Manta Rays!

We booked onto a snorkelling trip after seeing how crystal clear the waters around Nusa Penida are. The boat left at 8.00am set for four snorkelling spots around the island. The first was Manta Bay, beside Angel Billabong and Broken Beach where I saw the manta rays the previous day. Unfortunately we didn’t see any manta’s this time so back on the boat (a little too soon for my liking mind you) and off to the next spots. These were shallow coral reefs filled with all kinds of colourful fish and coral including a sea turtle! For the last spot we were dropped off in a deliberate strong current, calm but it pulled us along without needing to swim.

After seeing manta rays swimming around manta point and hearing Mola Mola are common around Nusa Penida, we decided to book onto a few fun dives the following day once we returned from snorkelling.

Later that afternoon we rode to the East coast and visited Diamond beach and Atuh Beach. On arrival we were greeted by a group of people one of which offered to ride our scooter from its current spot to the next beach along. Because of the landscape it’s impossible to ride from one beach to the next. You climb down one rock face to Atuh beach the up and over another to get to the next beach along. To return you then have to repeat that trip back to the parking spot. Alternatively a guide will ride 45 minutes inland and back out to the next beach so you can avoid the return hike. It’s fair to say we’ve been very cautious of scams so far and this seemed like a perfect opportunity for one but after much deliberation we decided to trust him. In exchange for his ID card and driving license we handed over our keys and prayed we’d see our bike again. After a walk along Atuh beach we began our climb up and over to Diamond beach and thankfully he was there waiting for us at the top… phew. Now slightly more relaxed we enjoyed the views over diamond beach before returning back for dinner.

The following morning was time to dive. There was just one other with Jess and I in our group which was really nice. First stop Manta Point, specifically for diving - not to be confused with Manta Bay specifically for snorkelling. There are two cleaning spots at Manta Point, spots rays often flock to. We went down and explored the first spot for about 20 minutes but without any luck. We then moved on to the second spot where I looked down to check my air. When I looked up, right in front of us was huge manta ray swimming straight towards us! It really was a spectacle. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it turns out these are huge, this one about 3m wide. It swam up to us, gently swam past and disappeared off into the blue. 5 minuets later we saw another black shadow in the distance so moved towards it. It was another ray, even bigger that the first, estimated to be 3.5m-4m wide but unlike before this one decided to stay. For about 5 minutes we didn’t move but watched it swim around us in circles, clearly intrigued. It moved slowly with its mouth wide open to feed, although Jess reckons it was just showing off. It finally left but what an amazing experience, one I’ll never forget!

These were reef mantas which can get up to 5m wide but it turns out there is another type of ray called the giant manta. Unbelievably, these can get up to 9m wide although these are a different species not found at this dive site. Unfortunately we were too deep for the GoPro so regrettably couldn’t film which was a shame but I’ve posted a few photos found online of Manta Point that look very similar to what we swam with.

Afterwards we left for Crystal Bay dive spot. The name says it all but crystal bay is a bay of crystal clear water with the most amazing colourful coral reefs and tropical fish and it didn’t disappoint! It’s also the area to see the Mola Mola although we weren’t lucky enough to see those as well. Down at depth we saw a huge range of brightly coloured marine life including a sea turtle, mantis shrimps, puffer fish and trumpet fish. We’ve both agreed we’ll be on the look out for diving opportunities on future holidays now.

After a successful morning we cleaned up and rode to a beach club to relax for the afternoon. We enjoyed fresh coconuts by an infinity pool looking out over the ocean before finally riding back to Angel Billabong and Broken Beach to watch the sunset again.Leggi altro