During the battle of Pacific, USAT Liberty (United States Army Transport ship) was carried out a mission transporting railway part and rubber from Australia to Philippines. On 11 January 1942, USAT Liberty was torpedoed by Japanese Submarine I-166 near Lombok Strait. US Destroyer Paul Jones and Dutch Destroyer Van Ghent attempted recovery of this ship and tow this ship to Singaraja. However, due to the heavy flooding of USAT Liberty, this ship never made the journey. It was beached on the eastern shore of Bali at Tulamben so that the cargo could be salvaged. This ship was sitting still on the shore until Mt Agung Erupted in 1963. The tremors caused the ship slipped off the beach and sink into ocean. Now the ship lies on sand slope with depth of 9m-30m providing magnificent dive spot in Bali.
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| USAT Liberty Wreck |
Ones do not require being a licensed diver to explore this amazing result of 48 years penetration of marine ecosystem into this ship. PADI offers Discovery Scuba Diving (DSD) program, in which this is also one of the module that required to be done in PADI Open Water License. This program would also could be taken into credit if the participant applies for Open Water License within 6 months.
DSD consist of crash course on theory and two dives. The theory covers most of the material that would be covered in license training in general. These includes: safety, diving skill and etiquette in marine ecosystems. The only thing that not covered in DSD training is the Buoyancy Compensator (BCD) since the instructor will have control of the BCD at all times.
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| Instructor and Trainee |
DSD program in Tulamben features the splendid coral park for the first dive and the magnificent USAT Liberty shipwreck for the second dive. The first dive was the training session which done in the shore area. Within this dive, the instructor taught three skills, they are regulator cleaning, regulator recovery and mask cleaning. As these three skills completed, these skills were put into practice by exploring the nearby Coral Park. The Park is in 6m deep hence the sunlight shines most of the coral and fish.
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| Coral Park |
The second dive explores the magnificent ecosystem of the USAT Liberty Shipwreck. 48 years had been quite a time for the marine inhabitant to build their life around this ship. There also couple sea turtle lives around this area although they are rarely to be found. These turtles are meant to be free roaming in the ocean instead of artificially conserved in zoo or such place.
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| Sea Turtle |
Under the wreck, there are two grouper weighted approximately over 100kg. These fish has stout body and large mouth. They do not have many teeth on their jaw however they have powerful gills to suck their prey in and crushing teeth plate in the pharynx. They eat octopus and smaller fish. The existence of this fish may indicate that there would be Moray eel nearby since they are often to be found hunt together. Unlike Grouper in which have less harm history to diver, Moray eel known for its history on biting diver’s finger. These grouper in the wreck does not seems to be accompanied by the Moray eel.
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| Grouper |
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| Moray eel |
In summary, USAT Shipwreck is an amazing diving spot. For those who had license they may have opportunities to explore more in deeper area. Even with 2 hour drive from Denpasar to reach this location, it still worth. Aside from the shipwreck and coral garden, there are 10 another dive spot which includes sea wall for deep dive (40m). It is a place that worth to be re-visited in the future.
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| Around Shipwreck |
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