Batu Niti is a critter site in the Seraya stretch of the Tulamben coast: rocky shallows leading into a gentle slope of fine sand that continues down past 30 metres. Sand and rock are the defining features, but the slope also carries small corals, wire corals and hydroids, and the encounters listed for it are boxer crabs, frogfish, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs and octopus.
Where it is and how deep
8.2987° S, 115.6165° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site starts in rocky shallows and then becomes a gentle slope of fine sand that continues down past 30 metres. That transition is the dive: the rocks give shape near the surface, the sand takes over below, and there is no wall or structure to navigate around, so you pick a depth and work along it rather than swimming a circuit.
Fine sand and rock are the most distinguishing feature, but the slope is also home to plenty of small corals, wire corals and hydroids, and those are what to search. Boxer crabs, frogfish, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs and long-arm octopus head the list of encounters here, with eels, groupers and angelfish alongside them, so the pace is slow and close to the bottom and buoyancy matters more than range.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
- Nudibranchs
- Frogfish
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Groupers
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows Tulamben: Diveable all year. April to July and October to November give the calmest, clearest water; December to March is the rainy season, with more run-off and fewer divers.
Know before you go
- The slope keeps going past 30 metres with nothing to mark the depth, so watch the gauge rather than the sand and set a turn depth before you drop in.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Batu Niti?+
The slope continues down past 30 metres, starting from rocky shallows. Most of the critter searching happens on the sand rather than at the deep end, so the profile can be kept modest.
What can you see at Batu Niti?+
Boxer crabs, frogfish, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs and long-arm octopus are the encounters the site is listed for, with eels, groupers and angelfish alongside them. It is dived as a critter site, not for anything large.
Sources
- Batu niti - Dive Site — SSI/Scubago
More dive sites in Tulamben
Wall
The far end of the Tulamben volcanic wall, to 40 metres
Muck & macro
Coral-grown structures at nine metres, dived for shrimp and nudibranchs
Reef
Schools of juvenile blue triggerfish over a miniature reef
Black sand at 10 m with mimic octopus and frogfish
Reef
A jukung-only reef of bommies and soft coral away from the crowds
Reef
A small cave at 14 m in a terrain of stepped reef ridges
Wreck
An upright Dutch-built freighter scuttled off Kubu
Reef
Twin reefs with a small cavern tucked between them
Similar dives elsewhere
Zebra crabs sheltering in the spines of purple heart urchins
A rich sand slope for cephalopods and nudibranchs
Sea fans on the mini-wall hold pygmy seahorses
Village-bay sand and rubble with mandarinfish and cardinalfish