Diving in Nusa Lembongan

Nusa Lembongan is known for good dive sites. We were not disappointed. After we checked into our room at Pondok Jenggala Hotel, we went to Anang from Lembongan Diver. Mathias received a tip and so we contacted Anang in advance. Now we discussed the dive sites and got our equipment for tomorrow's dives.

We left at 8:30 am by boat to the Manta Point dive spot. The journey took about 40 minutes. We put on our gear and backrolled into the water - it was already very cold there. First, we went to the "Cleaning Station" at a depth of about 10 meters. And then the first manta ray sailed over our dive guide to the "Cleaning Station" - so beautiful, simply breathtaking! These huge giants are so elegant!

Unfortunately, we were not the only dive group and we witnessed firsthand the ignorance or arrogance of certain people towards nature and wild animals. Our dive guide scolded two divers who were not part of our group as well as he could underwater. One swam so close to a manta ray to take a photo and another one chased after another ray and tried to touch it. It makes you angry and sad to see such scenes.

To avoid lingering with the many divers, we swam deeper down to about 27 meters. There we saw more mantas. The dive was definitely worth it.

The second dive was then at Crystal Bay. The name comes from the fact that the water there is incredibly clear - crystal clear. Here we wanted to see Mola Molas. What is a Mola Mola? It is also called Sunfish in English and Moonfish in German. To see what these giants look like, take a look at the photos. Then you will understand why I'm not trying to describe these special fish :-D Unfortunately, we didn't see any Mola Molas. But the visibility in the crystal clear water was incredible and we saw such a huge variety of fish, starfish, shrimp, coral, and other small and larger animals. In addition, a sea snake did us the honor - very fascinating.

One of our diving companions was very interested in our experiences at TRACC, so we went back to the dive shop to tell him about it. They were planning the dives for the next day there. So it happened that we signed up for more dives.

Full of anticipation, we went back out to sea the next day. The first dive this time was at Manta Bay. The waves were already relatively strong and I (Seraina) had to concentrate to make sure I didn't get seasick. As soon as we were in the water, it was fine again. The dive spot is located at a cliff that drops vertically and continues to drop steeply seemingly endlessly underwater. We swam along the wall and marveled at the many colors, some nudibranchs (called "Nudi" in German for some reason), the large schools of fish, and the variety. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as cold as the previous day. On the way back, we climbed a bit and crossed a small plateau. Here we could feel the waves very well. It rocked us back and forth like the many anemones. We didn't see any mantas, but we saw a bamboo shark. Back on the boat, we went back to the dive shop for a small lunch.

At around 1 pm, we got ready again and took the boat out to Blue Corner. This is the end of Nusa Lembongan Island and the reef starts to drop steeply. That's supposed to be the best spot to see Mola Molas.

We backrolled into the water together and were immediately swept away by the current. As we descended, another world opened up to us again. The reef here was sparsely covered: there were mainly sponges and soft corals as well as anemones. But that didn't make a difference for the variety of fish. We saw turtles and a marble ray. The Mola Molas didn't want to show themselves. Since we were swimming against the light current, I (Seraina) used more air than usual and after about 40 minutes, I only had 50 bar left in my tank. I drew our dive guide's attention to it. He asked me with hand signals if it was okay to wait a little longer. I trusted that he knew what he was doing. So I looked around a bit and there I spotted it - a Mola Mola. It swam directly towards us. Everyone else was looking in the other direction. I waved wildly to get the others' attention and then everyone saw it. This huge, bizarre creature - and yet so graceful gliding in the water.

Shortly afterwards, we did our safety stop and resurfaced with joy over the Mola Mola we had seen.

It was definitely worth it for us to come to Nusa Lembongan and go diving here. Since we like it here so much, we decided to stay a little longer and immerse ourselves in yoga intensively. That's something you should try seriously. Another report on how it went for us and what we plan next will definitely follow in a few days :)