Blue Marlin Dive Kuta Lombok — PADI 5 Star Centre for Wild South-East Lombok

Blue Marlin Dive Kuta Lombok is the newest PADI 5 Star Dive Centre in the Blue Marlin Dive family, based on Jalan Raya Kuta in the centre of Kuta Lombok, the surf town on Lombok's south coast and about 20 minutes from Lombok International Airport.

Divers are driven along the coast road to Telong Elong, where the boat leaves for the reefs of the Alas Strait and the protected Tanjung Ringgit coastline in south-east Lombok. It is still very much off-the-beaten-track diving: healthy reefs, slopes, walls and cave swim-throughs from about 5 metres down, with reef sharks, turtles, sea snakes, eagle rays, mobula and manta rays, and thresher sharks and oceanic sunfish among the encounters reported. Currents can be strong, visibility ranges from roughly 8 to 30 metres and water can drop to around 21°C, so sites are chosen daily to suit the conditions and the group, with no more than four divers per guide.

Courses run from Bubblemaker and Discover Scuba through PADI Scuba Diver, Open Water, Advanced, EFR and Rescue to Deep and Nitrox specialties and Divemaster, plus refreshers and guided snorkelling trips. Guests can stay at Blue Marlin's own boutique hotel in central Kuta, with air-conditioned rooms and continental breakfast, a short walk from the beach, cafés and restaurants.