Dive&Snorkel

Diving is now a fully operational feature of Heaven on the Planet with George, our surfer-girl diving instructor, resident full time at the Resort.  The summer season from (October to March inclusive) is best, with excellent diving all year around. Many dive sites in this new wonderland are just opening up. Just 200 m off HOT Planet Beach is a fun reef, with many small fish and bright corals. Go by boat, or swim from the beach to see the underwater terrain change from sand and rocks to a rich coral reef. Some visitors use dive gear, others snorkel. The Central Bay “snorkeling reef” is exceptional and easily accessible. Old large plate corals, stag heads and many soft corals are arranged in a complex array of ancient corals (possibly over 100 years old).  For conservation, we don’t anchor our boat in this natural wonderland while you snorkel. Then, there are the astonishing Walls of Heaven, fondly known to George as Nudi Heaven (come and find out why). The Walls is a newly-discovered underwater wonderland, dropping down a steep cliff to 48 m depth. You’ll watch the complex ecology change as you drift down. Heaven on the Planet offers qualified instruction, dive equipment, vessels and assistance with your dive site selection. Prices include equipment, filled bottles and vessel. Some wetsuits are available, but many divers find them unnecessary.

A message from George, our resident dive instructor

Hello, I am George the resident PADI Diving Instructor at Heaven on the Planet. Two years ago while travelling through Lombok, I heard rumors of a piece of paradise up on a cliff, with views one could only dream of. So I went in search of this place, travelling through the wilderness and countryside, to eventually find ‘Heaven’. Originally going for a day’s exploration I ended up staying five, and found it hard to drag myself away. A year later, I returned to Lombok especially to go to Heaven with my friend. It was then that I met the lovely owners Kerry and Moira. I learned about their vision over the years, to create such a beautiful resort that could do the place justice and to give their guests a complete package of ambiance and relaxation in sync with nature’s finest accomplishments. And this is what you see today. Eventually in our conversations we got onto the subject of scuba diving. They were both big fans. It turned out they had all the gear and that Ekas Bay was holding some gems under the sea as well! They took me 10 minutes by their boat to what they call the snorkelling reef. To my amazement, I discovered this vast colourful reef, full of beautiful table coral dating back hundreds of years, along with cabbage, elephant ears, branching, brain and encrusting hard and soft corals. I had not encountered the greenery of some of these in this coral garden anywhere else in Indo after diving all over for the last 2 years! I went on an exploratory dive, bumping into a massive school of baby parrot fish, showing off their multi colours. I found some beautiful nudi branch’s (trippy coloured sea slugs), lion fish, Moorish idols, bat fish, and a whole host of other Indonesian tropical fish. On one tank, I could have lasted an hour or more, because all of this was found at around 2-3m depth! A coral garden such as this one is a rare find indeed. And having it all to myself was a diving pleasure. It reminded me why I got into scuba diving in the first place; to feel free, and absorb myself in this underwater world. I told them how perfect this shallow reef would be for introductory lessons on scuba. At only a max of 3m, it is a perfectly safe place to take people for their first time, with none of the diving dangers. Kerry then told me of a deep dive site that followed the cliffs down on the other side of the Bay. So we headed out to try and find a mysterious coral wall that some marine biologist friends had stumbled across a few years earlier. After a couple of beautiful dives with coral slopes, morey eels hiding in crevices blue spotted sting rays gliding by, and a massive array of Indonesian tropical fish including royal angel, 4 banded angel, harlequin clown and many nemos, we eventually found the wall! The slope contour took us round a corner and Kerry and I at the time had heads buried in our own coral bommies distracted by whatever creatures had caught our attention. Like hunting sharks we moved our noses round the corner to see this lovely little drop off appear in front of us. I can’t tell you how excited I was to discover this first hand!  Coming out of it, as if dressed up for the surprise, were crazy swirly plant streamers and multi coloured wild plant life decorating it.  At 22m, I found 2 dancing lion fish showing off their plume, and shortly after a cheeky mantis shrimp dived into a hole beside me. When we surfaced we were buzzing with excitement. I later named this site ‘Nudi Haven’ because of the bright yellow nudi branches dancing weirdly in their thousands at this place. A few months later, I got the call from Kerry offering me my dream job. It took me 5 seconds to say yes, and I was there with all my worldly belongings 3 days later. I enjoyed 5 months of introducing people ages from 12 – 60 to scuba diving, and they all loved it. I had couples holding hands and cruising along in romantic bliss, for their first dive ever, and nearly all said they would return to their country and do the course, because they were hooked. For experienced divers of Open Water certificate or higher, I took them to nudi heaven, and we had some lovely encounters with a marble and eagle rays,  a baby reef shark, bump head parrot fish, hunting sea snake, and the biggest morey eel I have ever seen! All these guys were passing by nudi heaven and other parts of the cliffs on different days. The contours of nudi heaven make for a real adventurist site as well, with huge boulders broken off from the cliffs hundreds of years ago, that are now covered in multi-coloured plants. It’s great! It is a rare privilege to dive with no other boats around dropping off their divers, to block your views. With just 6 tanks we never have big groups, so you can have your own intimate discovery for yourself. The equipment is all new and with a Padi Instructor as your guide, we are serious about your safety. That’s the only thing we’re serious about in Heaven. Come see for yourselves, George. Any questions about the diving I will be happy to answer at   enquiries@heavenontheplanet.co.nz