The Drop-Off — Tulamben | scubaSeason.fun

Planning a trip?

Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Tulamben location page.

Overview

A near-vertical wall plunging from 3 m to beyond 60 m at the eastern end of Tulamben Bay. Black volcanic sand at the base contrasts with dense gorgonians and barrel sponges on the wall face. Reliable for big fish drifting past in clean water.

What you'll see

4 species curated

Whitetip reef shark
year-round
Napoleon wrasse
seasonal
Hawksbill turtle
year-round
Leaf scorpionfish
year-round

Sightings evidence

1 record on file

Whitetip reef shark
high confidence
Last confirmed
May 2026
Recent records
130 within 10 km

Sources & methodology

How we summarise this

We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.

Sources

Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
Wildbook (Sharkbook, Whale Shark, Manta Matcher) — Wild Me
OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
FishBase — FishBase Consortium
Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation

Conditions

Month	Water	Visibility	Current
Jan	27–29 °C	15–25 m	mild
Feb	27–29 °C	15–25 m	mild
Mar	28–29 °C	20–30 m	mild
Apr	28–30 °C	20–30 m	mild
May	28–30 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Jun	26–28 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Jul	25–27 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Aug	25–27 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Sep	26–28 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Oct	27–29 °C	20–30 m	mild
Nov	27–29 °C	15–25 m	mild
Dec	27–29 °C	15–25 m	mild

Season calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Peak season highlighted · current month outlined

Gear for this site

Beyond the basic kit

Dive computer — Easy to overshoot depth on the wall — watch your profile.

Next step

Book your trip to Tulamben

Hotels, liveaboards, dive operators, gear recommendations, and travel logistics for the whole region.

Plan your trip →

Some links earn us a commission. Learn more