No words can describe our excitement when a thresher shark swam right at us in Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida. We dived at 12 meters, inside the bay, and never expected this amazing shark to just come by and say hi. Thresher sharks are not known to visit bays, nor do they usually swim in these shallow waters. I’m still speechless, this was one of those incredible moments that you can only hope for.
The water at Crystal Bay was cold, with 19°C we’re getting ready for the real cold water season. Cold water in Bali you would think? Yes, the water gets pretty cold! But we’re happy with the cold water, this brings the amazing sunfish (Mola Alexandrini) to the area. We’re looking forward to the Mola season, because the water may be near freezing, be the rewards are heartwarming. Have you ever seen the cute face of a Mola?
This week Gio dived with us from Two Fish Sanur in Tulamben, Padang Bai, and Nusa Penida. We spent more time looking for nudibranchs in Tulamben than looking at the wreck, Gio is practicing his camera skills and the maximal 75-minute dives with Two Fish are perfect for this. In Padang Bai, we spotted 4 frogfish at the jetty and many pipefish and nudibranchs. For the trip to Nusa Penida, Chris and Oksana joined us. The Manta Rays at Manta Point were going crazy, it was a beautiful sight of playful mantas making summersaults, almost swimming into the divers and following each other in their typical train mating behavior. At Crystal Bay, we were lucky enough to spot the beautiful Thresher shark, and the drift dive at S.D. was just perfect with schools of giant trevallies, multiple potato groupers, and turtles.
The following day Oksana and Chris joined for a 2 dive day trip to Tulamben where we visited the USAT Liberty wreck and Drop off. Oksana loves anemone fish so we took some time taking pictures of these beauties!
We hope these beautiful diving days are a good sign, for a beautiful dive season in Bali. We’re looking forward to it! Come spot pelagics such as Manta Rays, Molas, sharks and macro life such as nudibranchs, frogfish, and seahorses around Bali! See you soon!
Manta picture credits: Gio Katsumi
