Locations · Padang Bai · Blue Lagoon
★ · Reef · Bay · Padang Bai · 5 min N of harbour

Blue Lagoon

A sheltered crescent bay 5 minutes north of the harbour. Coral bommies at 8–15 m, sandy patches with garden eels, and the most reliable night dive in Padang Bai.

Also known as Blue Lagoon Beach · Padang Bai Lagoon
Photo: Unsplash · placeholder Story
Difficulty★ Easy
Depth5m → 20m
TypeReef · Bay
Visibility15–25m
Water26–29°C
Best seasonYear-round
GPS 8°31'38"S · 115°30'42"E · Area Padang Bai · 5 min N of harbour · Aliases Blue Lagoon Beach · Padang Bai Lagoon
The story

The bay that doesn't disappoint.

Blue Lagoon is the dive everyone does on day one in Padang Bai. A 5-minute boat hop from the harbour drops you into a sheltered bay with calm water, gentle slopes, and reef bommies clustered at 8–15 metres.

It's a quietly excellent macro site — frogfish tucked into sponges, octopus changing colour on the rubble, blue-spotted stingrays on the sand, schools of glassfish around the bommies. Perfect check-dive, and the night dive here is a local classic for hunting cuttlefish and bobtail squid.

"Calm water, dense critter life, no current — the perfect first dive."

Open Water-friendly. Plan it as the warm-up dive before you tackle the channel currents at Mimpang or Tepekong. Sunset and night dives both excellent.

Topography

How the dive unfolds.

Gentle sand slope from 5m to 20m, dotted with coral bommies. Calm, current-free, no surprises.

★ OPEN WATER · 0–18m ★ ★ ADVANCED · 18–30m ★ ★ ★ TECH ZONE · 30m+ ★ SAFETY STOP · 5m SURFACE ENTRY · BOAT 10m 20m 30m 40m 50m REEF DEEP BLUE 21m+ · open ocean RECOMMENDED · DIVE PATH ENTRY · 5m MACRO ZONE · 12m SAND · 20m 8°31'38"S · 115°30'42"E · estimated profile · 20 samples

Plan a typical 60–80 min dive: drop in at 5m, work the bommies down to 18m, ascend gradually back to 5m. Long bottom times — NDL is generous.

Marine life · what you might see

The ocean's not a zoo.

Sightings are pure chance — current, season, time of day, and luck. Below is what divers spot at this site, but no operator can guarantee any specific encounter on any specific dive.

Frogfish 60%
Octopus (day + night) 70%
Blue-spotted stingrays 80%
Garden eels 90%
Mantis shrimp 65%
Cuttlefish (night) 70%
Bobtail squid (night) 60%
Glassfish schools 95%
Moray eels 75%
Scorpionfish 80%
Nudibranchs 90%
Sea turtles 35%
Hard coral bommies 100%
Anemones · Clownfish 100%
Soft corals 100%
Sponges 100%

Always-presentThe bommies, garden eels, glassfish, anemones, scorpionfish.

Sometimes-presentFrogfish, octopus, sea turtles. Night dive: cuttlefish, bobtail squid, hunting moray.

Practical

What you need.

01 · Cert

Certification

Open Water minimum. Plan deeper sections only if AOWD-comfortable.

02 · Entry

Entry · Distance

Beach or short boat from Padang Bai harbour. Beach entries are 30–50 m fin-out to the drop-in.

03 · Flow

Currents

Mild inside the bay. Gentle to moderate at outer reef edges.

04 · When

Best time of day

Night dive (19:00–20:00) — the bay transforms. Bobtail squid, hunting cuttlefish, sleeping parrotfish, octopus on the move.

05 · Fees

Site fee

Padang Bai harbour fee ~30,000 IDR (€2) per diver per day — included in your PMD safari price.

06 · Schedule

Surface intervals

Lunch in the village between dives. Two-tank trip standard — one shallow, one deeper.

Ready?

Dive Blue Lagoon
on a Padang Bai safari.

All-inclusive: flights, transfers, villa, dives, food, marine fees. Two-tank Padang Bai day with this site as part of the rotation.