In 2024 I travelled to Tulamben for the fourth time and spent just over two weeks diving the north-eastern coast of Bali. I used Liberty Dive Resort, click here to read about the town and dive operations. This was the last dive site I visited during the trip and one I thought I had not visited on previous trips in 2011, 2014 and 2023. However, in June 2024 I found out that this site used to be called Petiisan Point and sometime between 2014 and 2023 its name was changed. Back before then, Melasti was a different site. Note that this has happened to other sites, for example, Kubu Reef.

Melasti is located about 2.9 kilometres to the south-east of Tulamben (by road) and next to the Hi Blue Bali-Melasti Dive Resort. An approximate GPS mark for the dive spot is S8° 17.383" E115° 36.400" (using WGS84 as the datum).

A satellite photo from Google Earth that shows the location of the dive site Entry is the red mark, dive sheds are at the end of the lane next to the resort

After heading south-east out of town, you travel along the main road and then down about 2.8 kilometres from town you turn left onto a side track towards the ocean. This is straight after the dive resort. There is a couple of large shade shelters, some tables/seats, a toilet, shower and camera wash tank.

Some dives I did here we started about 100 metres down the beach to the right. When you arrive, the resident porters carry your dive gear to the south and leave it on the beach. Some dives though start about straight out front from the sheds. When ready, you walk south on beach to where you gear is.

The table and sheds	A shot of the beach

Once geared up, you enter water there. The beach is black sand and it is a fairly easy entry and exit. The bottom consists of a sandy bottom with some mooring blocks and the occasional rock. If you start from the southern entry spot, there are lots of Shaun the Sheep nudibranchs. This is one of the best sites to see them. There are a few different types to see.

A Shaun the Sheep	Another one
An anglerfish	A squat lobster on a sea whip

On most of my dives here I only went to around 23 metres and headed south for a bit before heading back towards the north. Exit is normally at the same spot as you started. Second dive is from here but normally ends back near the dive sheds. I also did a night dive here from the sheds to the north and back.

A small sea horse	A snake eel
A cowfish	A pufferfish

There are so many things to see at this dive site. Similar to other Tulamben sites, there are normally quite a lot of different species of nudibranch. There are also plenty of shrimps, on sea whips, in anemones and featherstars and on starfish. I also saw quite a few small anglerfish.

A very small anglerfish	An anglerfish
A wunderpuss octopus on a night dive	A boxfish

I also saw a few small ornate ghost pipefish in the shallows. On a few dives I saw sea horses and on one night dive, we saw a wunderpuss octopus! There are all the normal tropical fish, especially in the shallows.

A small ghost pipefish	Another ghost pipefish
A squat lobster	Another Shaun the Sheep nudibranch

This is a very good dive site and it is well a number of dives, including a night dive or two. I have now done 13 dives here over four trips. So much to see! Make sure you do it.

NUDIBRANCHS AND FLAT WORMS

Some more photographs, this time of nudibranchs.

SHRIMP

Some more photographs, this time of shrimp.

FISH, CRABS AND MORE

Some more photographs, this time of shrimp.