Diving the Padang Bai cruise ship jetty

Heading up to Padang Bai on the west coast of Bali is a pleasant drive from Seminyak once breaking free from the hectic Legian and Denpasar traffic. Padang Bai is the ferry staging point for Lombok's Gili islands and is also a pretty good muck diving location - I like the place. 

The cruise ship jetty was constructed to attract cruise ships further up the coast from the usual port of Benoa and around to the eastern side of the island. Unfortunately in an almost laughable case of poor design and mismanagement, the jetty was designed too short not extending into deep enough water for the draft of cruise ships. 

Instead, on the one occasion a cruise ship did arrive, the tender transported the passengers to the jetty but as the jetty was constructed for cruise ships, it required passengers to climb up from the tender. After their day out and passing through immigration, the passengers were left on the unprotected jetty in a tropical downpour, no more cruise ships docked at Padang Bai jetty instead providing an expensive fishing and diving structure.