We have been snorkeling all around the world and snorkeling in Indonesia was so far our best. Unfortunately there aren’t many good snorkeling spots in Bali compare to what other Indonesian islands have to offer. But if you happens to be on the island and wish to go snorkeling, Amed coastline have some of the better snorkeling spots in Bali. Down below you can find the 6 top snorkeling spots in Amed and the neighboring beaches.

To keep in mind

Please keep in mind that each snorkeling experience is different, what we saw you might not see. The current and visibility may also change depending of the season and the time of the day and the year.

- Don’t expect to walk right into the sea and have everything right in front of you. Many time you need to swim around and explore. Each beach mentioned below has their spots scattered around the sea.

- Please, if you are not a strong swimmer, wear or use a floating device. Or learn how to float on water!! Don’t get tired in the middle of coral garden and stand right on them.

The 6 top snorkeling spots in Amed mentioned below are easy reached off shore and are suitable for everyone. The list is not in any particular order.

1. Amed beach

Amed beach is the biggest beach with the amazing Mount Agung as a backdrop. It could be difficult for you to know where to start and where to stop so you can find here below a map and explanations of where to enter and find the best snorkeling spots on Amed beach.

Snorkeling off the Amed beach in Bali, Indonesia.

Where to snorkel on Amed beach

The best snorkeling spots are between Camessa hotel and Kembali beach Bungalows. The current went East so I would enter the water around Camessa hotel, snorkel out direction Northeast about 10-15 meters to the big coral blocks. Thats where the best snorkeling spot begins! From there, start snorkeling towards the reef drop off. I have seen many times a turtle swimming around this area where the reef drop off begins. From here, just let yourself float slowly East along the drop off but keep an eye of how far you are from the shore!

There are two turtles, one that I have already mentioned above and the second one use to swim around just a few meters off shore in front of Kembali beach Bungalows. Normally, there is a swing in the water where I use to stop to snorkeling. From here I just walk back to Camessa hotel where we were staying.

Tips!

- As the beach has a mix of black sand and huge pebbles, it get usually very hot and not comfortable to walk on so I always bring my or ours flip flops tucked in my bikini during the snorkel😂

- We found the visibility to be very poor on the afternoon so go snorkeling at Amed beach in the morning or on early afternoon.

Can you spot the turtle? Family snorkel at Amed beach.

The best snorkeling spots at Amed beach!

A rose? No, it is Nudibranch egg masses.

Have you ever seen Sea rose before? They are actually Nudibranch eggs masses! Isn’t beautiful? I was quite excited because I didn’t know what it was as it was my first time seing one snorkeling off shore Amed beach.

2. Jemeluk bay

Jemeluk bay has a beautiful black pebble beach with restaurants and sun chairs lining along the beach shore. The bay is also the most photographed beach of all beaches in Amed. The best spot to take the photo is from the cliff above.

Snorkeling off shore at Jemeluk bay in Amed Bali. Photo credit: Here

There is a big parking by Depotrek Villas or Warung Made for a fee and you can enter the beach by the parking. Or if you have scooter, you can just park by the side of the road. When you are facing the sea, the best snorkeling spot is on the right, along the cliff.

Photo credit: Snorkeling-report.com

The Jemeluk underwater temple.

When I first entered the water, I was really eagered to see the underwater temple and I was very disappointed by the visibility. It was very murky of green “stuff” and it was hard to see even 2 meter in front of me. After the temple I snorkeled toward the cliff and that’s where the water became clearer, like a whole new world opened right before my eyes.

Other than the underwater temple, when snorkeling at Jemeluk bay you can also see a beautiful garden full of foliase corals. You can find the garden along the cliff. For me this is most beautiful snorkeling spot of Jemeluk bay.

Here is also where I saw someone swimming 5 meters, take a pause and stand right on the amazing corals, swim and stop and stand again on the corals!

How can someone admire something so beautiful and then the next second walk on it? It doesn’t make any sense!

Use a floating device if you are not a strong swimmer!

The beautiful coral garden at Jemeluk bay in Amed.

3. Lipah beach

We didn’t know where to park our car so we went to the Vienna beach resort. We told them we were having lunch and they didn’t mind so we installed ourself on sun chairs by the pool next to the restaurant.

I enterred the sea right by the resort and snorkeled toward West. Unfortunately on the same day we were snorkeling at Lipah beach there was a thick layer of a substance that looks like oil, covering the water surface on half of the beach. I wasn’t able to enjoy and exploring much. It’s a pity because many seems to have Lipah beach as their favorite snorkeling spots in Amed.

Since arriving to Amed coast, this was our first time seeing so much floating pieces of garbage on the sea!

Snorkeling at Lipah beach in Amed.

A school of squids while snorkeling at Lipah beach in Amed.

What’s that floating on the water surface at Lipah beach?

4. Selang beach

Selang beach is a small beach with Good Karma Bungalows occupying the entire beach. We were staying here a couple of night and had the beach most of the time for ourself. If you want to snorkel here, I don’t think it is a problem telling them you will have a drink at the restaurant but we also highly recommend to eat here.

Personally we don’t think it is worth coming to Selang beach mainly for the snorkeling but why not if you are passing by and have time to kill.

The sand at Selang beach in Amed looks like mustard seed, while at Jemeluk bay the sand are black pebbles, on Ibus beach the sand are fine and white.

Mirabelle, a confidence snorkeler already by age of 3.5.

The snorkeling at Selang beach isn’t the best, but acceptable if you are a beginner. There are many fishes and some interesting corals formations.

One morning the local fishermen brought in a shark who got caught in their fishing net. It was sad to see as the local were chopping the shark into pieces and threw them back into the sea.

This fish has two “shrimps friends’ free riding while being attached around his eyes 😮

A bycatch at Selang beach in Amed.

5. Ibus beach

Ibus beach is Amed’s hidden gem with fine white and black sand and blue clear water. We parked our car by Stairway to Heaven for free and took the stairs down to the beach where we found a spot under the shade. I enterred the beach as far East as possible and snorkeled toward West.

Warning! The sand here is so fine so it will stick everywhere.

The snorkeling at Ibus beach was surpricely quite good and as you can see on the photos the visibility was also good! There were colorful hard corals everywhere and the water quite shallow so it was fun to search for small underwater creatures. I didn’t find nudibrach but I saw the nudibranch egg masses again and this time it was blue.

A whole lot of human made pollutions at Ibus beach in Amed

6. Japanese shipwreck

We parked our car by Kawi karma beach cottage for free and went to their restaurant and that is what everyone seems be doing if you come here to snorkel. The shipwreck is only a few meters away off the beach. It is a rocky beach and it’s not always easy to walk in or out of the water. Wear a pair of water shoes if you have one.

It was our first time snorkeling around a ship wreck and despite of the small size of the ship, it was impressive. The visibility was really good and there were a lot of underwater life to see. As the Ibus beach and this beach are right next to each other you will also find the same colorful hard corals.

Ignorante snorkeler who stands on corals when snorkeling at Japanese shipwreck in Amed coast.

EXTRA! Snorkeling in Tulamben

After Amed we had a night in Tulamben because David wanted to dive the USS Liberty shipwreck. He did two dives, the USS Liberty shipwreck and the coral garden which he enjoyed a lot. He really recommend diving here if you are hesitating to come.

We stayed in Matahari Tulamben Resort and Dive but Tulamben is only about 15 km from Amed beach so you could do this as daytrip. I started to snorkel right in front of the restaurant and slowly snorkeled my way to the USS Liberty shipwreck, it was about 100 m . If you find it to far you can walk on the shore and start snorkeling closer to the shipwreck. Or, you could park your scooter directly by the beach in front of the shipwreck.  The turnout of the main road is between Dive-Versions and Lunar Dive resort.

I snorkeled on a late afternoon when the sky was covered by dark clouds and the visibility wasn’t the best and most of the time there weren’t much to see. However, we saw dolphins swimming right in front of our resort while we were having dinner! So if you are lucky, perhaps you get to swim with dolphins?

The beach where we can find the shipwreck and the coral garden in Tulamben

Looks like as the diving instructor taking his students by the ears.😂

Have fun snorkeling in Amed, Bali!

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