Kuta Lombok as it is frequently referred to, presumably to differentiate it from the “other” more famous Kuta in Bali, is a laid back surfer-centric small town about 25 km further east from Belongas Bay.

There is no coast road to Kuta, so to access it from Sekotong means a two-hour drive through Praya in central Lombok, but the journey takes in some excellent rural scenery of lush rice fields and traditional Sasak villages.

Surfing is definitely the main game in town and Kuta hosts a selection of mid to low-end accommodation and an assortment of beach type restaurants offering local food & cold Bintang beers plus, in a sign of what is coming, an upmarket Novotel resort in a prime location at the end of Kuta beach.

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Kuta Lombok Image Gallery

There are several good dive sites around Kuta, but the best ones are exposed to the weather and coastal currents, so it is not always possible to dive them.

I was fortunate when I was there and did several dives on a site call JJR, which was excellent, plus we managed to get one dive in on a new site called The Zone.

JJR is located to the west of Kuta at the inlet to Tampa Bay and involves a 45-minute boat journey to get there.

The site consists of a two large seamounts, which break the surface, surrounded by a number of smaller seamounts & boulders all in about 30m of water.

The site is rich in marine life and hosts a number of soft & hard coral gardens and schooling fusiliers & snappers.

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JJR Image Gallery

The Zone is another 40 minutes further west towards Belongas Bay and is an underwater seamount, which can be difficult to locate and then securely moor to. The Zone is very much another “power site” and on the day I dived it the current was so strong it was basically on the limit of what could be done safely.

With one arm in a death grip on my camera, I managed to use the other to pull myself down the mooring rope to the top of the seamount in about 14m, while keeping my face straight into the current to avoid my mask being ripped off…

On the seamount was a vast array of pelagics cruising the current and in the distance were numerous gray reef sharks and a larger shark that had the very distinctive shape of an oceanic white tip!

It was an awesome if rather challenging dive and together with the Magnet & Cathedral is on my Indonesian “to do” list – watch this space…

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