You can enjoy numerous scenic and very hilly walks around Amed, which is especially beautiful during the rainy season (Nov-Apr) when the temperature is cooler and the hills are green and misty -- a sight difficult to imagine during the hot dry months. A local guide from your hotel is all you need to take you into the hills.
Biking to Pasir Putih
You can bike from Amed to Pasir Putih. A car takes guests from their hotel to one of several starting points off the main road; it is a mainly downhill ride to the beach that follows back roads through luscious rural areas, rarely visited by Westerners. The trip takes about 2 hours before arriving at the beach. Cars transport guests back to their hotel. For information and bookings call Ketut Surya (tel. 08/5238231850) or Komang Bajing (tel. 08/124667752).
Sailing to the Lombok Gilis in a Jukung
Follow in the revered footsteps of Victorian-era naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and sail to Lombok and the Gili Islands in a jukung (a local fishing boat) for a memorable, if somewhat uncomfortable, 3-hour ride (Rp350,000-Rp400,000) across the very deep Lombok Strait. By the time you read this, there should be a new traditional sailboat, complete with food and mojitos, to take guests across. You can ask Kim at Anda Amed about the new boat (tel. 08/174737861).
Scuba Diving & Snorkeling
Amed is one of Bali's top dive areas and the small bays provide many good snorkeling locations with shallow waters and few currents. Snorkeling gear is available through the dive operators. One of the best dive operators is Euro Dive, Lipah (tel. 0363/23605; fax 0363/23605), with PADI certified guides specializing in the dive sites in and around Amed as well as Tulumben, just 20 minutes away. If you're in south Bali and you want to take a diving excursion to this part of the island, contact AquaMarine Diving, Jl. Raya Petitenget 2A, Seminyak (tel. 0361/738020; fax 0361/738021; www.aquamarinediving.com; US$85).
While the marine fish life here is superb, some coral bleaching occurred in 1998 thanks to the El Niño, and although the reef is recovering, we cannot yet tell when it will reach its former glory. Conditions here, from shore or boat, are easy, with good visibility.
Amed Reef, with many different kinds of sponges and gorgonians, is home to everything from lobsters, shrimp, and goby sets to blue-spotted rays and schools of barracuda. White-tip reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse, big trevally, and large schools of bannerfish, snapper, and fusilier can be found at Amed Wall. The deep slope after the wall is rich in invertebrates with crinoids and commensals. Lipah Bay, a small black sand bay, is home to a 20m (66-ft.) steel freighter wreck encrusted with sponges, gorgonians, and coral bushes and inhabited by clouds of anthias, and parrotfish and angelfish. The deeper slope is dotted with sea fans. Gili Selang on Bali's eastern point can, like all exposed sites, have ripping currents and is therefore a site for experienced divers only. You may encounter white-tip reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse, turtles, and dolphins, along with low-lying, healthy corals with many moray eels, schools of fish, nudis, and pygmy seahorses. Amed Ghost Bay is good for muck-diving: Mimic octopus and Wonderpus, frogfishes, Ornate and Robust ghostpipefish, stonefish -- we're never sure quite what we'll find there.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
