THE UNDERWATER

Liberty Wreck

Just 400m left of the Mimpi Resort Tulamben lies the wreck of USS Liberty, built 1915, an impressive 100 m long remnant of WW II. On 11 January 1942, about 15 km southwest of Lombok, a Japanese submarine torpedoed this armed vessel.

Whilst in tow by two destroyers HMNS Van Ghent and USS Paul Jones, she was perilously taking in water thus in an effort to salvage the cargo, she was successfully beached on the shores of Tulamben. As ships are made for a life at sea, the violent eruption of 1963 toppled and pushed the vessel back into the water, to lie almost parallel to shore. Today, she is Indonesia's diving mascot. However, it is neither the structure nor history that attracts divers from all over the world.

1.Door (9m) 2.Cannon (18m) 3.Juvenile fishes 4.Tunnel (8m - 16m) 5.Tunicate wall (8m - 18m) 6.Flashlight fish (21m) 7.Pillar house (14m - 17m) 8.Boom with sweetlips (6m) 9.Cleaner shrimp station (17m) 10.Gorgonian overhang (18m) 11.Soft coral "desk" (7m) 12.Lone black coral (12m) 13.Sign to beach one stone 14.Best part of wreck (18m - 29m)

The most obvious attraction of the wreck is the sheer number and variety of fish; friendly fishes that approach up close and personal.

Sergeant-major damselfish, crescent wrasse and unicorn fish often swim right up to divers, to inquire for a free feed. The bigger fishes, humphead parrotfish, Napoleon wrasse, oriental sweetlips, rabbitfishes, coral trouts and gropers sometimes hover in midwater making great subjects for fish portraits. In the labyrinth of the near collapsed wreckage, at least 18 species of butterfly and angelfishes have been counted. Leaders in the field of fish ichthyology estimate 500 species of reef fishes just around the wreck environ. Though only a few table-sized hard corals are found on the outer edge, the superstructure is heavily colonized with soft corals, gorgonian fans, and tall black and green coral trees, stinging hydrozoan and colorful sponges. The gun is still intact on the stern at 28m, completely encrusted with sessile animals and sea fans. At 30m, the reef is prolific with red sea whips, huge barrel sponges, numerous species of gobies - a marine photographer's dream location. Even snorkellers can enjoy themselves on the wreck; just a mere 30m swim from shore is the bow, heavily encrusted with sponges, sea squirts and haven of friendly

Tulamben Wall

On the eastern end of Tulamben Bay, and just a few steps away from Mimpi Resort tulamben bay, beneath a temple, is a coral wall that plummets to beyond 60m. Here is where the fantasies of many divers dwell. The wall is completely occupied with huge barrel sponges, coral trees, oversized gorgonian fans - one prominently positioned on a ledge at 30m, over 3m in height adorned with long-nosed hawkfish and canary yellow damselfish.

Within numerous caverns and crevices e thorny oysters, tubastrea corals, crabs, and shrimps sha ring home with squirrelfishes, coral trouts, blennies and scorpionfishes. Among fish experts, this wall is notoriously famous to harbour hard to find and hard to photograph species including the comet (Callophesiops altivelis), a fish with elaborate finnage and a false eyespot. Another favorite past time here however is chasing after dainty fairy basslets, which come in a kaleidoscope of purple, red, yellow, orange, green and blue. The weird sunfish, Mola Mola are also known to hang out on this wall.

Nighttime on the wall is like an undersea presentation of Walt Disney's Fantasia, played continuously through the night. To enjoy the show, descend to 30m, face the wall, switch off the torch and watch. Millions of tiny green bulbs magically appear, to perform a show of twinkling zigzagging lights. These are the Anomalops, the fish of the night that possess a bioluminescent organ beneath each eye. For the keen - eyed observes, new species are waiting here to be discovered.

Coral Garden

Just in front of the resort's pool, another exciting dive-site waits to be explored. Here the keen-eye might detect a large variety of nudibranchs, the rare ghost pipe fish, as well as a multitude of other critters and fishes.