A freediver's guide to one of the world's most iconic shore-accessible wrecks — its history, what you'll see today, and how to dive it on a single breath.
The USAT Liberty shipwreck lies on a black-sand slope just metres off the shore of Tulamben, on Bali's north-east coast. At 120 metres long and resting between 5 and 30 metres of depth, it is one of the only large shipwrecks in the world a freediver can swim out to from the beach and explore without a boat — and one of the most photographed wrecks on the planet.
This page tells the story of the ship — torpedoed in World War II, beached on Tulamben, then pushed underwater by the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung — and explains practically what it's like to dive the Liberty wreck today as a freediver: what you'll see, the conditions you can expect, and how to do it safely from Apnea Bali, our freediving school 200 metres up the road.
The wreck most people know today as the “Liberty” was originally a US Army Transport ship — hence USAT, not USS. She was a steam-powered cargo carrier built in 1918, near the end of the First World War, for the United States Navy. After her wartime service she was transferred to the Army's transport fleet, where she would spend the rest of her operational life carrying supplies across the Pacific.
On the morning of 11 January 1942, just weeks after the United States entered the Second World War, the USAT Liberty was steaming through the Lombok Strait — the deep-water passage between Bali and Lombok — carrying railway parts and rubber from Australia to the Philippines. She was struck on her starboard side by a torpedo fired from the Japanese submarine I-166.
The Liberty did not sink immediately. Two destroyers, USS Paul Jones and the Dutch HNLMS Van Ghent, attempted to tow her to the nearest safe harbour. The ship was taking on too much water to reach Singaraja, so the decision was made to beach her on the closest accessible coast — the volcanic black-sand shore of the fishing village of Tulamben. There she sat, half on the beach, half in the shallows, while her cargo was salvaged and the wreck slowly rusted in plain sight.
For two decades the Liberty remained a half-buried beached hulk — a curiosity for villagers and the occasional traveller. Then, in March 1963, Mount Agung — Bali's largest volcano, which Apnea Bali sits at the foot of — erupted catastrophically. The associated earth tremors shifted the seabed and the Liberty slid off the beach into deeper water just offshore, settling at the angle and depth she rests at today: parallel to the beach, lying on her starboard side, with her port-side rail breaking the surface at roughly 5 metres and her bow descending to around 30 metres.
The same eruption that pushed the Liberty underwater killed an estimated 1,500 people on Bali. For Tulamben it transformed a half-rusted curiosity into one of the most accessible large shipwrecks in the world — and over the next sixty years, into the second-most-visited dive site in Indonesia.
The Liberty is no longer recognisable as a ship the way it would have been in 1942. Six decades of warm tropical water have transformed the steel hull into a vast artificial reef — every inch is covered in hard and soft corals, sponges, gorgonian fans and crinoids. The structure has broken in places, with the central section the most photogenic: a tangled cathedral of rusted plates, twisted railings and coral overgrowth that you can swim through, over and around.
For freedivers, the Liberty is unusual among famous wrecks for one reason: it is shallow enough to enjoy without scuba. The shallowest sections of the hull break the surface at around 5 metres, the bow sits at 30 metres, and the entire wreck is reachable on a single breath by anyone with intermediate freediving skills.
Most of our students dive the wreck after their AIDA 2 / Wave 1 beginner course, where the 12–20 m depth they reach by day three is enough to explore the wreck's top half — the stern, the upper deck and the iconic swim-through where the central section has broken open. Intermediate freedivers from our AIDA 3 / Wave 2 course (24–30 m) can explore the entire wreck top to bottom.
Visibility at the Liberty is typically 15–30 metres year-round, occasionally dropping to 10 m during heavier rains and pushing to 40 m+ in good conditions. Water temperature is a constant 27–29 °C. There is no current to speak of — the wreck sits in a sheltered bay — though a mild surface swell is possible from December to February.
Freediving any wreck demands stricter buddy procedures than open-water depth diving: never enter a confined space without a clear line of sight to the exit, never freedive into the interior alone, and always dive with a trained buddy on the surface and a second buddy following you down. Every freedive we run at the Liberty is supervised by certified instructors and follows Molchanovs / AIDA buddy protocols.
The Liberty is divable year-round. The dry season — roughly April through October — offers the best surface conditions, the calmest entry from the beach and the most stable visibility. The wet season (November to March) brings warmer water and frequently the best visibility of the year, with occasional rougher entry days.
The wreck is busiest with scuba divers between roughly 09:00 and 11:00. As freedivers we typically run our morning sessions earlier (07:00–08:30) to enjoy the wreck before the day's bubbles arrive, and a calmer second session in the late afternoon.
Apnea Bali is located in Tulamben, walking distance from the Liberty wreck — our base is on Jalan Pura Puseh, around 200 metres from the beach entry point used to access the wreck. Almost every freediving student we take to the Liberty walks there with us.
Our 3-day AIDA 2 / Wave 1 beginner course includes a fun dive at the Liberty wreck on the final day — your first proper wreck dive as a certified freediver. Higher-level courses (Level 2, Level 3) train sessions over the wreck regularly.
If you're already certified (AIDA 2 / Wave 1 or above), join a guided fun dive at the wreck with one of our instructors. Equipment rental, buddy supervision and a safety briefing included. Book via our private coaching page or contact us directly.
If you're new to Bali, our location page covers exactly how to reach Tulamben from Ubud, Canggu or Denpasar airport. Our facilities include a training pool, equipment rental, classroom and on-site recovery space.
Book a freediving course with us and you'll be diving the Liberty on a single breath within 3 days.
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