Tulamben is famous for it's Liberty Shipwreck. This is the most popular wreck in
Indonesia and gets heavy dive pressure.
The ship had been grounded on the beach for many years but an earthquake caused it to slide into deeper water.
There are a few dive resorts along the beach but most of the divers come in on day trips from other locations.
Tulamben is a sleepy little place without any nightlife or anything
like that but some divers like to stay here so they can get an earlier
jump on the site before the day trippers arrive.
I
met one guy that was there for the week on holiday and was still there
300 dives later leading other divers. This is a great place for
likeminded photographers and divers to relax at night and check out
their days dive pictures.
It is so dry that prickley pear cactus hedges are grown around some of the properties edges.
There is one big police checkpoint just west of town where they
sometimes stop all vehicles to check paperwork. (Just past the bridge at the flashing red light.) This can be time
consuming so be prepared for a long wait.
There
are some roads going up into the mountains that you can follow if you
have a motorbike or car.
They narrow down to about a meter so 4 wheeled
vehicles can only go so far. The hot dry volcanic ash is hard to move
through even on a bike because you sink in.
I prefer to stay in Lovina which is around 2 hours west along the coast and has a lot more to do at night.
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