| In this review we
will review 2 dive centers which cooperated during our
stay; ZEN dive Bali and Bambu divers.
The resort we resided was the Rama
Candidasa resort & Spa which is located next to the ZEN
diving center.
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The resort
As mentioned we stayed in the Rama Candidasa Dive & Spa
Resort, a luxurious 4 star resort located in the east of
Bali, in the heart of the Candidasa district.
The resort has around 75 rooms available, which varies
from a standard suite till ocean view bungalows.
The (basic) superior rooms even have a TV, DVD player,
personal air-conditioning, in-room safe deposit box and
free Wi-Fi, even a bathroom with a bath tub.
The daily housekeeping does a good job; the rooms are
clean and fresh.
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The restaurant
The restaurant is an international based restaurant,
however they also serve traditional Balinese dishes. The
quality is very good!
Breakfast really good, it’s in buffet form and there’s
plenty of choice.
And there’s a (limited) lunch menu available.
Dinner is very good, there is plenty to choose from.
There is one small issue, make sure you don’t sit in the
back of the restaurant, there’s no air-conditioning in
the restaurant en the temperatures can be sky high here!
The best seats are along the outside of the restaurant,
there you can also enjoy the sea view.
Prices in the restaurant are acceptable, however it’s
still a couple of times more expensive than a good
restaurant downtown Candidasa.
Some tips for restaurants in
Candidasa: Vincent’s restaurant and the Crazy Kangaroo
restaurant, both offer a free pick-up and return service
from the resort. (5 min. by car)
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Facilities
The resort has plenty of facilities, there’s a great
swimming pool available with plenty of sunbeds and a
free towel service.
There is an ‘artificial’ beach created were you can
relax on large ‘swinging’ sunbeds. The sea is not
accessible from the resort because there’s no beach
available. There are only rocks in front of the resort
which is not accessible because of a steep wall.
From the dive center (ZEN
Diving) next to the resort there is an option to enter
the sea for swimming or snorkeling. This is only a 2
minutes’ walk…
There is also a Spa available where you can get a
traditional massage etc.
Note that the prices charged here are about 4 till 5
times more expensive that in a massage salon downtown.
If you’re interested, there’s also a library with books,
newspapers and magazines available, there’s a fitness
room and several lounge areas.
There is also a free shuttle
service to downtown Candidasa.
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The
dive centers
As mentioned, we had 2 cooperating dive centers; Bambu
divers which is owned and managed by the Dutch Gerard
Elferink and ZEN dive which is managed by the (also
Dutch) Jos de Groot.
They worked together because we
brought over 20 divers with us…..
Most of the dive centers in Bali are not able to handle
that many divers at once.
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Gerard (left)
& Jos (right) |
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Bambu Divers is
located in the center of Candidasa in front of the Crazy
Kangaroo restaurant. They also have their own bungalows
available for their guests, what basically mean that you
can book a complete diving holiday with them.
It’s a high standard 5 star PADI
dive center and is since 2012 operational. They have
their own boat and arrange local dives as well as
daytrips to Nusa Penida. It’s owned and managed by
Gerard. |
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ZEN dive Bali is
the other dive center which is located directly next to
the Rama Candidasa Resort. (2 min. walk), this is also a
5 star PADI dive center.
The daily operations of the dive
center is managed by Jos, a dive instructor prefers to
be underwater most of the day…
Both dive centers have a pool for scuba training
purposes and good facilities for cleaning, rinsing,
drying and storing your scuba gear.
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Jos and Gerard
are both very professional, and their cooperation worked
out fine with us. Everything was arranged perfectly by a
strict schedule (Gerard), the transfers and boats were
always in time.
The dive operation (Jos) was also very good, well
trained dive guides, good dive locations and a flexible
attitude made this a great success. |
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Our
evaluation
Our ratings below are based on our personal
experiences. They are also adapted to our needs
as divers. Meaning that we’re less focused on
additional features.
Therefore you should only pay attention to our
ratings if you’re planning a diving holiday.
Where we base our score on:
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Accommodation: |
Room size, beds,
cleaning, bathroom, location,
environmentally friendly, etc. |
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Facilities: |
Pool, sport
activities, organized trips, TV,
Internet, phone, etc. |
| Dive center: |
Quality of equipment, boats, crew, dive
guides, location, service, marine conservation,
etc. |
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Scoring
matrix
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