On the west side of Nusa Penida, Crystal Bay is a must dive around Bali. Its name reveals the quality of the average visibility here... pristine! The site is shaped like a valley: it gets deep pretty quickly as you head out, with a plateau on one side and two slopes in the middle. The plateau is covered in mushroom-shaped coral blocks, one of which has a little cave only accessible at high tide around 12m depth, with a school of batfish sheltered underneath. The coral blocks offer a huge diversity of soft corals, very colourful and inspiring, and anemones.
As much as the topography is beautiful, divers fly across the world to dive here for a very specific reason: Mola-Molas, or Sunfish, come here in exceptionally great numbers between July and November to get cleaned! As a matter of fact, like with other places and manta rays, the whole bay serves as a cleaning station... During the 'Mola season', these large 'alien' animals from the deep come up in the bay to about 30 meters depth to get nibbled on and scrubbed by Emperor Angelfish and Bannerfish mostly. These highly specialized 'cleaner fish' feed on parasites and fungus that would otherwise cause serious diseases and might incapacitate the sunfish. The symbiotic relationship is then a win-win situation for the marine life and the divers alike! A once-in-a-lifetime experience! The current gets stronger as you swim out from the bay; it attracts big fish and a pelagic fauna like gray, white and silver-tip sharks, leopard sharks, or manta and eagle rays. The classic reef fish are also well represented: clown fish, anthias, angelfish of all kinds, triggerfish, bannerfish, boxfish, pufferfish... and some crazy looking nudibranchs!
The current can be so violent that the dive is usually restricted to experienced divers. Enquire about it with your dive centre, but do not take a chance!
On the west side of Nusa Penida, Crystal Bay is a must dive around Bali. Its name reveals the quality of the average visibility here... pristine! The site is shaped like a valley: it gets deep pretty quickly as you head out, with a plateau on one side and two slopes in the middle. The plateau is covered in mushroom-shaped coral blocks, one of which has a little cave only accessible at high tide around 12m depth, with a school of batfish sheltered underneath. The coral blocks offer a huge diversity of soft corals, very colourful and inspiring, and anemones.
As much as the topography is beautiful, divers fly across the world to dive here for a very specific reason: Mola-Molas, or Sunfish, come here in exceptionally great numbers between July and November to get cleaned! As a matter of fact, like with other places and manta rays, the whole bay serves as a cleaning station... During the 'Mola season', these large 'alien' animals from the deep come up in the bay to about 30 meters depth to get nibbled on and scrubbed by Emperor Angelfish and Bannerfish mostly. These highly specialized 'cleaner fish' feed on parasites and fungus that would otherwise cause serious diseases and might incapacitate the sunfish. The symbiotic relationship is then a win-win situation for the marine life and the divers alike! A once-in-a-lifetime experience! The current gets stronger as you swim out from the bay; it attracts big fish and a pelagic fauna like gray, white and silver-tip sharks, leopard sharks, or manta and eagle rays. The classic reef fish are also well represented: clown fish, anthias, angelfish of all kinds, triggerfish, bannerfish, boxfish, pufferfish... and some crazy looking nudibranchs!
The current can be so violent that the dive is usually restricted to experienced divers. Enquire about it with your dive centre, but do not take a chance!
On the west side of Nusa Penida, Crystal Bay is a must dive around Bali. Its name reveals the quality ...
