Nusa Penida Mola Mola Dive

[zivva]

@Divewench: it's true many books and websites point to CB as the best places to see the molamola. On this forum there are a number of posts about mola-sightings in different places. But which divesite would you (and the other experienced posters of course ) suggest as the best alternative for Crystal Bay?
I will be in Nusa Lembongan for 2 days in september and would definitely try to sea the mola's. Thanks for the input!

When staying in NL, the best options are :

- Toyapakeh : 2 spots to check out : bottom of the wall and north-east tip of the "bay".
Even if you don't see Mola there, TP is one the best coral place around the island with a crazy number of stuff (from super small to big) to check out every centimeter ... it's a MUST DO if you are able to dive here (conditions sometimes prevent to dive here and no local op will bring you there when conditions are not more than ok !).

- Nusa Penida North coast : from Sental Point to Buyuk Point. Good chances to see Mola there. Easy drifts here.

- Nusa Penida East coast : from Karang Sari to Batu Abah. Only a few ops bring their guests there (3 dives trip, 1h+ boat ride from NL). Even better coral condition than @ Toyapakeh but for very experienced divers only : strong down / up unpredictable currents.

- Blue Corner (NL) : strong down / up upredictable current but you can actually hide under some rocky formations here (what you just can not do on NP east coast !). Again, require previous drift in strong current exprience. Otherwise running low on air before even reaching the drop-off is just useless when not dangerous here.

 

[Mike Veitch]

I saw one at Toyapekah the other day.. we drove past the 35 boats at Crystal and had Toyapekah to ourselves.. very nice! and almost civilized at around 25C..

However... i really hate the banana boats there...

 

[divewench1]

@Divewench: it's true many books and websites point to CB as the best places to see the molamola. On this forum there are a number of posts about mola-sightings in different places. But which divesite would you (and the other experienced posters of course ) suggest as the best alternative for Crystal Bay?
I will be in Nusa Lembongan for 2 days in september and would definitely try to sea the mola's. Thanks for the input!

Hi Dim

We regularly get the best Mola2 encounters in Mimpang, in Amuk Bay. Couple of weeks ago we had 20 minutes hanging with a Mola at 20 metres, being the only divers in the water. Bloody fantastic.

Mimpang and Tepekong (and even Gili Biaha) are also Mola2 cleaning stations, often ignored by other dive operators, but don't tell anyone and spoil the East Bali secret shhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lol !!

 

[Dim]

Hi Zivva, Mike & Divewench1,

Thanks for the advise. We'll be staying for a couple of days on Nusa Lembongan, after that Tulamben/East-Bali, so we'll definitely look in Amuk Bay as well!
Nice back up in case we dont see any mola's at Lembongan/Penida.

 

[gekodivebali]

Don't spoil it divewench1: I kind of like to dive there with no one else but our divers and the molas!

 

[Baruna dive center]

Hello,
My name is Antoine, i own a new dive shop in Amed, Bali. We use to go every week to Nusa Penida and during September we always see it.
This is the Molamola we dove with last week, pretty curious he was 12 minutes with us.
This dive was on Crystal bay, Be aware that this is not for beginers ! Courent is so strong that even on slack tide, there is still some !!!
By the way the best chance is to go on Hight-tide !!!
You can visit my website if you're interested for more informations:
www.divebali.fr

 

[Dim]

Hi guys,

We just been diving at Nusa Lembongan and I thought I'd give a small review: We have been diving with Bali Dive Academy (again). Great diveshop with very good local divemasters/instructors. Unfortunately, same as last year, no molamola! (I am beginning to think they are some kind of legend or myth...) But still the diving was very nice. We went to Toyapakeh, PED, Buyuk, Manta Point and Crystal Bay. At CB same experience as last year, harldy any current, but lots of divers. About 16 boats at once.
Overall very nice divespots. We saw manta's, scorpionfish, stingrays, and so much more.

We stayed at Nusa Lembongan for 2 nights thinking that would be enough to see mola's. I wonder how many times in a week they are seen.

Right now we are in Eastern Bali and might take chance at Gili Mimpang!

 

[zivva]

We stayed at Nusa Lembongan for 2 nights thinking that would be enough to see mola's. I wonder how many times in a week they are seen.

3 times a week on average.

Last week was pretty good with a lot of them at ... Manta Point (7 of them in 2 consecutive dives there last tuesday + 2 of them in one dive on thursday) and a few in the north coast of Penida.

Haven't been to CB for a while (not a big fan in season), but from what I've heard from other guides it's about the same numbers : 3 times a week on average.

Hope you'll be more lucky in Eastern Bali

 

[Hike]

Hi guys,

We just been diving at Nusa Lembongan and I thought I'd give a small review: We have been diving with Bali Dive Academy (again). Great diveshop with very good local divemasters/instructors. Unfortunately, same as last year, no molamola! (I am beginning to think they are some kind of legend or myth...) But still the diving was very nice. We went to Toyapakeh, PED, Buyuk, Manta Point and Crystal Bay. At CB same experience as last year, harldy any current, but lots of divers. About 16 boats at once.
Overall very nice divespots. We saw manta's, scorpionfish, stingrays, and so much more.

We stayed at Nusa Lembongan for 2 nights thinking that would be enough to see mola's. I wonder how many times in a week they are seen.

Right now we are in Eastern Bali and might take chance at Gili Mimpang!

Mimpang is a great dive on its own and definitely worth getting wet. you can always take a 45 minute boat ride over to NP from Candidasa