Secret Bay

Secret Bay is not really the correct name for this dive site these days, as it is far from a secret any more, but for the serious underwater photographer a visit to Bali is not really complete unless you have made the journey to this inauspicious looking bay in Gilimanuk.

Located at the far north-western tip of the island and just across the Bali Straits from Java, Secret Bay is a real muck dive in it's truest form and you will find an amazing assortment of critters in the rubbish & trash that litters the black volcanic sand and sea grass.

The accomplished Japanese underwater photographer and well known Bali expert, Takamasa Tonozuka, is credited with discovering Secret Bay as a dive site whilst searching for new critter locations around the island and he certainly found a most unusual & unique place.

The site owes it's underwater diversity to the mixture of cold water upwellings from the nearby Bali Strait, it's sheltered location and various nutrient rich streams that enter the run into the bay, plus the general rubbish that litters the bay provides a home to the critters that live there.

Anybody who knows me will tell you that I am not the most avid night diver and the attraction of a cold beer after a long day's diving usually wins over the thought of waiting for the sun to go down and putting on a cold wetsuit, but I always do a night dive at Secret Bay.

The reason being that it's the only place where I have been able to see the rather mysterious and hard to find Bobbit Worm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbit_worm).

The Bobbit Worms are to be found in the sea grass at the western end of the bay, about a 100m or so from the changing area entry point and in 3-4m of water.

The local guides have a tried & tested method of enticing the worms from their home deep in the sand, once they have found the tell-tale depression in the sand that indicates a possible location.

They use grilled fish kebabs held just above the sand at the depression which tempt the worms out, striking at lightning fast speed when they do, then by carefully wafting the stick back & to the guides tempt the worm further out into the open so they can be photographed in all their glory!

The good thing about diving at Secret Bay is that there is a nice area to get geared up complete with toilets, fresh water showers and rinse tanks:

Plus on the beach about 10m from the changing area is a small restaurant that cooks up local dishes for lunch and the essential fish kebabs for the night dive!

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