Abundant Pelagics, Some Fierce Currents

Nusa Penida, across the badung Strait from Bali’s southern tip, offers some of the best diving to be found anywhere. But condifions around Penida and its two small sister islands-Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningancan sometimes be difficult, with unpredictable currents reaching four or more knots. This is not a place for beginning divers, inexperience boatmen, or engines is less than perfect condition.

Also, upwellings from the deep water south of Bali, which keep visibility here clear, can also make the water uncomfortably cold.

Even if you are an expert diver, contract with one of Bali’s well-organized diving service to dive Nusa Penida, and make sure that you get a reliable boat and a guide with plenty of experience. The currents in this area can usually be predicted from the tide tables, but they can increase, decrease or shift direction with no advance notice, and vary dramatically with depth. We recommended that your guide bring a buoy, and you don’t wander off by yourself. The dive locations are all close together, and en experienced guide can easily shift you to an alternate site if the conditions at your planned location are unsatisfactory.

Dive boats to Nusa Penida leave from Nusa Dua or Sanur, or from Padang Bai. (See map page 101.) From either of the resorts the 34-kilometer (18-nautical-mile) trip takes 1.5 hours; from Pading Bai, just 17 kilometers (9 nautical miles) from Penida, it takes 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the boat. You can also rent a speedboat at Padang Bai (about $110 round-trip) to shave trip time to the minimum, but if you do, make sure your dive guide knows the boatman. The chap could fall asleep while you’re under and be out of whistle range when you come up with the current. It has happened.

Coral Walls and Pelagics

Most of the dive spots are around the channel between Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan. The standard reef frofile here has a terrace at 8-12 meters, then a wall or steep slope to 25-30 meters, then a fairly gentle slope to the seabed at 600 meters. Pinnacles and small caves are often encountered. At 35-40 meters, long antipatharian wire corals are common, spiraling outward more than 8 meters.

Pelagics are the main attraction here, and you have a good chance to see jackss, mackerel and tuna. Reef sharks are so common that after a while you stop noticing them. Mantas a frequently sighted. Perhaps the most unusual pelagic visitor to Nusa Penida is the weird mola mola or oceanic sunfish (Mola mola), a mysterious large, flatened fish with elongate dorsal and ventral fins, and a lumpy growth instead of a tail fin.

Dive guide Wally Siagian says he has seen a mola-mola here about once every 15 dives. On two occasions he has been able to swim up and touch the bizarre, up to 2-meter-long animals.

The most common dive spot are just south of the dock at Toyapakeh, or a bit further east, at Ped, the site of an important temple of the same name, Sampalan Point, and "S.D.," name for the sekolah dasar or primary school there. There are other dive spots down the northeast

and southwest coasts of Penida, but these areas, swept by tricky currents, require an experienced guide and more time than available in a daytrip to reach.

AT A GLANCE

Nusa Penida

Reef type: Drop-offs, steep slopes
Access: 45 min to 1.5 hrs by boat
Visibility: Good, 15 meters
Current: Moderate to very strong (4+ knots)
Coral: Very good variety of hard
corals; excellent stand of soft corals
Fish: Excellent variety; many pelagics
Highlights: Large school of sweetlips, very large hawksbill turtle. Site also hosts sharks, mantas, and even Mola mola
Other: Can be very cold; currents are unpredictable and often fierce