LIBERTY SHIPWRECK – Tulamben
The USAT Liberty is a 120 meter/360 feet long United States Army cargo ship that left the coast of Australia in January 1942 to transport railways parts and rubber to the Philippines. As it was passing in between the islands of Lombok and Bali, it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on January 11th. The hull was leaking but there was an attempt to tow her to Singaraja, the Balinese capital at the time, in order to get her repaired. However, the USAT Liberty was sinking rapidly and had to be beached halfway through, in the small fishing village of Tulamben. The cargo was emptied and left to be dismantled by the local population.
For the next 20 years, she was left there, being slowly eaten away by the inhabitants as the raw material it was made of was quite precious to build houses and other things. But in 1963, the nearby volcano, Mount Agung, erupted. The tremors associated with the eruption caused the USAT Liberty to slide into the water. It now lies on the black sandy bottom of the Tanjung Muntig bay of Tulamben, at a depth between 5 to 35 meters/15 to 110 feet, and became an extremely popular dive site in the world.
Beach entry make this dive spot even more easier access. Beginner up to experience divers are always spotted here.
Topography of the site is sloppy black sandy bottom. About 25 meters/70 feet away from shoreline you will find the stern ( back side of the ship ) in the south. The top part of the stern is around 3 meters/10 feet to the surface, and the deepest of this part is around 18 meters/60 feet.
Heading north to the front side you will find the Boilers and the cargo room at the shallowest depth around 5 meters/15 feet and the deepest is around 23 meters/70 feet. Continue to the Bow ( front area ) about 12 meters/35 feet off the surface and descend to 35 meters/110 feet to the bottom on the north.
This wreck is not anymore a ship like. It is destroyed, by time and nature. Only some part like the stern and the bow where you can still recognize from the distance shaping a ship.
This stunning dive site offer you full of lifes. Coral reefs are covered most of the boat parts. The photographer here commonly find the wide angle shots of it’s boat shape, sea fans, the guns, or group of fishes like the humphead parrot fish. There are also a lot of small critters for your camera such as scorpion leaf fish, candy crab, nudibranchs, spider crabs, pygmy seahorse, Zanzibar shrimps, peacock mantis and spearing mantis shrimps, yellow barred jaw fish, Spanish dancer, hairy squad lobster, xeno crabs and there are still a lot more to see!
