Dive Review of Sea Rovers/Villa Wilali in
Indonesia/Bali

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Sea Rovers/Villa Wilali, Dec, 2012, by Michael Wood, WA, US ( Sr. Contributor 21 reports with 14 Helpful votes). Report 6835.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Dive shop owner of Sea Rovers Paul Turley runs an excellent dive operation in the NW corner of Bali, in the Pemuteran area. Local long-tenured guides very well trained, good at spotting small stuff, helpful, accommodating, safe. Would be great for new divers or open water check-out dives, still great for experience divers. Rich coral life, bommies, wall at Menjangen (worth 1 trip, not 2). Don't miss underwater Temple and biorock site. "Midway" dive site was as good as any I've been to in Asia. A dozen clownfish nests, nudis, table coral aquaria, strange critters, hairy crabs, wide variety of soft and hard corals, big fans, tropicals, shrimps, crabs, pipefish. Spend half the dive at 20 feet! Muck diving in front of dive shop worth the trip, like a small Lembeh with rich life, can dive 2 hours if you want and not get bored. Macro photography great. Discounts for multi-dive packages, reasonable rates. Free transport from local hotels/villas. Villa Wilali an excellent choice for a family or group of up to 8 people. Can have staff fix all meals ($5-$6 pp for lunch/dinner), continental breakfast included but can supplement with eggs, etc. Meals are varied Balinese and excellent, off menu of your choice or family style. We cooked ourselves a few times but mainly ordered in. Local restaurants good, inexpensive ($3-$4). Concierge Putra is responsive, helpful, friendly. Cooks/maids very efficient and thorough. All kinds of day trips available to temples, waterfalls, Ubud, rafting, trekking for reasonable price ($70 per day for a taxi van all day to go anywhere). Villa is nice, grounds spectular, beachfront with netted gazebo, netted beds (flies a real annoyance; bring flypaper/flyswatters for inside villa; bug repellant for outside; mosquitos not bad, no-see-ums not bad. Buy local coffee grown in the mountains. Trip from Denpasar is breathtaking but 4 hours long so suggest overnighting before taking car (provided by Villa for $70)to Villa in NW Bali Pemuteran area. Rainy season really wasn't--had some showers, downpours 2 nights but nice breeze and weather, albeit typically humid and 90F high during day. Pemuteran area is drier than rest of island, in a rain shadow from eastern Java and mountains to south on Bali. Can take a 3 hour day trip (recommend overnight) to dive USS Liberty at Tulamben. Didn't do it due to time constraints, but Paul at Sea Rovers can arrange drive over at 2pm, night dive then 7am two-tank dive and back to Villa by dinner time. Oh and $15 massages by the sea or in your room, arranged by Putra. Owner Cisca Sibbald was extremely accommodating and helpful in getting our relatives there, as was Putra. All in all a wonderful experience for my family, half of whom are Indonesian from N. Sulawesi and enjoyed Bali immensely too. Local people delightful and happy to have tourists, most from Australia and Europe. Few Americans seem to make the trip (their loss!) Remember this is Indonesia, with littered beaches and roadsides due to lack of infrastructure; black sand beaches with gravel/rocks so stick to the Caribbean if you want white sand. Monkeys at local temple are a hoot, just 20 min. walk up the beach. Don't miss that! Diving into water, playing, eating seaweed and clams. I counted a hundred of them at one point. Don't forget to wear sarongs (both sexes) into temples and bring small offering of cash.
Websites	Sea Rovers Villa Wilali
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Philippines, North Sulawesi, Maldives, Hawaii, Belize, Honduras
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive guides allow you to dive your computer, come up early or last, just stay in sight of group. Experience divers given wide berth.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	With the exception of a half hour ride to Menjangen Island, all dive sites are within 5 minutes of the dive shop. Muck diving right off shore of dive shop. Will put fresh water tub on board for Menjangen trips. Plenty of tables to work on gear.

Subscriber's Comments

By Lee The in CA, US at Jan 17, 2014 23:46 EST

My wife & I dove with Sea Rovers last September, with similar enjoyment. We both have around 600 ocean dives under our weight belts, but we had a newbie with us who did her open water with Paul and thought very highly of both his instruction and Pemuteran. I warned her it would ruin her for Caribbean diving, but that's life.

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Dive Review of Sea Rovers/Villa Wilali in Indonesia/Bali

Sea Rovers/Villa Wilali, Dec, 2012,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Sea Rovers/Villa Wilali in
Indonesia/Bali