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| This is a clam attached to the wreck |
One of the most famous scuba dive sights on the island of Bali, Indonesia is a huge shipwreck called the USS Liberty. I remembered these WWII Liberty ships being built in several shipyards near where I grew up in Savannah and Brunswick, GA. So I looked more into this wreck to see if I possibly came from the same place halfway around the world and what I found was very interesting. In fact the USS part of the name is a common misconception. It should be USAT Liberty. This stands for U.S. Army Transport. She was built in Kearny, N.J. in 1918 for WWI and then survived until an ill fated day in 1942 during WWII when she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-166 while transporting railway parts and rubber. Other boats tried to help tow the damaged Liberty back to shore but eventually had to be beached at Tulamben, Bali. Not finished moving yet, a 1963 volcanic eruptions moved the ship off the beach into the water about 25 meters offshore. Thus making one of the biggest, shallowest, and easily accessible shipwrecks for scuba divers. Now during high season there can be over 100 divers at this sight per day!
Luckily this wasn't high season. The water was a balmy 80 degrees and beautiful. I went with a scuba outfit out of Sanur called Go Blue Diving. The drive was about 2 hours because of the incessant traffic here in Bali but the two dives we did on the wreck made it totally worth it. I would definitely do it again. Tons of fish, soft coral of all colors, invertebrates like nudibranchs and sea stars, blue spotted rays, scorpionfish, and even a little pygmy sea horse all greeted us underwater. Seeing black coral in 20ft of water and garden eels in 10ft shocked me even more. You have to dive pretty deep in Hawaii to find either.
The porters that carried the tanks down were almost as incredible as the animals we found soon after. Check out the guy carrying 3 full scuba tanks and the woman carrying one on her head....with no hands1!
The wreck itself was massive. The ship was originally 411ft and now it has broken up just a bit so the distance is even greater from bow to stern. It is incredible close to shore making it a very easy kick out but the most amazing part is the slope it rest on is quite steep so you can be exploring the wreck down at 90ft all the way up to about 5ft at low tide! You could dive all day on the one wreck and not do the same thing twice.
Luckily this wasn't high season. The water was a balmy 80 degrees and beautiful. I went with a scuba outfit out of Sanur called Go Blue Diving. The drive was about 2 hours because of the incessant traffic here in Bali but the two dives we did on the wreck made it totally worth it. I would definitely do it again. Tons of fish, soft coral of all colors, invertebrates like nudibranchs and sea stars, blue spotted rays, scorpionfish, and even a little pygmy sea horse all greeted us underwater. Seeing black coral in 20ft of water and garden eels in 10ft shocked me even more. You have to dive pretty deep in Hawaii to find either.
The porters that carried the tanks down were almost as incredible as the animals we found soon after. Check out the guy carrying 3 full scuba tanks and the woman carrying one on her head....with no hands1!
The wreck itself was massive. The ship was originally 411ft and now it has broken up just a bit so the distance is even greater from bow to stern. It is incredible close to shore making it a very easy kick out but the most amazing part is the slope it rest on is quite steep so you can be exploring the wreck down at 90ft all the way up to about 5ft at low tide! You could dive all day on the one wreck and not do the same thing twice. 
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