Padangbai & Candidasa · Indonesia · Reef · Wall · Night
Blue Lagoon
Protected bay that serves as both training ground and night dive
Area photo: Bernard Picton · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Blue Lagoon is the bay beside Padangbai harbour, across the Tanjung Sari cape, and part of a Marine Protected Area declared in 2017. Its shallow coastal reef slopes down past a short wall, and the bay holds six sites that range from beginner dives to routes for professional divers. It is dived at night as well as by day.
Also known as Blue Lagoon Beach.
Where it is and how deep
8.5300° S, 115.5132° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The shallow coastal reef forms a slope with a short wall, reaching 25 m at its deepest. Currents in the bay run mild to moderate, and visibility is around 25 m or more. The Temple site lies in front of the small temple built into the lava cliffs, a shallow dive of 5 to 9 m that is well protected from the current; beyond the sand, the reef edge follows the sandy slope down to 24 m. After dark the bay is the setting for night dives.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Padangbai & Candidasa: Diveable all year; mola mola are likeliest July to October, while the November to March wet season cuts visibility and makes the islets harder to dive.
Sources
- Padangbai — Wikipedia
- Padang Bai diving — Divezone
- OpenStreetMap — OpenStreetMap
More dive sites in Padangbai & Candidasa
Long coral and rubble slope that finishes against a wall
Reef
Whitetip reef sharks beside the Lombok ferry lane
Wall
Rocky walls around a small island, with Shark Cave and Biaha Slope
Pinnacle
Three large rocks and six smaller ones in a current-swept cluster
Wall
Boulder overhangs and tunnels above a steep wall
Artificial reef
Blue-spotted stingrays around a small boat scuttled in 2008
Reef
Volcanic rock reef top on the cape between the Blue Lagoon and the harbour
Similar dives elsewhere
A drop-off 80 m off the beach, from under 2 m to past 40 m
The protected shallows where Balicasag's turtles are thickest
An east-coast wall with a cave, and Cabilao's best night dive
Seagrass, dense reef and wall on one protected slope