20-Sep-2019 Was A Cool Diving in Nusa Penida

[Luko]

Where is "Tepekong" compared to this map?

Tepekong is in Amuk bay, 15-20 minutes speedboat ride from Padang Bay or 10mn jukung ride from eastern Candi Dasa.
Tepekong is an island, so it's mainly wall dives on one side that can start from a small underwater hole into the island which drops right into the blue or a dive that will lead you to the famous dive site nicknamed " The toilet". Guess why.
On the other side there's a kind of plateau on the edge of which leads to a molamola cleaning station. I have seen a mola mola twice here in about 8-10 dives or so, still not this year though.
You have to be careful on planning the dives around Tepekong from currents

Usually this site is dived on a 2 tanks trip along with its "twin" divespot called Gili Mimpang, located some 400 meters, closer to Padang Bay, Mimpang is a couple of pinnacles and also a sandy slope where there are good chances to see molamola as well. This dive can be driven by currents.
I have seen numerous molas on this site, with a good chance of spotting them. unfortunately this year I only saw the flocks of bannerfish that seemed like me "waiting for Godot"

 

[MomZo]

Thanks @Dan and @Luko for these precision about Tepekong.

And for @DownUnderwater Dan, I have seen 2 dolphins underwater at Crystal Bay, by 21°C.

 

[gekodivebali]

Yep, mola molas yesterday at Gili Tepekong... Going back today. Hope our divers get lucky again!

 

[MomZo]

A student is getting his Open Water course at Nusa Penida with the OP I was diving with (Purple Dive)
Very first open water dive this morning: 2 Molas.
No justice in this world!

 

[DownUnderwater Dan]

Thanks @Dan and @Luko for these precision about Tepekong.

And for @DownUnderwater Dan, I have seen 2 dolphins underwater at Crystal Bay, by 21°C.

Nice! Did you see them this year?

I've heard the dolphins multiple times at Crystal Bay and Mangroves, but never seen them UW

We use to see them everyday in high season from the boats. One day a couple of years ago they stayed beside our boat, so we stopped in between Lembongan Bay & Blue Corner, and jumped in for snorkel with them. So cool seeing them play UW...boy they're quick, they can travel "faster than lightning"!

 

[MomZo]

Yes, I saw them last week at Crystal Bay. But they were so quick that I didn't have time to take any picture.
We also saw them twice from the boat when we were sailing from Dive 1 to Dive 2 next to Toya Pakeh and not far from Crystal Bay.
Very nice!

 

[jjmochi]

Not to hijack the thread, but if I were to go in the tail end of the season (beginning of July next year), and have 3 days to dive, with the main goal of seeing mola mola, what combo of sites should we do? We've been only once 3 years ago and did Manta Point + Crystal Bay for 1 day in late Sept and was lucky to see both, but I don't recall there being much else interesting to see in Crystal Bay other than the molas. Ideally we want a good balance of colorful reefs and large schools of fish in case we don't see mola, which I'm thinking it's at most 50/50 as we're likely too early.

 

[MomZo]

Not to hijack the thread, but if I were to go in the tail end of the season (beginning of July next year), and have 3 days to dive, with the main goal of seeing mola mola, what combo of sites should we do? We've been only once 3 years ago and did Manta Point + Crystal Bay for 1 day in late Sept and was lucky to see both, but I don't recall there being much else interesting to see in Crystal Bay other than the molas. Ideally we want a good balance of colorful reefs and large schools of fish in case we don't see mola, which I'm thinking it's at most 50/50 as we're likely too early.

From what I understood, Molas can be spotted at Crystal Bay (not much to see as you said...), at Gamat Bay (didn't try due to sea conditions), on different sites of the north coast (SD, Ped, Sental... But I didn't see any), Toyapakeh (close to the harbour) and Blue Corner (but difficult to find a good window to dive there)

In any case, it is a matter of chance.
I dove 7 consecutive days and didn't see any, but the week after, the OP I dove with spotted few of them during the week...

 

[jjmochi]

I'm mostly trying to see if I should skip Crystal Bay and do more of the sites you mentioned in north Penida, as it looks like there are better reefs at SD/Toyapakeh/Blue Corner etc so we'll be less disappointed if we don't see mola. But I'm not sure if Crystal Bay has a much much higher chance of seeing mola that it warrants putting up with the crowds/wasting a dive if we don't see any.

Which shop did you go with? I see Geko is usually recommended but I emailed them twice and no response for 2 weeks so looking for alternatives.

 

[MomZo]

https://www.purpledivepenida.com/