FairyBasset
Contributor
For anyone looking for an off the beaten track, challenging dive spot, this could be it!
Belongas Bay is in the south of Lombok and is home to two advanced dive sites, The Magnet and Cathedral.
Both sites provide exciting and challenging diving at dive sites where the sighting of pelagic life is regular. It's mobula and eagle ray season in August and September, and both great and scalloped hammerheads school at the Magnet from May till October.
I was only there for 2 days, though I wish I could have stayed longer as I was there over full moon, which probably wasn't the best timing. We made it out to the sites, but we could have been unlucky and then a few days extra would have been a good idea. Huge swell and the water was bubbling at the surface.
I dived with Two Fish, who are now the owners of Dive Zone the original owners of the local dive shop for the sites. We had an Indo and a Brit dive guide and were 3 divers. They never have more than 4 divers to a guide, as you are out in the open ocean with strong currents and difficult conditions.
On day one we went the Magnet. It is a pinnacle in the open ocean, about 3 km off shore and the signature dive site. The pinnacle drops to around 80m. As it was full moon we had huge swell, strong currents and of course low viz. You could still feel the swell at about 15 meters. There are strong down currents on the four corners of the pinnacle, so the dive plan was to drop deep and zig zag along a wall, waiting to see the hammerheads. We did a negative entry and tried to fin fast to 15 meters to get close to the wall. I had a problem, as I didn't have enough weight, but the guide kindly passed me an extra kilo. The water is green, viz around 5-10m due to high level of nutrients in the water. Unfortunately we abandoned the dive after 20 minutes for a variety of reasons, including currents going from 35 m to 9 in seconds. Also we sadly saw no hammers. The divers on scuba had seen a whale shark swim by 3 days earlier, so it was also shame to have missed that!
We went back into the bay and had a surface interval on a tiny beach and then went to dive a slightly more tame site, Gili Sarang. Gili Sarang is made up of pinnacles and boulders which rise up from around 35m. It has impressive, colorful soft corals, plenty of macro and lots of fish action. Mostly Giant trevalies, sweet lips, surgeon fish, white tips, black tips, and, grey reef sharks. August/September is the best season for schooling mobula- and eagle rays there. Again, green water and not great viz.
On day two we dived Cathedral, which is also a tough but great dive site. It's also a pinnacle, but as it is closer to shore its a little less challenging than the magnet. There were so many super poisonous sea snakes there, they wrapped themselves around our arms and legs, which was kinda cool - though probably not wise! Lots of big fish there too, barracuda, trevafllies, tuna.
From June until end of October, you will need min 100 logged dives (due to challenging conditions), outside of this time, 50 logged dives. They actually check your log book - not just your certification cards - so you need to bring it to prove you have the dives. It goes without saying you need to have a dive computer and surface marker buoy as these are mandatory on these dives.
I stayed at the resort The Lodge. Accommodation plus transfers and diving was all organised seamlessly by Two Fish. The resort was very nice though extremely secluded. Belongas is remote, 2 hours by car from Senggigi. Food was pretty nice, no choice though - eat what is prepared for you. There are only 4 rooms at the moment, so be sure to book in advance. All payments for food and drinks need to be made in cash. No credit cards. No wifi. Hardly any cell reception.
These dives are not for people who do not like current and choppy seas. As Belongas is off the beaten track, you are guaranteed not to be overcrowded like in Bali. I'd definitely go back and dive there again, but I would check to be there at a time which is not full moon!
Belongas Bay is in the south of Lombok and is home to two advanced dive sites, The Magnet and Cathedral.
Both sites provide exciting and challenging diving at dive sites where the sighting of pelagic life is regular. It's mobula and eagle ray season in August and September, and both great and scalloped hammerheads school at the Magnet from May till October.
I was only there for 2 days, though I wish I could have stayed longer as I was there over full moon, which probably wasn't the best timing. We made it out to the sites, but we could have been unlucky and then a few days extra would have been a good idea. Huge swell and the water was bubbling at the surface.
I dived with Two Fish, who are now the owners of Dive Zone the original owners of the local dive shop for the sites. We had an Indo and a Brit dive guide and were 3 divers. They never have more than 4 divers to a guide, as you are out in the open ocean with strong currents and difficult conditions.
On day one we went the Magnet. It is a pinnacle in the open ocean, about 3 km off shore and the signature dive site. The pinnacle drops to around 80m. As it was full moon we had huge swell, strong currents and of course low viz. You could still feel the swell at about 15 meters. There are strong down currents on the four corners of the pinnacle, so the dive plan was to drop deep and zig zag along a wall, waiting to see the hammerheads. We did a negative entry and tried to fin fast to 15 meters to get close to the wall. I had a problem, as I didn't have enough weight, but the guide kindly passed me an extra kilo. The water is green, viz around 5-10m due to high level of nutrients in the water. Unfortunately we abandoned the dive after 20 minutes for a variety of reasons, including currents going from 35 m to 9 in seconds. Also we sadly saw no hammers. The divers on scuba had seen a whale shark swim by 3 days earlier, so it was also shame to have missed that!
We went back into the bay and had a surface interval on a tiny beach and then went to dive a slightly more tame site, Gili Sarang. Gili Sarang is made up of pinnacles and boulders which rise up from around 35m. It has impressive, colorful soft corals, plenty of macro and lots of fish action. Mostly Giant trevalies, sweet lips, surgeon fish, white tips, black tips, and, grey reef sharks. August/September is the best season for schooling mobula- and eagle rays there. Again, green water and not great viz.
On day two we dived Cathedral, which is also a tough but great dive site. It's also a pinnacle, but as it is closer to shore its a little less challenging than the magnet. There were so many super poisonous sea snakes there, they wrapped themselves around our arms and legs, which was kinda cool - though probably not wise! Lots of big fish there too, barracuda, trevafllies, tuna.
From June until end of October, you will need min 100 logged dives (due to challenging conditions), outside of this time, 50 logged dives. They actually check your log book - not just your certification cards - so you need to bring it to prove you have the dives. It goes without saying you need to have a dive computer and surface marker buoy as these are mandatory on these dives.
I stayed at the resort The Lodge. Accommodation plus transfers and diving was all organised seamlessly by Two Fish. The resort was very nice though extremely secluded. Belongas is remote, 2 hours by car from Senggigi. Food was pretty nice, no choice though - eat what is prepared for you. There are only 4 rooms at the moment, so be sure to book in advance. All payments for food and drinks need to be made in cash. No credit cards. No wifi. Hardly any cell reception.
These dives are not for people who do not like current and choppy seas. As Belongas is off the beaten track, you are guaranteed not to be overcrowded like in Bali. I'd definitely go back and dive there again, but I would check to be there at a time which is not full moon!
