by Kat Ramage | Apr 26, 2017 | Underwater Temple Garden
Lots of soft coral and other life on this Buddha head statue
One of the many heads in Temple Garden Pemuteran
Constructed as one of the three BRF/Aus Aid funded projects, with the local divecentres. this spooky location consists of a small temple garden starting at 30m and works its way back to the dive site Temple Wall. Statues of Buddha, Ganesha, turtles and more abound behind an ornate Balinese gateway. Behind the central statue is an interesting little bommie with Buddha heads covered in cleaning shrimps. Up the wall and in the crevices behind you can find electric clams sparking away. Then at 15m you come to area of plinths and statue heads sitting in communion.
Is Temple Garden a snorkeling site?
No, not really. The statues are at a depth of 15-30 metres, and the visibility is often not the best due to its location in the bay. From the surface, you won’t be able to distinguish any real structural features because everything is covered with marine life. A better choice for snorkeling if you want to see statues and structures is Biorock.
NOTE; You may have seen pictures like these below on the internet showing statues and snorkelers. This is NOT the Temple Garden in Pemuteran.
NOT the Underwater Temple Garden in Pemuteran
Also, NOT the UW Temple Garden in Pemuteran
Can I dive Temple Garden as part of an Introductory Dive Course or Discover Scuba Diving experience?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. If you complete the introductory dive course with us, you will have a temporary certificate that is valid for 14 days. This allows you to dive under the direct supervision of a divemaster or instructor to a maximum depth of 12 metres (Temple Garden is at 15-30 metres). But you CAN join us on any of our other normal trips.
I am an Open Water Diver. Can I go to Temple Garden?
If you have lots of diving experience, including deep dives (bring your logbook) and you’ve done a dive with one of our staff, then most certainly you can go.
If you want to get your Advanced Adventurer or Advanced Diver certifications or Deep Diver specialty, with a little bit of bookwork, we can take you there as your deep training dive.
Even if you don’t want to get a certification, you can sit down with one of our instructors, get a deep diver orientation and he will accompany you on the dive.
I have Advanced and/or Deep Diver certification, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been diving. What about me?
Yes, but not as your first/only dive with us. Consider taking a refresher course or a gentle refresher dive with one of our instructors/divemasters first. Get your feet wet on a slow and easy dive, sort out any equipment/buoyancy issues, and then you’ll be ready to go.
Temple Garden is one of the premier sites in Pemuteran, and we want to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for our brethren.
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by Capt Paul | Mar 24, 2012 | Underwater Temple Garden, Video's of the Sea Rovers Brethren
More Fun an games with the GoPro HD Hero. Me latest Underwater Temple Garden video is full HD and was a Gig plus. Hardest part was uploading the damn thing. took two attempts. Just left it uploading over night and hoped that in the morning it was finished.
Basically, for those interested, I used Sea Rovers GoPro HD Hero, Eye of Mine housing and an old Sony UW video filter. Everything was edited together using Power Director 10.
Vis wasn’t exactly perfect, but considering the simple nature of the camera I’m happy with the results.
by Capt Paul | Aug 21, 2010 | The Brethrens Photos, Underwater Temple Garden
Jon & Linda Anderson sent me a couple of photo’s from the ‘Temple Garden’ proving that the temple is not the only thing worth seeing down there.
This tiny little pygmy seahorse blending right in with some of the gorgonians that are all over the ‘Temple Wall’, along with pipefish, nudibranch and many more interesting little critters.
Look at me, I’m Tiny.
by Capt Paul | Aug 7, 2010 | General News, Underwater Temple Garden
The Underwater Temple Garden
And the photo that started it all;
The original stories;
Indonesian Archeologists to investigate potentially phenomenal discovery
Apparently someone took my photo, posted it on twitter and claimed an archeological discovery off the coast of Bali. This went global, thanks to the internet and thus a urban legend was born. 🙂
The follow up story helped to clear up the matter but some journalists still got it wrong.
Mystery of underwater hindu temple in bali solved
Its funny, so far I have been interviewed by the BBC, Daily Telegraph, Metro TV, amongst others. Oh and a couple of hundred strangers now want to be my friend on facebook. Cancel funny lets say crazy.
But still I find it amazing that one photo can bring so much attention to our little corner of the world. However I feel that I have to set some facts straight.
I didn’t build this for Sea Rovers guests!
Though I have been in Pemuteran for 14 years now and was involved in the creation of the Reef Gardeners, I can’t lay claim to be the person with the dream. I was part of the team who made the dream a reality.
At the time I was working with Chris Brown along the beach from us. The original concept was his. Over the years, every now and again, we’d talked about the idea of an Underwater Temple Garden, but never had the funds to put it together. And what with the revolution, crisis, birth of true democracy in Indonesia, Bali Bombs and the ensuing loss of tourism we had other things matters to take care of. Then a friend of Chris’s suggested approaching the Bali Rehabilitation Fund (Aus Aid) with the idea of a social and enviromental project that would become the ‘Reef Gardeners’.
For more information on the Reef Gardeners project and the creation of the Temple Garden and also the Biowreck, kuberan Kapal (Ships Graveyard), plus Coral Canyon wreck. You can download the brochure on this page Save our Reefs (Hug a Fish) of our website.
The truth is out there, if only people would take the time to read it and listen to what is actually being said. Or learn how to Google properly 😉
The now famous Captain Paul M Turley, at your service. Ha Harrr!
P.S. Underwater Temple Garden tours and wedding services now available 🙂
by Capt Paul | May 29, 2009 | Capt Paul's Photo's
Om Swasti Astu, as we say here in Bali.
Back when the world was younger, the ancient Sea Gods of Bali decreed that a temple should be erected in their honour at 30mtr depth (yes, even the Gods went metric). An thus it was Temple Garden was made for them all to play in.
Lighting incense is a bit of a bugger though so bring a torch instead.
Lost city of Pemuteran?
Ancient pose for happy divers….
Diver checks watch to see what century she’s in.
ZOMBIE BUDDA!… Swim away, swim away…..
Deeply Deco Spirits.
Petrified sweetlipped turtle.
And finally a communion of spirits.
The facts:
Sank in 2005 as part of the still ongoing Reef Gardeners project. This little dive has become an interesting change from the reefs of Pemuteran. The often hazy vis creates a wonderfully spooky atmosphere.
Home to nudis and Electric clams, Temple Wall (or Pura Tembok) above also offers a lot of , well stuff to look at.
Personally I prefer the ancient gods story 😉
Om Santi Santi Om.
The Captain
