Manta Ray Bay Bali

Manta Ray Bay is where it is at! OMG we had an amazing time here. We went out on a snorkelling trip with All4Dive.com. There were 2 German divers with a German speaking Danish originating Balinese dive master and the 2 of us wanting to snorkel with a certified Balinese dive instructor age about 30 and 2 crew. Very professional.

First stop Manta Ray Bay off the island of Nusa Penida, about 45 minutes in the speedboat. Kid you not - the mantas’ width span was 12 ft – that is what Julia said not us. We got dropped over the side of the boat in a bay with quite rough water. We were told that the manta like to come here as there are some sloping rocks along the shore and they like to scrape the crud off their bottom side. Sure!   

So we paddled round or were swept along with whichever way the waves preferred and so the mantas came. HUGE – seriously. You know how hard it is to tell the size of things in the water – or how close there are to you. That is why I say Julia told us the measurement. And sure enough they would run their underside along these rock outcroppings and glide away to circle back again and repeat. There must have been a dozen or more. Paying us no attention at all as we flailed and flopped about with the divers doing the same underneath them.

Lucky for us we had left the hotel at 8 am. By the time we had been in the water about 20 or 30 minutes, we happened to look around and saw 6 other boats just arriving and letting their people into the water. Slackers had slept in! Lucky us to be there first and on our own.

Back on the boat and we cruised around to the other side of the island to Crystal Bay. Here are the fish and the coral. It was not the sunniest days so the coral did not light up the way it can when the sun is shining bright. However there were reds and blues and greens, lots of dull beige and brown as well. Lots of fishes. And a beach so they brought us our lunch as we rested ashore.

Our final spot was just off Lembongan and the water was a bit warmer here so we stayed in a bit longer. So many colours and shapes of fish…. 

Snorkelling is such fun.