BLUE LAGOON
Blue Lagoon dive site is the most famous in Padang Bai. It is a perfect place for an easy fun dive, dive course or a night dive, macro photography and snorkeling in Bali. It is a sandy bay with a lot of blocks of coral and fields of soft corals. During night diving it is often possible to see the famous spanish dancer! The best conditions are in the morning when the visibility is usually better. The dive is about 5 minutes boat ride from Padangbai beach.
JEPUN
Crystal Bay is a renowned dive site for being one of the only places in the world to observe the giant Sun fish (Mola mola). These massive pelagic fish, measuring about 3 metres in height, swim up from the deep to be cleaned by banner fishes (species of butterfly fish). Our chances of seeing this amazing fish are greatest between June and October.
Crystal Bay is named for its crystal-clear waters and therefore typically delivers an incredible visibility. Protected from large waves, and accompanied by a beautiful white sand beach dotted with coconut trees, this turquoise colored bay is a slice of paradise. In the middle of the bay is a tiny island with a staircase carved into the rock leading up to a sacred temple. The dives are made around this island, beginning on a sandy slope that guides us down to the edge of a coral plateau, between 6-10 metres deep, before it drops off into a wall that plummets down to 50 metres. You can also find little plateaus, which ends abruptly and drops off again, this time into the depths of the channel that separate Penida Island from Ceningan Island. In front of you is the blue of the ocean and it’s here that we have the opportunity to cross paths with the mighty (and harmless) Mola Mola.
This dive site is exposed to very strong and unpredictable currents that can carry divers into the blue and far from the dive site, or to unmanageable depths (down current). To safely dive there, divers must follow some basic rules while diving with responsible dive centers.
BIASTUGEL
On the north coast of Nusa Penida, the seaweed farmers live along a white sand beach stretching the length of the coast, while beneath the surface the coral reef runs parallel to this magnificent panorama. Choosing one of the several dive sites available, we descend just in front of a primary school (Sekolah Dasar) to dive the SD wall, or in front of a temple to dive the Ped wall, or a bit further we can find the dive site Sental. These sites are topographically very similar; all are characterized by a sloping wall that sinks out towards the dark blue of the ocean and the atmosphere is extraordinary.
Once your group is ready, time to descend! Let go of the line and everyone takes off for an extreme rock’n’roll drift dive! Open your eyes; look all around, lay back as if you are in a big comfortable chair--including footrest--and don’t move. A festival of colors and emotions will take your breath away, schools of blue (red-toothed) triggerfish bear their teeth and dart about in all directions, hundreds of yellow butterfly fish forage for food and refuge amongst the lettuce corals; drift past giant, current-blown sponges and disproportionately large whip corals as schools of bat fish fly past and ornament the landscape.
GILI BIAHA
Gili Biaha is about four kilometers away from Gili Tepekong and is not really dived by many operators due to the varying conditions of the site. Strong currents, both up and down are common.
There is a beautiful and healthy reef around the island. The inside area of the crescent has a cave large enough for divers to enter, in which white tip reef shark are often seen sleeping. The area outside the cave has some interesting corals with many shrimp and crab, which is great if you love looking for macro life.
This dive site is certainly worth the effort providing the conditions are right.