Hi lucky man,
I've been there 2 years ago and I thinks you can find some real good freediving there.
You can buy a good book : the lonely planet: diving and snorkeling in bali/lombok for 12 $ on amazon
There's the best spot:
in the north:
pulau mejangan it's a natural park, you can only go there by boat(20 min) for max 4 hours
the underwater cliff( from 1m to 35m) is crazy, some cave, gorgona, white tip shark if you're lucky..... I paid 20 euros for the trip with dolfin watching in the morning from lovina, bus, boat, meal...you should try it
all the other spot are free
Tulamben and the liberty wreck:
easy to find it goes from 2-3 m to 30 m==> wonderfull for freediving!!!!
big fishes, clown fishes, swim in the wreck
but go there early in the morning or in the end of the afternoon, avoiding the scuba divers...
there also many spots around tulamben but unfornunatly I cannot try (look in the book!!)
Amed, wonderfull place to stay, nice corals....should try!!!
the south east
PADANGBAI :friday :
cheap hotel, nice athmosphere, nice music, young indonesian people, good coral, big fishes, snake, shark, barracuda....
It's one of the best place to stay in Bali in my opinion
If you have a waterproof bag (if buy it!!!) you can go to blue bay 15 min of walking, put all your stuff in the bag join it to a spearfisher buoy...and then you're autonom!! and then swim back to the bay of padangbay ( 1,5 km), sometimes there is a little drift so stay close to the seaside.
Her I've seen a 2m shark in 50cm of water, a 2.5m barracuda at 5m from the padangbai beach, the viz is not exeptionnal 10-15 m maybe more sometimes
from padangbai you can have a trip to the gili island (super place, liittle paradise on earth) on lombok, if you have enough time (min 3 d), ther you can see turtle mantas, sharks, the coral is not exeptionnal.
Nusa Lembongan (island in the south, boat from padangbai or sanur)
You should go ther for freediving AND surfing
the hostel are more expensive (4 or 5€!!!!), a lot of surfer,
Here you can surf almost all the year!!
you can try a drift freediving with your waterproof bag from mushroom bay to your hotel it takes 2h (2km) with the drift helping you, you can go between the surfers if you want (!!coral surfing, be carefull!!)
I hope you'll enjoy those spots, it's the one I mostly enjoy!!!
Have a look in the book it's well done and not expensive, the lonely planet guide is nice to find hostels
in 2004 3 weeks cost me 300€ with a trip from jakarta to bali to lombok and gili then bali then fly to jakarta
restaurant 2€, room for 2 = 3€...incredible!!
You can send me a mail if you want some more informations....
Adrien from france
ps sorry for my english!!
