Nusa Penida is the Best Place in the World to see Mola Mola (aka Sunfish)!
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words so how about a video with appearances from Captain Jazz and Will The BrokeBackpacker!
I also had an absolute whale shark of a time spending a couple of days exploring Nusa Penida by scooter after diving.
Alex holds the esteemed rank of Grand Admiral of the Diving Squad; a title he most nobly awarded to himself. He is also a PADI Diving Instructor. He’s dived much of Southeast Asia and Western Europe as well as the Red Sea, Central Americas and Maldives. These days, Panglao of the Philippines is where he calls home. Here he works on Diving Squad, certifies fresh Scuba Students and plays Dungeons and Dragons in his house with his homies.
I squeezed through tight cave openings into vast underground temples; stared down at mantas in the ocean from the clifftops of the island above and road this way and that across the many small hill ranges and cliffs of the mysterious and serene island.
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Do yourself a favour and go dive at Nusa Penida! It’s one of the best and easiest places in the world to see Mola Mola with a very high chance of also seeing Mantas and possible sightings of various sharks species!
All you need to know is when to go, how to get there, the best dive sites and all that other shizzle shazzle. Which you’ll know after you’ve finished this here Guide to Diving Nusa Penida like a Boss!
Let’s dive on in and do this:
What you can See Diving Nusa Penida
1) Mola Mola (Crystal Bay / July – October)
For many divers; the main reason to scuba dive Nusa Penida is to see the mighty Mola Mola aka Ocean sunfish. Not only are Mola Mola the largest bony fish in the world – they’re also one of the strangest looking!
With a bullet like shape and stubby, truncated tail fin of pure muscle, Mola Mola can measure 4.3 meters tall from dorsal fin to anal fin and 3 meters long! Despite their massive size; they’re actually very laid back; preying mainly on jellyfish which they break up into digestable chunks by repeatedly sucking into and out of their mouths.
Mola Mola have a wide global distribution – but it’s usually uncommon to see one on a dive. Unless you’re diving at Nusa Penida, where between the months of July – October, scuba divers have a roughly 1 in 3 chance of seeing Mola Mola at Nusa Penida’s favourite dive site: Crystal Bay! The first time I dived Crystal Bay I didn’t see any Mola Mola – but the next time I went, I saw 3 all together!
2) Manta Rays (Manta Point & Manta Bay / All Year)
There are many manta rays around Nusa Penida – all-year round divers have about a 1 in 2 (or higher) chance of seeing them. This can be at any Nusa dive site but your best chances are at the dive sites Manta Point and Manta Bay, both of which are beginner-friendly dive sites on the south side of Nusa.
You’re most likely to see the reef manta which can grow 5 meters wide and divers are generally also the one’s you can see form Manta Point cliffs. However; very lucky divers do sometimes swim into the 8 meter wide Oceanic Manta!
Nusa Penida has a recorded population of some 700 mantas; thanks to the citizen science database: Manta Matcher. Because manta rays each have a unique spot pattern on their underside, divers are encouraged to take photos of their bellies and share them on mantamatcher.org. During my visit to Nusa Penida, I saw at least one (and usually more) manta rays on every day that I dived!
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Nusa Penida is the Best Place in the World to see Mola Mola (aka Sunfish)!
3) Sharks!
Divers have a good chance of seeing the gentle bamboo shark; a cute little carpet shark growing to around 1 meter that swims close to the seafloor in search of it’s favourite food: octopus and crustaceans. I saw one at Manta Point! There’s also several other species of sharks that you may see at Nusa Penida:
Wobgegong sharks; a most strange looking shark indeed that appear to have beards made of barbs, can sometimes be found hiding under nooks and crevices.
Nurse sharks: also a carpet shark, but at up to 7 feet long, they’re bigger than bamboo sharks.
Reef Sharks: whitetips can sometimes be seen, especially juveniles. I saw one for the briefest of moments at Manta Point; before it shyly shot away from us divers.
Hammerhead sharks: sometimes been seen by extremely lucky divers, especially off the east coast of Nusa. They are pretty rare though and generally only show up in colder months between July – November. Look out into the open blue if you want a chance of spotting one!
Thresher sharks: once pretty common around Nusa Penida but sadly are now hardly seen at all due to overfishing. Still, you never know, you still just might spot one (Blue Corner Dive site is supposed to be the best bet for this).
4) Other Big Marine Animals of Awesomeness
There’s a lot to see around Nusa Penida – during my 3 days of scuba diving there I also saw hawksbill and green sea turtles, eagle rays, sea snakes (banded sea krait) and many schools of truly huge individuals of pelagic fish including jacks, tuna and quite literally the most enormous giant barracuda I’ve ever seen in my life; thing must have been 6 ft!
5) Epic Underwater Landscapes
The underwater topography of Nusa Penida is very diverse with various walls, reefs and several small pinnacles. Divers can enjoy a great variety of dives, muck dives, drift dives and deep dives.
In my opinion, the most impressive area is around Crystal Bay which lis within Nusa Penidas channel and consists of a sloping reef that drops off into a vast a vast sweeping plateu that drops down to over 40 meters.
There’s a lot of very healthy hard and soft corals around Nusa Penida; home to all manner of reef fish, nudibranch and crustaceans.
Best Nusa Penida Dive Sites
1) Crystal Bay – Mola Mola (July – October)
Crystal Bay is famous for being one of the best places in all the world to see Mola Mola. From July – October, divers have a roughly 1 in 3 chance of seeing Mola Mola at Crystal Bay!
This dive site lies within Nusa Penida’s channel and is comprised of two sides separated by a 40 meter deep sandbar. On the left (southwest) side, is a coral plateu that makes for beautiful shallow discovery dives over healthy coral with countless reef fish.
On the right side, towards the middle of the bay is an islet and surrounding it is another coral plateu; you’ll head out over this, then descend over coral outcrops into deeper waters sloping down. It is here, that you have the best chance of seeing Mola Mola, which are usually seen at depths of 30m+.
The first time I dived Crystal Bay (August 2023), I didn’t see any Mola Mola. However, I was still blown away by the epic underwater landscape which resembled an underwater canyon encased within two sloping walls of superb coral home to turtles and many fish.
When I returned to Crystal Bay 2 days later I then saw 3 mola mola all together! And surprisingly, rather being deep down, they were actually just meters from the water’s surface – which just goes to show you never know what to expect when it comes to scuba diving and marine life!
2) Manta Point & Manta Bay (All Year)
Manta Point is a cleaning station where mantas come to rid themselves of pesky parasites via cleaner wrasse. Because mantas are negatively buoyant, they must swim constantly. This is why you’ll see them swimming in a circuit. In and out of the cleaning station they go, often for multi-hour periods of time.
The first time I dived manta point; I saw a reef manta ray that stuck around for the entire duration of the dive, calmly circling around us divers. The second time, I didn’t see any mantas on the dive but then 2 appeared by the surface after the dive and I was able to lean over the boat and plunge my head into the water to see one glide past mere inches away. At Manta Point I also saw a bamboo shark and countless little blue spotted stingrays!
It’s not uncommon to see several mantas together at a cleaning station. There’s a very scenic scooter ride through Nusa Penida’s highlands to Manta Point View where you can look down on the Manta Point dive site and easily see dozens of mantas at the water’s surface!
Located to the southeast of Nusa Penida, Manta Point generally takes 45 – 60 minutes to reach, depending on which dive centre you depart from and is a very scenic boat ride alongside the base of the spectacular limestone cliffs of Nusa Penida.
Manta Bay dive site is a nearby feeding station where mantas gorge on plankton, often performing acrobatic movements through the water such as barrel rolling to funnel more plankton into their gobs as they do so. This makes for some truly great crac. You see mantas all year round at Nusa Penida; peak season is usually March – June.
3) Mangrove
This dive site is located in front of the Mangrove forests on the north side of nearby Nusa Lembongan island. This mangrove forest provides plenty of nutrients to one of the healthiest coral reefs in all of Nusa Penida – and it is this adjacent coral reef, not the actual mangrove yourself that you dive.
There is a gentle descending slope, between 10 – 25 meters deep, covered in many types of coral and home to an impressive diversity of marine life. This is a 2km long, very slow drift dive.
You’ll be able to take your time looking for small critters hidden in the reef whilst sporadic blasts from the current give you an extra little push every now and again, drifting over vibrant hard and soft coral reef broken up by sand corridors and home to all manner of fish, crustaceans, nudibranch and other marine life including rare sightings of nurse sharks.
4) Toyapakeh
Located around a beautiful coral plateu covered with soft coral bommies and huge gorgonian fan structures, Toyapakeh is considered by many to be one of the best dive sites of Nusa Penida after Crystal Bay and Manta Point.
Around the vibrant coral reefs are many shrimps, crabs, nudibranch, turtles, stonefish, scorpionfish, frogfish and sea snakes whilst out to deeper waters are rich schools of barracuda, tuna, sweetlips, fusiliers and giant trevally.
This is also a great drift dive suitable for all levels of divers – it starts at just 6 meters deep with gentle currents suitable for beginners. Heading out deeper, the current picks up slightly and more open water pelagic fish can be seen.
5) Malibu, Semaya & Batu Abah (East Dive Sites)
Around the east side of Nusa Penida, lie several less frequently visited dive sites including Malibu, Semaya and Batu Abah. These are some of the most off-the-beaten-track-dive-sites around the island, meaning if you reach them you’re unlikely to see any other dive boats!
These dive sites do take a little longer to reach – usually about 60 minutes from most dive centres located around the the northwest of the island. However, there is some truly spectacular coral reef here as well as manta rays and lucky divers can also sometimes see black and white tip reef sharks as well as thresher sharks!
Dive Centres in Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida has a whole bunch of dive centres to choose from. The vast majority are situated towards the northwest of the island; this is an ideal location as it’s within easy access of Crystal Bay (Mola Mola dive site).
Generally speaking, prices between Nusa Penida dive centres are pretty much the same as is the rental gear that you’ll be using. If you’re looking for a truly luxurious experience, you could consider staying at one of the dive resorts, however this will make things a lot more expensive whilst having little affect on the actual diving.
Which is the Best Nusa Penida Dive Centre? When I dived Nusa Penida, I went with Nomads Diving. These guys were absolutely fantastic and had a superb knowledge of all of the dive sites as well as the most recent sightings of various species (mola mola, mantas, sharks) and where they’d been.
Quality of service was awesome – it was a very friendly bunch with the dive guides mostly being made up of a motley backpacker-esque crew in their late 20’s to mid 30’s.
Although I cannot personally compare Nomads Diving to the other Nusa Penida Dive Centres, I can say that they were one of the best dive centres I’ve ever been with and you certainly would not be going wrong if you chose to dive with them when you visit Nusa Penida!
Diving Season of Nusa Penida
The good news is that you can actually dive Nusa Penida all year round!
That said; the best time to dive with Mola Mola at Nusa Penida is from July to October. This is because the water temperature drops during these months, bringing Mola Mola up from the cold depths where they usually reside, giving divers a 1 in 3 chance of seeing them. However, you can still technically see Mola Mola outside of these months at Nusa Penida, it’s just less likely.
As for other species like manta rays, bamboo sharks and turtles, these can quite easily be seen around Nusa Penida all year round.
Finally, it’s worth noting that water conditions are calmest from November – May, meaning drift dives will be weaker and more beginner friendly.
Honestly though, I would not plan to go there specifically around these months as the majority of dive sites around Nusa Penida are still beginner friendly even during the less calm months. It’s more important that you try to go there between July and October to maximise your chances of seeing a Mola Mola!
How to Get to Nusa Penida
You’d better believe that getting to Nusa Penida is easy! First you need to be in Bali, the influencer-infested tourist-hub of Indonesia. There’s just one airport on Bali: Denpasar aka Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS).
Nusa Penida is a small Indonesian island located roughly 17 km off the southeast corner of the much larger Bali island. Nusa Penida currently does not have an airport, hence having to fly into Bali first.
To then get from Bali to Nusa Penida – take one of the many daily ferries going there; all of which depart off from Southeast Bali’s Port of Sanur to
Depending on which class of boat you take – ferry, speedboat or fastboat; the journey lasts 30 – 60 minutes and will cost around 7 – 10 USD.
You can check out the full list of ferry schedules from Sanur (Bali) to Nusa Penida on this website; where it’s also easy and straightforward to reserve your ferry ticket in advance: Check Out Sanur – Nusa Penida Ferries
Other Stuff to Do in Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida is a charming and off-the-beaten-track little island of Indonesia. It’s a far cry from the much busier, crowded Bali. The overall vibe is much more bohemian and rustic – you won’t see the masses of gyms and smoothie bars, digital nomad work stations and busy roads that you’d see on Bali.
Small though Nusa Penida may be, it has several kickass land based activities that are well worth doing if you’ve got a couple of extra days spare after diving.
For me; a real land-based (!) highlight of Nusa Penida was visiting Goa Giri Putri Cave which is a large limestone cave with a narrow entrance that opens up into a vast and epic cave temple with a courtyard, Balinese-Hindu shrines and a natural spring!
Rent a scooter and spend a day riding around Nusa Penida. As well as visiting Goa Giri Putri Cave you can also check out Manta Point. This is a cliff-top viewpoint where you can look down and see multiple mantas and turtles in the shallow waters of the ocean below. It’s insanely beautiful.
There’s countless little shrines and medium sized temples all around Nusa Penida amidst it’s rolling hills and clifftops. Not much traffic is on the road once you get away from the main tourist hub and up into the highlands; it’s peaceful just scootering around to nowhere in particular.
Some other kickass viewpoints to check out are Thousand Islands Viewpoint, Saren Cliff Point, Wisata Bukit! Happy exploring and always remember – wear sunscreen ;).
Thanks for reading. For now – Diving Squad Out!
