menyelam diving
Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia, is dived for two animals. Reef manta rays use Manta Point and Manta Bay in every month of the long-term study, and ocean sunfish, the mola, turn up at Crystal Bay in the cold water from August, most in September, with records into December. That makes Nusa Penida diving a job for certified divers who pick their month. If you have never dived, the partner listings include a try-dive programme that starts on the island. Before you book any of them, the UK Foreign Office advises checking the operator's credentials, insurance cover, oxygen on board and access to a hyperbaric chamber.
Some links on this page are affiliate links: the guide earns a commission when you book through them. The partner sets the price; the guide adds no fee.
menyelam diving
Answer two questions and the paths that do not fit you step back. Each card is one partner listing as it reads: where it starts, how long it says it takes, which sites it names and what it includes.
Fits you: the try dive, a dive day from Nusa Penida or a manta dive day from Bali.
A first dive with an instructor, written for non-certified divers. It starts on Nusa Penida, so you need to be on the island already.
Try dive on Viator
For divers staying on the island. The listing names an internationally certified instructor and one or two dives by option; ask what certificate it asks for.
Dive day on Nusa Penida on GetYourGuide
Hotel pickup, the crossing and the dives in one day. One listing is written for certified divers in its title; the other names both Manta Point and Crystal Bay.
Names Crystal Bay, where the research records ocean sunfish in this month: first in the chooser.
Dive day from Bali on Viator
Dive day from Bali on Viator
The rule: "No, never" leaves the try dive; "Yes" leaves the dive days from Nusa Penida and from Bali. In a month the research names for ocean sunfish, the listing that names Crystal Bay goes first. Prices are each partner's listed price on the date shown; the marine park ticket may come on top.
peta map
On Nusa Penida. Two of the listings start on the island's north coast: the try dive meets at Pure Dive Resort in Ped, and the dive day is run by KarmaDiving from its centre in Toyapakeh, as the listings name them. No official source lists the island's other dive centres, so ask any centre you consider the four questions in the box below. Neither listing picks you up from Bali, so they suit a stay on the island; the where to stay on Nusa Penida page sets the areas against the harbours and the west coast.
From Bali. The two manta days pick you up from Bali hotels and cross with you. One names Manta Point and Crystal Bay, which lie 12 km in a straight line apart on different coasts; the other names Manta Point in its title only. For the crossing itself, see the fast boat page.
From Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. None of the four dive listings here starts on Nusa Lembongan or Nusa Ceningan. Lembongan's snorkel boats do cross to the Penida bays; the snorkelling page lists them, and the Lembongan stay page covers a base there.
pari ray
Two sites. Germanov and colleagues logged 3,058 sightings at Manta Point and 3,029 sightings at Manta Bay between 2012 and 2018, inside the Nusa Penida marine park (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2019). They describe both as shallow bays, 7 to 25 m deep, about 12.4 km apart in a straight line.
Where the mantas are. In one operator's 2016 to 2017 dive logs, about 93 percent of the island's manta sightings were at those two sites. The Manta Point page compares the two for snorkellers and divers alike.
When. For May the research reads: Present year-round; sightings at Manta Point roughly double in May; courtship peaks in April and May. For April: Present year-round; sightings at Manta Bay marginally higher; courtship peaks in April and May. Mantas were present at both sites in every month of the study, so a manta dive does not need a season the way a mola dive does.
The rules. Manta rays have full protection in Indonesia over their whole life cycle under decree 4/KEPMEN-KP/2014, which allows exceptions only for research and development (decree text). Codes of conduct for manta encounters in the marine park are voluntary and not strictly enforced, the 2019 study states, so the dive briefing is the rule in practice.
pari ray
Manta Point is a cleaning station: the mantas come in over the reef to be cleaned by small fish, where divers wait.
musim season
The chooser above takes your month; the table sets all twelve side by side. Mantas fill every month; the sunfish fill only the cool ones.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reef mantas present | yes | yes | yes | yes | peak | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Manta courtship peak | yes | yes | ||||||||||
| Monsoon limits access | yes | yes | ||||||||||
| Ocean sunfish season | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||||||
| Coolest reef water | coolest | yes | yes | |||||||||
| Sea surface | 29°C (84°F) | 29°C (84°F) | 29°C (84°F) | 29°C (84°F) | 28°C (82°F) | 28°C (82°F) | 27°C (81°F) | 26°C (79°F) | 27°C (81°F) | 27°C (81°F) | 28°C (82°F) | 29°C (84°F) |
Mantas, any month. Pick May if you can. In December and January the research notes the north-west monsoon limits access to the sites, so read each listing's weather terms; the Nusa Penida weather page has the months.
Late August. It suits both animals, with one caution. Mantas are present in every month of the study. August opens the sunfish months: the upwelling at Crystal Bay peaks in August to September, and the 2019 survey's highest count came in September. The swell is near its yearly high: off the south coast, where Manta Point lies, 29% of August days reached BMKG's high band or above, over 30 years. Read each listing's weather terms, and book an early dive at Crystal Bay.
Mola, August to December. The research places the sunfish at Crystal Bay in the cool months, when the reef water drops; the reef logger's coolest month was September. September is the month both studies point to. Plan an early dive: most sightings in 2019 came in the 7:00 to 9:00 window.
menyelam diving
The cold water. A temperature logger on the reef at Crystal Bay measured monthly means of 24.6 to 27.8 °C between June 2011 and December 2014, warmest in January and coolest in September. The upwelling of cold water there peaks in August to September, and the coolest spell runs through September to November (Tito and Susilo, 2017).
The sightings. A survey from July to December 2019 counted the most sunfish in September, 38 (in 22 sightings), and the second-highest count in November, 22 (in 15 sightings). Crystal Bay had the most sightings of any site, 19 (27 individuals), and in 66 percent of encounters reef fish were cleaning the sunfish (Dewi et al., 2021). It names two species, tentatively: Mola alexandrini and Mola mola.
For whom. The sightings were at depth, so this is a dive for certified divers on a day that names Crystal Bay. A try dive goes only as deep as its instructor and programme allow; ask the operator before you count on a sunfish. The Crystal Bay page sets the bay's morning against its afternoon.
menyelam diving
26.8 m average sighting depth
Early-morning sightings, 2019 survey.
laut sea
21.4 °C water at a sighting
The average at those sightings.
laut sea
26.2 °C reef mean
The logger on the reef at Crystal Bay, over its whole record.
menyelam diving
10 to 27.5 °C water the tagged fish met
Satellite tags, Thys et al. 2016.
The tag study found the sunfish range far beyond the reef: one tag surfaced after six months less than 10 km in a straight line from Nusa Penida (Thys et al., 2016). A sighting is a likelihood in the right months, never a promise.
retribusi levy
The manta sites lie in the Nusa Penida Marine Conservation Area. The district first set it up in 2010; the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries designated it by decree 24/KEPMEN-KP/2014 over about 20,057 hectares as a Taman Wisata Perairan (marine recreation park) (decree text). It names Mola-mola and Pari Manta (manta rays) among the species it protects.
The decree named the Klungkung Regency government as manager; a 2020 news report states management passed to Bali Province (UPTD KKP Provinsi Bali), that the park has 7 zones and that it holds more than 500 species of reef fish (Mongabay Indonesia).
What divers pay. Bali Province charges a daily ticket to its marine conservation areas, the Nusa Penida park among them, and a daily charge per scuba or snorkel set brought in. Of the listings above, one Bali day includes an environmental management charge and the other lists its conservation fee as not included; the try dive lists all fees and taxes. Ask which applies before you pay twice.
| Charge | Amount | In dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Daily ticket, foreign tourist | IDR 100,000 per person per day | about AUD 8, USD 5.5 or GBP 4.1 |
| Daily ticket, domestic tourist | IDR 10,000 per person per day | about AUD 0.8, USD 0.5 or GBP 0.4 |
| Child rate | none listed | |
| Snorkel set / scuba set brought in | IDR 10,000 / IDR 15,000 per set per day | about AUD 0.8, USD 0.5 or GBP 0.4 / about AUD 1.2, USD 0.8 or GBP 0.6 |
Amounts as the regulation writes them. Australian dollar at Bank Indonesia's rate of 13 November 2026, US dollar of 12 November 2026. Klungkung Regency's island levy is a separate charge on land; see the levy table and the data page.
perahu boat
The UK Foreign Office's advice for Indonesia (safety and security, updated 18 September 2026) asks scuba divers to check four things about an operator before they dive:
Your insurance. Smartraveller lists scuba diving and snorkelling among the risky activities in Indonesia and warns travel insurance may not be covered for them (Australian Government advice, updated 21 October 2026). Read your policy's diving clause before you go.
The nearest chamber. Smartraveller states decompression chambers are available in Indonesia in locations including Bali. The US State Department's 2026 guidance states hyperbaric chambers are only available in limited locations, such as Bali, Manado, Ambon (travel advisory). Neither names a facility. Sea state can stop a boat evacuation from the island: at Kelingking Beach on 12 September 2026, Basarnas Denpasar called off the sea evacuation for high surf and carried the casualty up the stairs in about 1.5 hours. Ask your operator where its nearest chamber is and how it would get a diver there.
The is Nusa Penida safe page gathers the rest of the official advice.
pertanyaan questions
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}