by Evyenia | Aug 2018
It would be no surprise to anyone that has dived in Indonesian waters to know that my most memorable dive happened in Nusa Penida. The island of Nusa Penida is situated approx. 40 minutes away from Bali and only a hop, skip and jump away from Nusa Lembongan, where Tamarind Divers Lembongan is located.
The dive trip happened in August 2017 when we had two individual divers who were super keen on diving at Manta Point and Crystal Bay. All our other guests had been to those dive sites the previous day and therefore wanted to see the glorious corals and fish life on the north of Nusa Penida. So we decided to organize a private trip to be guided by myself for the two who had missed out on the earlier trip. One guest had just finished his open water diver course, while the other was an experienced advanced open water diver who had fantastic air consumption. Normally never mixing an experienced diver with a non-experienced diver I felt it only fair they be given the chance to decide if they wanted to dive together. After explaining how shallow the dives were in Manta Point and that all the beautiful corals of Crystal Bay were also in the shallows, they both agreed to join. We invited a Marine Mega Fauna (MMF) volunteer Dive Master to join our trip and she buddied up with the more experienced diver, while I had the Open Water diver as my buddy.
Our 40 minute trip to Manta Point was as beautiful as always. We were all in awe at the colossal cliffs rising from the ocean with Balinese Temples neatly tucked away with in them. After reaching Manta Point we notice that we were the first boat at the site, the water was smooth and thrillingly there was the black shape of the magnificent Manta Rays just beneath the surface. As soon as we entered the water we were surrounded by them. Swooping and gliding in a mating train formation, we positioned ourselves just above the bottom at 9 meters and watched the magic unfold. The four of us were looking at each other in complete amazement at how graceful the Mantas were moving. It even appeared they were curious about us, every now and then, coming in for a closer look. Luckily, the MMF volunteer had the opportunity to take many underbelly identification photos of the Manta Rays. Of which she later uploaded onto the Manta Matcher website and discovered that one of the Mantas we saw had been spotted in Komodo as well, hundreds of miles away. This was sensational news for our Manta researchers that were located back on Nusa Lembongan!
After 1 hour with the Mantas, our air was low, which meant our dive was over. We reluctantly finished that dive as we had started, surrounded by Manta Rays. On the boat it was all cheers, high fives and pure joy of what we had just experienced. At this time little did we know that the next dive at Crystal Bay was going to the best dive of our lives.
We departed Manta Point arriving at Crystal Bay 20 minutes later. While on our one hour surface interval we continued to talk about how amazing the Manta Rays were. I felt that was going to be the highlight of our trip. How wrong I was!
As we were diving with an Open Water diver our maximum depth for Crystal Bay was limited to 18 meters. Ordinarily, this depth is enough to enjoy the best of the bay, but we were in the heart of mola season. This meant that the molas were coming up from the deep cold depths to shallower water, where they seek warmth and the cleaning services of the reef fish. Therefore, there were many advanced divers going to 30 meters at Crystal Bay hoping to get their first glimpse of the elusive mola. As we could not go to that depth, I had to manage all our expectations. I explained that our dive would not be about the mola and because of the non-experienced diver’s air consumption we would start our dive on the corner of the reef and then swim into the bay. As opposed to start and finishing in the bay. Again, little did I know at the time, that this dive plan would result in the most remarkable dive I have ever done.
We descended as planned and headed towards the top of the wall which was at a depth of 18 meters. I quickly notice a barrage of bubbles coming up from 30 – 40 meters. I shake my heading knowing that there is a mola down there that we cannot enjoy. I start thinking to myself, If only the divers would stay shallower so that the mola could come up for everyone to experience. At this point I look ahead and out from blue I see four dolphins swimming in our direction. I frantically start banging my tank to get the attention of the other three divers. It is so beautiful and so rare to see dolphins while diving. I freeze in amazement as they were swimming directly towards me. Then it happens. The four dolphins turn left along the wall to reveal a ginormous whaleshark surrounded by another seven dolphins. My excitement turns to shock, disbelief and tears of happiness. We all try to swim to keep up with the glorious animals but only the MMF volunteer was able to get close enough to capture the moment on digital camera.
This was our magnificent moment. It had taken over 1000 dives, but I finally had my time with a whaleshark. We finished the dive crying and laughing all at the same time. On surfacing all the other divers on the boats were joyfully talking about the mola they had seen. That is until they hear about what we had just seen. Their smiles quickly turned to disbelief.
It’s like I always say when it comes to diving, deeper does not necessarily mean better!
