From Sanur to Nusa Penida
I woke up in a maisonette room of a simple but quite comfortable Hotel at Sanur. Generally speaking, hotel room, luxury or not, is quite reasonable in Bali.
I got on a car to a beach and 5 minutes ride brought me to the beach. There were lots of boats which people were preparing and loading equipment for diving on. Sanur beach has been a resort for a long time and is a base for diving boats to Nusa Penida. After checking my camera equipment at rest area, I got on a boat with Luca and Derek.
It takes 40 to 50 minutes from Sanur to Nusa Penida by speed boat. It is usually a comfortable transfer although there are occasionally big waves. Nusa Penida is a small island that locates southeast from Bali island. Nusa means island in Indonesian, so we also call it Penida island. There are a lot of diving sites along the coast from northwest to southwest of the island. Around Nusa Lembongan, that is located across a narrow strait from Nusa Penida, is also diving sites.
The first reason that two islands have been attracting many divers is mola mola and manta. Of course you can see beautiful corals. When the water temperature goes down from July to October, then you can see mola mola with a high probability. This is a rare region that you can dive to aiming mola mola, although that doesn’t mean that you can see them every time.
As for Manta, there is a higher probability. It is difficult to miss them, and I think it is because diving services there “read” the sea properly. I have been there several times and i never missed manta.
I was going to have only two dives in this region this time, because my priority is diving most diving sites around Bali all at once. But I still thought I had a chance, and went diving with a some expectations.
PED
The first dive was PED that located at the north coast of Nusa Penida. We had unfortunately had no radio information that Mola mola had appeared any place from other diving boats during crossing the straits to Nusa Penida, So we decided to do a relaxing dive at this slope with beautiful corals. Nevertheless there is still a chance to meet Mola mola here.
Boat entry. The current was moderate. I felt that I was able to have a comfortable diving with this current, although generally there are often quite complex and strong currents in this area. The water was still colder than the north coast of Bali, but not surprisingly cold, that is, we could not expect too much for Mola mola this time. On such an occasion, focusing on plan B is important. I decided to forget about Mola mola and enjoy the beautiful scene.
In crystal clear water, I was drifted on the current looking at the slop with beautiful corals about 50 minutes. It was quite relaxing yet, although Mola mola didn’t apprear after all. It was still good sites without any special animal.
Blue corner
When it comes to a diving site called Blue corner, people probably imagine the site in Palau, but there is also another Blue corner in Bali. This blue corner is located at the northwest corner of Nusa Lembongan. This is thrilling site with strong currents that is for experienced divers. There is big drop off down to 50 meters, overhang hiding whit tip shark and big marble ray, schools of fusilier or trevally passing by, and sometimes Mola mola.
Mola mola tends to appear in relatively deep water. If I stay deep all the time, I spend air wastefully and extra nitrogen accumulates on my body. If I move from deep water to shallow and from shallow to deep repeatedly, that also make me spend much air, and when Mola mola appears at last, I might not have enough air and have to give up the chance. Derek was going to swim off shore and looking down to search Mola mola and Luca and me were going to go though near the reef at the same depth as Derek or slightly shallower, taking photos. That was the plan for the diving.
The water was colder than PED, but it was still warm for Mola mola. The current was obviously stronger. I really wanted to go deep to see something, but I kept our plan because this was my first dive at this site, and I didn’t know overall picture of it.
I was not able to meet Mola mola after all, but I felt big potential of this site when I saw eagle rays passing by and lots of huge marble rays going around the site. Blue corner turned out to my favorite site that I wanted to dive even if I cannot meet Mola mola.
After two exciting dives, came back to Sanur. I had dinner and drinks with Luca, Miho and Luca’s friends, and had the wonderful last night in Bali.
The last day
I woke up and felt a little hungover, but recovered before long. Today, Miho is going to show me around the south Bali. I’m going to take a night flight and have much time.
First of all, we went to Tegalalang, that is famous for rice field. We moved from Sanur to Ubud, drove though Ubud, and arrived there. The rice field in Tegalalang is quite popular. As for scale, Tegalalang is not so large as Tirtagangga, where we went two days ago, but more accessible from major area for tourist in Bali, and some nice cafe from which you can look around the rice field are quite popular.
I had a relaxing time at cafe feeling breeze from the rice field.
After enjoying tea time, we headed to Tanah Lot temple and Batu Bolong temple. Tanah Lot is a quite popular temple that stands on a rock in the sea. Batu Bolong is a temple on a rock sticking out of the coast, next to Tanah Lot. The picture below is Batu Bolong. Both are quite photogenic. I didn’t have enough time to take shots of the temples on sunset, but I will stay until dusk next time.
Time was up when we looked around Tanah Lot, so we headed to the airport. I had a quite satisfying trip this time. Both land and sea are attractive in Bali. Bali always has things to see and feel even if you come there hundreds times.
Luca’s diving service：http://www.underwatertribe.com/
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