There
are many great shore dives within 50 kilometers of Dili and dive trips
are made to nearby Atauro Island.
On Atauro there is an Eco Lodge where the divers
can stay and squeeze in a night dive and
return the next day.
Freeflow Dive is one of the shops that take out the divers. You get a good
scenic drive on the way to some of the shore dive sites. It may not be
exotic enough for some divers to drive to the sites but I like the
shore dives.
You
can stop at the small restaurant around km 22 on the way in for a few
beers and a bite to eat. It is good cheap food and it gives you a
chance to help out a local family trying to make an honest living.
Wayne has a pretty good eye for finding all sorts of nudibranchs and rare fish an is a great guy to dive with.
The reefs there are loaded with many different types of sponges and
corals. They are not particularly bigger or brighter than anywhere else
but there are so many exotic species I never saw anywhere else.
Some fan corals look like cherry trees. Others look like they are covered in a freshly fallen snow.
There is a huge anenome that is the size of a small truck just covered
with clownfish. There is no dynamite fishing here so the coral is in
great shape.
There are a few local spear fishermen on some of the sites but that is to be expected.
A lot of what you see is subtle and takes a bit of looking.
I didn't see any sharks but we came across a few turtles and a big
eagle ray.
There were some Napoleans and tuna and travelley on the
points and the biggest batfish I've ever seen.
I only did 20 dives but plan to be back there soon.
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