Loved every minute of it. Beautiful resort, staff very friendly, and helpful, and the diving set up was excellent. My partner and I were assigned a dive guide - Mega, very accommodating and brilliant at finding macro life - and we basically dived whichever sites we fancied at whatever times of day suited us, Awesome, couldn't recommend it more.
My second time staying with the LDR. It's always great to come back. Why I choose LDR when I'm Tulamben:
1. I usually travel to dive in Southeast Asia by myself and LDR always provides you with your own dive guide. No need to worry about being put together with other groups and conform to their needs, or their terrible SAC rates, sometimes;) You can custom tailor your dives any way like with him. He also takes good care of your equipment, if you prefer. I dove with Arda last year and with Depin this time and they are both outstanding guides. You can tell your guide what are you are looking for, be it pygmy seahorse, bumphead parrotfish, frogfish, etc., and he'll do his best to find it for you;) A huge plus in my book!!!
2. Nitrox and equipment is included in the dive price. If you are doing 4-5-6 daily dives, Nitrox rules!!! They also give you a little discount on diving (10%), if you do lots of dives, or are a return customer. Prices are competitive, with little surcharges for short boat dives past Tulamben drop-off or to go to Kubu wreck and reef.
3. Location: They are literally a 3 minute walk away from the shore directly by the USAT Liberty wreck. If you are doing a sunrise dive 5:45-6:00am, to catch the bumphead parrotfish waking up, you are literally splashing the water first. Plus, it is absolutely amazing finishing your dive and surfacing to a sunrise breaking over the horizon;)
4. Accommodation is great. Nothing fancy, utilitarian, but clean. I prefer to save a little on accommodation and spent it on diving;) I always stayed in the room #7, on the second floor, quiet with a roomy balcony. The price is great. No TV, but with an AC. There is a safe and mini fridge in the room. They charge a little for bottled water, so don't be surprised;) Tea bags, Nescafé are complimentary, there is a pot for heating up water, which is also great for instant soups that you can get from a nearby Indomaret. Wifi hotspot is slow-ish but works for most needs (30-50KB/s, don't expect to download movies or big files).
5. Premises: Nice garden, pleasant restaurant, and two swimming pools, plenty of chairs to lounge around and suntan.
5 out of 5 stars in my book. Will return again when in Bali;)
We had very nice family villa, very good dive services. Excellent dive guide (Eka)
3 clean pools, walking distance to the ocean, better wear good booties, rocky beach no sand.
Downtown is 10 minute walk, few restaurants, ATM and a souvenir shop (that's all...)
Good massage at the resort. Decent lunch, limited breakfast but ok.
Used the van service to bring us to the airport.
Staaf very friendly and helpfull.
My partner and I stayed here in July 2017 whilst on a freediving trip. I honestly could not fault this resort even if I tried.
The location is perfect - a short stroll to the beach with the USAT Liberty Shipwreck and coral gardens right out the front. You can literally slip on your dive gear and walk straight down to the water.
We stayed in a Deluxe Garden Cottage which was absolutely beautiful. The villa was huge and always clean, whilst the gardens outside were stunning and immaculately kept. The view of Mt Agung over the pools is breathtaking every day.
The food at the restaurant is extremely well priced but also delicious and so flavorsome. The local menu is quite diverse and is interesting enough to keep everyone's inner foodie happy. The complimentary morning breakfast is always a treat and has enough options to satisfy all your needs.
Will definitely stay here again and would recommend 100%!
Nice refreshing complementary watermelon smoothie and amazing staff to greet us upon arrival.
We splashed out on a Luxury Garden Cottage and were really glad we did - they are massive! There’s plenty of room for the kids to play in the room and a garden area and swimming pool (1 of 3) right in front. We had Room 24, which has view of Mt Agung from the huge bed. A baby cot was provided for free.
This isn’t really what I'd consider family resort, but we didn’t expect that. The kids were happy in the pools and running round the gardens and all the staff were amazing with both kids, giving them lots of attention.
The main negative for us was the food, which was probably mediocre at best. But we weren’t there for the food. However, they will bring the your meals to your room if desired. Another negative for some (although it didn’t really bother us) was that there’s not much else around there except a couple of other resorts. There are other places to eat further down the main road but we didn't bother. There’s a small supermarket near LDR on the main road.
For diving, you’re assigned your own guide (1-2-1 if you wish, at no extra cost) and set your own dive schedule. Nitrox is free for residents. 2 min walk to the beach for the Liberty wreck (they take your gear down for you), or a short ride up the beach for the Coral Garden & Drop-off, or alternative entry for the Liberty). A short ride on a tiny jukung boat will get you to some other local sites, eg Alam Anda, which was fun.
The diving was great!
Definitely recommended.
