Diver’s Paradise Crystal Bay – Nusa Penida
Although Bali is one of the world’s most underrated destinations for divers, it has some exceptionally beautiful diving sites. Crystal Bay Nusa Penida is an attractive site in this respect. Bali has a surprisingly rich underwater life, which is mainly due to the fact that it is located between two great oceans, the Indian ocean and the Pacific.
As a result of this ideal position, an enormous flow of water passes between Bali and Nusa Penida depositing plankton larvae that attract a high diversity of fish.
Nusa Penida is an island situated 28 km east of Benoa/Sanur, located next to the smaller sister islands Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. On the far side of Nusa Penida, in the Indian Ocean, lies the Wallace Line, a trench of 1,3 km deep that separates Western Indonesia from Austronesia. At Nusa Penida, which forms a barrier, the ocean currents coming North cause strong upwellings of cold water, which brings large fish with it, such as sharks, mantas, trevally and the Oceanic Sunfish, or Mola Mola.
Crystal Bay has relatively calm diving conditions. The water is crystal clear thus excellent for snorkelling. At Crystal Bay you will see schools of anthias and batfish which comes around periodically. A bat cave is located nearby. There is a beautiful white sandy beach at Banjar Penida, west of Sakti village on the north western coast facing Nusa Ceningan. Crystal Bay is one of the few places in the world where one can see the awesome mola mola. One can be reasonably sure of a sighting during the season if two or three days of diving are allowed. And for sure, diving with the Sunfish is an experience that you will never forget. The mola mola can reach a length of 3 metres and a weight of over 2,000 kg. They are usually found in deep and cold oceanic waters but occasionally they come inshore, in Bali between July and September.
Other diving spots at Nusa Penida:
Toyapakeh is especially known for its stretch of beautiful coral reefs. In the southern part of the bay there is a similar area that is rich with color and fish, sea turtles and occasionally Mola mola or sunfish, the highlight of diving at Toyapakeh, can be sighted here.
Malibu Point is a diving site with gray reefs, reef white tips, silver-tips and numerous sharks. The bay has a swell with up-and-down-currents.
Manta Point or Batu Lumbung is a limestone rock off Pandan cafe. The swell here is relatively strong.
For world class diving in Nusa Penida, contact:
OK Divers
Radka Malec
+62(0)8174735615
radka@divingbali.cz
English, Czech, Bahasa Indonesia, other languages on request
Habitat H20
Bea Goldschmidt
+62(0)8123638529
divebalibea@gmail.com
www.dive-bali.de
German, English, other languages on request
Paradise Diving Indonesia
Michael Wiedenmannoot
+62(0)811393515
Specializes in German tours, other languages on request
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[…] Crystal Bay we split up, half of the group was looking to see Molas, while the rest wanted to see the turtles. […]