Diving the blue lagoon, Bali’s most accessible dive sites

Blue Lagoon is home to the nearest dive sites to Kuta and Ubud, but they’re far from the best dive sites in Bali. If you can travel a little further, the other dive regions of Bali are a different proposition altogether.

When I was told I was going to dive at blue lagoon, I conjured up images of white sand beaches and crystal blue water.

To say that I was slightly disappointed when I got there is an understatement.
The water was a darker blue than I expected and somewhat murky. There are a lot of buildings along the coast that ruin the view. At high tide, there was virtually no beach.

So you shouldn’t visit blue lagoon for the scenery. What about the diving?

We did two dives in the blue lagoon. The visibility was not great. The corals weren’t great, and we didn’t see many big fishes.
The one exciting part of the dives was the large number of exotic nudibranchs that we saw.

The Channel Dive Site

This dive site is located just in front of the beach so it can be done without a boat. We saw many nudibranchs, manta shrimps, and cuttlefishes. There is a small metal formation at the bottom here that seems to attract fishes and nudibranchs. The visibility was not very good on our dive day.

The Blue Lagoon Dive Site

This site is a 3-minute boat ride located in the Blue Lagoon. The reef starts at about 5 meters and goes down to 30 meters. There are many lionfishes and frogfishes. We encountered a few turtles, and again many cool nudibranchs and pipefishes. The coral was not fantastic, and even though we dove in the morning when the visibility should be better, it was still poor.

Conclusion

If you are into nudibranchs and want to take a quick day diving trip in South Bali, do check out Blue Lagoon.

Blue Lagoon is also an excellent dive site for beginners, as the currents are mild.

For more experienced divers, you can find better diving sites by driving another hour up Northeast. You can read my reviews about diving in Tulamben or Amed for more information.

If you have more time and want to discover the best diving destinations in Indonesia, check out my articles on Raja Ampat, Kaimana, Komodo, Alor or Timor Leste.