hours
Typical Course Costs
- PADI Open Water Diver
- IDR 4,500,000
3-day course; typical standalone price range seen across operators is about 4,250,000–5,000,000 IDR ($270–320). Some operators bundle accommodation into higher package prices (e.g. ~8.8–9.3 million IDR pack including nights and multiple sites).
- PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
- IDR 4,150,000
2-day course; range seen is roughly 3,950,000–4,300,000 IDR ($250–275).
- Combo Open Water Plus Advanced Open Water
- IDR 9,000,000
5-day combined package quoted by Amed White Sand Divers; other operators quote similar combo pricing around 8.5 million IDR.
- Discover Scuba Diving Intro Not A Certification
- IDR 1,000,000
Half-day, two-tank introductory dive; not a certification. Quoted range across operators is roughly 900,000–1,200,000 IDR.
Certifying Bodies And Levels
- Summary
- Amed dive centers overwhelmingly teach PADI, with several SSI-affiliated shops also present. Certification levels commonly taught run from beginner (Discover Scuba Diving, a non-certifying try-dive) through Open Water, Advanced Open Water, specialty courses (Wreck, Nitrox/Enriched Air, Deep, Night, Drift, Peak Performance Buoyancy), and up to Divemaster.
- Divemaster Availability
- Divemaster training is offered at Amed (confirmed at Amed White Sand Divers, which ran a small number of DM courses in 2025), but it's a less commonly advertised/lower-volume course here than Open Water or Advanced — Amed functions mainly as an Open Water/Advanced hub rather than a major DM factory like Gili Trawangan or Nusa Lembongan.
- SSI Note
- At least three named operators teach SSI rather than (or alongside) PADI: Amed Dive Center, Amed Jepun Divers, and Dive Concepts' Amed branch, which primarily runs SSI courses but also offers PADI through dual-certified instructors.
- PADI Note
- Amed White Sand Divers is a PADI 5 Star Dive Resort; in 2025 it reported conducting 300 Open Water courses, 200 Advanced & Specialty courses and 4 Divemaster courses. Other PADI 5-Star centers in the village include Two Fish Divers, Ecodive Bali, Bali Fab Dive and Bali Dive Resort Amed.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
More About Amed
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.