For the last two years I had spent my holidays in Sulawesi, diving at Bunaken and Lembeh Strait. To break the growing addiction to muck diving, I decided to check out the dive scene in Bali, and to join Mermaid I on a seven night live-aboard to Komodo.
Bali
To get away from the Kuta/Legian crowds, and to avoid having to spend 3+ hours each day traveling to and from dive sites, I decided to base myself in Padang Bai, half way up the East Coast of Bali. Padang Bai is a small fishing village, and until recently, most visitors only came here to catch the ferry to Lombok.
Over the last few years a healthy diving industry has developed in Padang Bai, and for good reasons. Easy access to some 20 dive sites, with the furthest being Nusa Penida, is only a 30 minutes boat ride away. Tulamben, the location of the famous Liberty wreck, is reached by road in about 90 minutes. From 
turtles, to eagle rays, reef sharks, nudibranch, leaf scorpion fish, ribbon eels, the amazing molo-mola, and the most elegant inhabitants of the underwater world, manta rays, it’s all there for you to admire.
Accommodation ranges from good quality hotels with air conditioning, television, private facilities to smaller inns, all at a very reasonable price. Talking about price, there are not many places in the world where you can get 6 nights accommodation in a good quality hotel with breakfast, 10 boat dives, airport transfers, incl. of all taxes for US$470 twin/double or US$545 single.
http://diversionOZ.com/en/sea/balidiving.htm
