Dive Sites of Nusa Lembongan & Penida
New sites are still being discovered around Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida, but the dive sites we visit regularly are listed below:
Nusa Lembongan
This is an exciting dive for experienced divers only. The huge expanse of current swept slopes at Blue Corner provides some dramatic topography. Here you are not inspecting the coral but watching instead for bigger fish out in the blue and the site doesn’t often disappoint. A great site for mola mola (ocean sunfish) during the season and other visitors include eagle rays, huge marble rays, wobbegong, tuna and even the occasional shark.
This site is so called due to its location, right by the mangrove area to the north east of Nusa Lembongan. Mangroves offers a healthy sloping coral reef, with small bommies and table corals waiting to be explored for the small stuff and often marble rays and other larger species swimming past in deeper water. Sharks are occasionally seen here too. A good site for all levels.
Lembongan Bay offers the perfect introduction to diving. Due to its maximum depth of 10m and calmer conditions, it is an ideal site for beginner divers, those wanting a refresher or for avid photographers. The sandy bottom is dotted with coral bommies which are home to frog fish, moral eels, schools of silversides, unicornfish and many more of the smaller species.
North Coast of Nusa Penida
SD, Pura Ped, Pura Mas Gading & Buyuk
These four sites are found side by side on Nusa Penida and share similar sloping reef topography. The colourful reef is made even more interesting with big, randomly placed barrel sponges and coral bommies. Schools of redtooth triggerfish, fusiliers, butterflyfish and drummers compete for passing food that rides the ocean currents. Turtles, rays, sea snakes and the occasional mola mola distract divers from the multitude of smaller creatures hiding amongst the corals, such as scorpionfish and frogfish. The resident school of batfish at SD are almost always a certainty.
The Channel Between Nusa Penida & Nusa Ceningan
Toyapakeh means salt water in Balinese and is found at the north end of the deep channel. It is a diver’s favourite as you often find yourself swimming through school after school of colourful fish of all varieties, including the red tooth triggerfish, giant trevallies and batfish. Toyapakeh is a large coral covered bay dotted with bommies that leads to a sloping reef that drops off gently all the way to 190m! Mola sightings are possible here and even the infamous pygmy seahorse is occasionally spotted by keen sighted divers.
This impressive coral wall begins at the foot of the sea cliffs to the North of Ceningan and drops down vertically to a depth of 180m. Currents can be strong here and once again this site is reserved for experienced divers only. The wall is colourful and fun to explore, with plenty of nudibranchs to find and sweetlips to pass if you can keep your eye off the vast depths below.
Gamat Bay is a very small yet memorable site off Toyapakeh Strait. The steep, rugged reef slope is rich in hard and soft corals and is colourful down to 50+m. Gamat is a dive where you don't want to cover much territory and once you have navigated the slope, there are plenty of bommies, overhangs and small caves to explore as you head back into the shallows.
The “Crystal” in Crystal Bay refers to the fantastic visibility normally experienced here, which can reach 40m+ on good day. Crystal Bay is certainly one of the area’s most popular dive sites and is a favourite of the visiting mola mola (ocean sunfish) from August to October. The bay floor is covered with golden sand and is surrounded by sloping coral reef to either side. A healthy reef, an interesting cave, huge table coral and hundreds of fish of all shapes and sizes – there is not much that this dive site cannot offer.
This site was discovered by Tim at Big Fish Diving in 2010. Like Manta Point, we cannot get to this site every day, but it is closer and more protected than Manta Point, so is fast becoming a very popular dive. Manta Cove is a shallow bay with a stunning backdrop and is rich in plankton, which attracts manta rays year round. The dive has a maximum depth of 12m and the coral bottom, with its gullies and swim throughs, is an interesting distraction from the manta action going on above.
South Coast of Nusa Penida
When conditions allow we run trips out to Manta Point. It is an exposed site, so is open to the elements and we need a calm day with small swell to be able to enjoy it fully. The boat ride out to Manta Point is almost as exciting as the dive itself, as it offers divers incredible views of the towering sea cliffs of Nusa Penida with the sun rising behind. Close to the site we pass huge stacks rising out of the water with waves crashing at their base. Manta Point itself is a site which rarely has any current at all but is subjected to swell. The plankton rich waters here attract the mantas all year round, sometimes seven or eight at a time, though even one is a fantastic sight. We rarely dive more than 15m deep and certainly mantas are the main priority as the coral and visibility here are not as good as elsewhere. Besides the mantas, bamboo sharks and blue spotted stingrays are regularly sighted at Manta Point and occasionally there are so many of them it can seem the sea bed is actually moving!
