Out and about in Bali

For the last few days, we’ve been staying in a tiny town in northern Bali called Permuteran. The main reason people come here is to snorkel and dive. I think there’s only about seven resort/spas and three warung! We arrived late in the afternoon and hadn’t managed to get through on the phone to book accommodation, so pickings were slim. Samesame has worked out that if we do this more often, she gets to stay in places like this!


Unfortunately, it was NZ$100 a night (which is a little over our budget!) so we moved on the next day.



This gorgeous homestay, Tirta Sari, is half the price and three times as friendly! It’s located between Reef Seen Dive Centre and the main road. The family that run it are so lovely and the garden is beautiful. They are currently in the process of building more rooms, a warung and a spa.

On Saturday we had our first dive of the season! We went to a site called Close Encounters which is part of the local reef. Bighead loved his first dive with new eyes! It was surprisingly pretty with loads of different fish, and gorgeous hard and soft coral. We even saw a large ball of tuna which was really exciting.

We’ve also had a day trip to Pulau Menjangan, where we took another two dives – turtles, large barracuda, frog fish, an eel, and loads and loads of different species. It’s so peaceful down there, a whole different world. The only sound you can hear is the blub, blub, blub, of your bubbles and the quiet munching of coral.

This part of Bali is stunning. Permuteran has black sand beaches and is surrounded by the rugged mountains of the Taman Nasional Bali Barat (West Bali National Park). Gorgeous.

However, at NZ$70 a dive, we won't be staying long!