Amed is a fishing village on the east coast of Bali, Indonesia. Although there are a number of distinct villages with black sand beaches around it, travellers often refer to the whole coast as "Amed". The main attraction here, other than diving and snorkeling of course, is getting away from the crowds at the southern tip of Bali and enhancing your diving trip with some hill trekking or yoga.
Beginner divers will love Jemeluk Bay with usually calm waters and experienced divers may opt for some drift dives at Seland and Bunutan, east of Amed. Be surprised by the amount of coral lying underwater in front of Amed beach itself. Just walk past the colourful fishing boats lining the beach, strap your mask on and head into the water to discover wild coral formations and more tropical fish than in a National Geographic Indonesia special. Amed is also a base for divers and snorkelers visiting nearby Tulamben and the USAT Liberty wreck site on a day trip.
This is a world class dive site that offers something to anyone from snorkelers to expert divers. You will start off from the shore and head down following the undersea slope to encounter your first staghorn corals at a depth of 6 m (20 ft). The main attraction here is the amount and diversity of tropical fish as opposed to the variety of coral at other sites. Schools of dozens and hundreds will swarm around you or zip away to safety if you come too close for their liking. Angelfishes, sapphire yellowtails, blennies, damsels, butterflyfishes, and many other species grace these shores. The cornucopia of fish not only attract divers but also moray eels. It is never a good idea to poke your hand into a hard-to-see crevice underwater but especially not in Amed: a feisty moray eel may be lurking there! You can find your own safe depth here based on your experience level. Deeper down there is also a small reef wall dropping to around 27 m (90 ft).
Chromis, large clown triggerfish, basslets, lionfish, longnose emperors, baitfish, surgeonfish, blue-streak fusiliers, wrasses and hundreds of other tropical fish live around Amed. There is also a good amount of small critters and the occasional large pelagics like whitetip sharks and blue-spotted sting rays who are drawn to all that vibrant marine life. Large fish include giant trevally, blue-fin trevallies and tuna.
The Ngurah Rai International Airport (Denpasar, Bali) is only 95 km (60 mi) from Amed but it usually takes around 3 hours by car or even longer by bus to get there. Once the road skirts around Mount Agung you will be enchanted by the coastal secenery in front of you. The following villages are part of the "Amed" coast: Culik, Amed, Jemeluk, Bunutan, Lipah, Selang, Banyuning and Aas. You need to walk a bit or organise transport as accommodation, meal providers and dive operators may be distant from each other on this 14 km (9 mi) stretch of grey and black sand beaches.
As the soil here is poor for much farming, a sizeable chunk of the local population lives from tourism and they operate good dive shops covering the east coast of Bali. Traditional professions include fishing and salt-making; the fishing boats are everywhere and you will see the salt drying pans on some of the streets.
Once you had your fill of Amed diving adventures head north to nearby Tulamben to do a lap around the USAT Liberty wreck or even travel further north to wonderful Lovina Beach. If you are completing a clockwise Bali diving safari, world class diving and snorkeling sites will keep you busy for days in Padangbai.
All year round essentially, but visibility is truly great, sometimes up to 40 m (130 ft), from April to July and October to November.