Destinations
Loading...The USS Liberty Wreck is the most famous dive site in Bali. It is also one of the best sunken ship wrecks in the world! If you come to Bali, you absolutely have to dive there 
The liberty ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo then was beached near Tulamben. In 1963, the eruption of Mount Agung caused the vessel to slip off the beach, and it now lies on a sand slope in 9 to 30 m of water. The wreck is about 130 m long with the shallowest part at about 5 m deep and the deepest on the other side of the wreck at about 30 m deep. Try to dive there early in the morning or late in the afternoon as the dive site gets very crowded. It is also an excellent place for a great night dive!
You can dive USS Liberty Wreck all year long. Access: from the Shore. See the map of USS Liberty Wreck on the right for the exact location.
Fishes you may spot while diving USS Liberty Wreck
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Black Tip Shark
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Garden Eel
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Surgeonfish
... and more fishes & sea life, Big Potato Grouper, Jack Fish
Photos
Diving Reviews for this region
Tulamben
One of the best Wreck Dives in the World!!! And the most easy for sure, 30m from the Shore and starts at 4m deep! Fantastic Marine life and great Coral!
Liveaboard Reviews in Tulamben
I did my Padi Open Water advanced on the Liberty Ship Wreck with Water Worx from Padang Bai.
The Liberty is really an amazing wreck. It is only 30m from the shore. The visibility was really good, about 20m.
The shallow part of the wreck is full of divers and it is usually crowded in the morning. Better to go there early in the morning or in the afternoon.
I really liked the deep part of the wreck, around 35m to 40m deep with the huge gun full of coral! Lots of fishes swimming around, this is a really a must dive in Bali. I heard it is also possible to night dive the Liberty Wreck.
Dieter , Padi Open Water Advanced.
I think that the Liberty is the best dive site in Bali! Very easy dive too.
The USAT Liberty Shipwreck is Bali’s most popular dive site. It’s an amazing dive site that attracts the world’s most renowned photographers and beginners alike.
USAT stands for United States Army Transport. The wreck is not a Liberty Class ship. Liberty is merely its name. It was a cargo ship built at the end of WW1 and used by Americans during WW2. It was fitted with 2 canons for defensive purposes. A Japanese submarine torpedoed her in 1942 and the Captain beached the Liberty in Tulamben.
The ship staid half on land and half in the water until Mount Agung’s latest eruption in 1963. Tremors and landslides pushed the ship into its current position. Today the shallow part lays at 6m and the deepest parts are at 28m.
Due to its history, the wreck is quite damaged. What makes it a great dive site is the sheer amount of wildlife that can be seen on it. From pygmy seahorse to schools of trevalies, from lone barracudas to rare shrimps, from stunning hard coral to clown frogfish, so much is waiting for down there for you to discover. Some of the local dive guides say that every critter in the book can be seen here “if you are lucky”.
This dive site can be dived all year round. However, its popularity can make it less enjoyable around August and September. This is usually when most divers dive the wreck.
There are ways to avoid the crowds. One such way consists in diving early in the morning. Getting in the water at anytime between 6:30AM and 9:30AM is usually a good idea since many dive centers arrive with their guests a little bit later.
The big pebbles and stones can make entry difficult for some divers. Watch out if you have knee or back problems especially when the conditions are choppy! Good Divemasters will help you get in and out of the water.
By Cedric Saveuse
I’ve been diving USAT Liberty wreck with Bali Dream Divers and it was just great. Dive centre is located on Tulamben main road right in front of the wreck. It’s really very convenient: you simply gear up any time you like and go diving. Will definitely come back to dive Liberty again!
I would score it a 3 having dived it a few times. Main attraction was a huge barracuda who lives there.
Dear Sir/Madam
I would like to know if we could book a one day dive to the shipwreck
We are both experienced snorkel fanatics
My girlfriend has no dive experience, did dive couple times but no certification.
We are looking for pickup Thursday April 14 and staying at the Holiday Inn Bali Benoa.
Great warm water temperature, good visibility, easy access from shore. Most difficult part is driving there. Nice drive but glad I only made it once. Worth the trip! Dove it in mid-April and water clarity was around 60 feet and of course water was warm. Watch out for fire coral getting in and out. Some dive centers didn’t offer gloves, only wetsuits (which I didn’t want). Odd I thought that they didn’t rent gloves but had everything else. Price was wicked cheap. Huge gaping swim-throughs where you aren’t really swimming “inside” the wreck per say if you are open water certified only. 4 Bali scooters/drivers could fit through there (if you’ve been here on the roads, you’ll know what I mean). Some parts of wreck have small openings…but there are big safe ones so the skittish can enjoy.
Bottomline – It’s an easily accessible wreck dive, with war history coupled with a geological event (a volcano eruption). Don’t pass this up if you visit Bali and love to dive. Only cost me $42 US dollars to rent all gear, and be guided to and through the wreck! They had the tank/BCD brought to within 50 feet of the stairs to the ocean, and when I got out, I left it there and they took me back on a scooter. Too easy.
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I dived here on the 29/06/16 and it was without doubt the best day of my life.
We did 2 dives, first at the wreck and after we moved 10 minutes down the beach and dived at coral garden.
Both dives were absolutely breathtaking. The USAT liberty was so interesting and the coral garden was beautiful with diferent statues and many fish.
I highly recommend you dive with “Pro Dive Bali” it was my first time diving without my instructor and they made me feel so safe and calm.
Please dive at this site! its wonderful
that picture of the black tip shark is fantastic BRAVO to whoever took it!!!!
I dived the USS Liberty in March 2017. Its an easy shore dive off a big pebble shore. The workers carry your gear from the parking area, and its about 50 yards off shore in 60′ of blue water. There are standing plates and mostly fallen structure. There is no enclosed structures to penetrate. Lots of marine life and fish. A very good easy/cheap dive.
Love diving here. One of my favorite dive sites plus lots of much diving the next bay round. Bump heads, barracuda, pipe fish, Spanish dancer. Just so pretty
Experienced diver (~250) and would absolutely never repeat this dive. If you enjoy being stuffed into a small van with eight divers for a ~five hour round trip on tortuous twisty mountain roads, than by all means, have at it. For the rest of us who will not tolerate five hours of near hell for two dives of 45 minutes on a so-so over crowded dive site, there are much better dives and sites than this ridiculous waste of time and money. I would not go there again if it was free or if you paid my way. Take a high speed ferry to Lembogan and dive there for a day or two. Much better diving and much more fun
Hi David! Sorry to hear that the Liberty wreck was disappointing. I know how 5 hours of Bali cramped mini van is like so I can feel you. That being said, some people stay in resorts nearby so perhaps the dive is very enjoyable when it doesn’t take such a trip to get there.
Thank you for sharing your review and for reading Divezone! Wishing you less mini van trips and more amazing dives for 2019!
Yes, fair enough. If I was staying nearby FOR OTHER REASONS than to dive Liberty wreck, then go ahead and dive here. That said, the Liberty wreck commute is extremely harsh. if you are coming from Badang Bai, or, especially, (god help you), Sunar or Denpasar. Lembogan has much better potential. These trade offs are worth mentioning give experienced divers insight into what to expect.
Almost every blog about this wreck I’ve found mentions that if you go early in the morning and don’t do a day trip the experience is much better. Also there are lots of other less touristy dives if you stay nearby. Just like everything else when touring a country, if you sign up for the cheesy touristy route then that’s what you get.
Beautiful Liberty Wreck Freediving site in N/E Bali (Tulamben). 110m long and ranging from 5m-30m in depth. It’s the perfect place to practice your skills. Check out these stunning maps LINK REMOVED. Hand designed by Mike Van de Ven for @Apniesta
Dived there as an advanced diver and it was quite an impressive wreck – hard to make out it’s a boat due to its sheer size! I wouldn’t say there is no current. At different parts there is a slight drift, and at one end we had to swim again a pretty strong current. Might have just been the day, but it was quite strong – the rest of the group, one who was a dive master, said he hadn’t swam in currents that strong for quite some time, so I’d be a bit careful if you’re going thinking there’s nothing!
I dived on the USS Liberty in 2019. Pretty well broken up now. A 2 out of 10 dive. Very limited.
As an expereinced advanced diver I found having a guide unnecessary. Can you show up in town and rent all the gear or just tanks and weights and dive it without being guided? Which companies rent tanks and weights without the guide?
For the divers who have commented negatively on this site I beg you to look beyond the discomfort of getting there and back. The history of this wreck from the I-166 that torpedoed the Liberty to Commander King of the HMS Telemachus who sank the I-166 its history tells an amazing tale of friendship between the British, Japanese and Dutch descendants of the vessels involved. Looking for all the anchors on the wreck is an adventure in itself.
In regards to the marine life. There is a turtle that lives there permanently. I find myself going out especially to say hello to it. On the second day of my open water course I saw a whale shark. On a night dive I saw the largest moray eel moving freely within the structure. Finally, when you see the school of giant bump-heads line up to go out to sea early in the morning, it is a sight you will never forget.
hope you will give this site a second chance.
Happy diving