Diving Nusa Pedina...

Need some advice please...

A couple of us are heading to Bali in April and spending 4 days in Tulamben to do our PADI AOW course, while one is our group (my brother) who is already AOW & rescue qualified is doing his PADI deep dive course. My brother and I after these courses are finished would like to do some more diving and like the idea of a day trip to Nusa Pedina to try and get 3 more dives in, the rest of our group think they would be 'dived out' by then :shocked2:

We would like to dive Manta Point with possibly a drift dive as one of the other two dives for the day (I love Mantas after doing the Kona night dive in Hawaii!!!). My concern is all the things I am reading about how dangerous it can be diving Nusa Pedina with the currents (also given when we are going would be full moon). I have 29 logged dives under my belt while my brother is at about 50.

Are there dive sites on Nusa Pedina that would realistically suit our experience level? And does anyone have any suggestions of good dive operators given at the time we would be staying in Seminyak.

Sorry for my long winded explanation and thanks in advance for all your help.

Cheers

hbtdiver

Firstly, the area is called Nusa Penida NOT Pedina.

Next, only some of the Nusa dive sites have dangerous currents, and your dive centre should choose sites to best suit your groups experience level. As AOW you are qualified for this area, but should choose to dive on sites that are within your comfort level, ie; if you have not dived in strong currents and think that this would make you uncomfortable, be sure to stress this to your chosen dive centre.

The Manta Point dive site has swell (side to side movement) rather than current and is easy diving, and most other sites along the coast of Nusa are drift diving sites, varying from slow to extremely fast. With drift diving, you just need to hang in the water while you are carried along. So as long as you can relax and enjoy the ride (and listen to your guide's dive briefing) you should be fine.

Make sure each member of the group is carrying a safety sausage to inflate, especially if anyone gets separated from the group (your guide will carry one, but it's good practice to learn how to use one). If you have not used a safety sausage before, maybe your AOW course Instructor could cover this during your course (?)

Lastly, Seminyak is not a good base for diving, as you are a long way from many dive operators, the nearest area being Sanur. This will add at least 1 1/2 hours to your journey each day, especially as there are major road works to negotiate on the main bypass road. Could you look into staying in Sanur while you dive?

Re: recommended dive operators for your Nusa Penida trips, I would suggest Bali Scuba, Bali Aqua, or Crystal Divers (all based in Sanur)

Manta Point Nusa Penida is safe .. is is a bay .. most of the time protected ...

tip .. use a good dive operator .... small group ... well taken care .... i had a great experience there ...

let me know if you need any info about good dive centres there ....

petr

As said above, there are safe dive sites around Penida for your experience level. Manta Point is one of the easier sites. The difficulty there is not the current, but the swell. Big waves are fun when you know how to deal with them. Just don't fin like crazy against them and le them carry you. Tell your friends it would be a pity to miss Penida.
PED, SD, Santal or Buyug can allow for a nice drifting experience on your second dive.

Also +1 for carrying a sausage when diving in Nusa Penida and learning how to use it during your AOW course.

Agree with Divewench1 about the general informations about Nusa Penida ... nothing tricky here - especially in low season - and as not so experienced divers, I guess the dive ops you choose to dive with from Bali will bring you to sites that suit your ability.

Depending of your experience and because diving from Bali (which is not as flexible as diving from Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida small sister island) I would suggest you avoid Crystal Bay & Toyapakeh that can get tricky specially during full moon if the timing is not perfect. You can get lucky and arrive there at the right time, but if not ...

Regarding Manta Point (or Manta Bay, I would suggest Manta Bay at this time of the year : it makes a shorter trip & conditions tend to be better overthere), you need to check the swell before planning a dive overthere : when the swell is bigger than 1.5 meters, the trip is not so nice & manta rays tend to do not be there.

A simple trick : check the swell by yourself (Ceningan Surf Report, Surf Forecast and Live Surf Webcams) a few days in advance and arrange your plan according to forecasts + choose a div op that is actually checking the swell & planning trips when conditions are OK. If they don't check the swell before bringing you to Manta Point or go there when conditions are not OK (some don't bother, they go everyday ...), it's a good indicator that this op should be avoided to dive the area ...

Finally, having an SMB attached to a rented BCD is nice but it requires some training (= not trying to use it once, but getting used to it !) otherwise it's the best way to visit the local chamber after a fast ascend ... Listen to your guide's briefing, stick to him & do what he asks you to do at all time and you will not need your own SMB ...

Thank you everyone for you advice, put my mind at ease

I have already talked with Aquamarine Bali and while they seem like a very good and reliable operation they leave from Padangbai which I am guessing would add approximately another 1 hour or so travelling each way from Seminyak compared to Sanur. I have been looking at some dive operations in Sanur but would like to know what your recommendations would be.

A couple more queries I have is the type of dive boats the companies would use for the trip, we would definitely prefer a dive boat with ladder access from the water after diving that is setup properly for diving. I have seen some photos of people using the more traditional fishing boats for diving. We are also both nitrox certified and have heard that some dive ops dont not recommend using nitrox on Nusa Penida, is this true?

Thanks again.

hbtdiver:

A couple more queries I have is the type of dive boats the companies would use for the trip, we would definitely prefer a dive boat with ladder access from the water after diving that is setup properly for diving. I have seen some photos of people using the more traditional fishing boats for diving. We are also both nitrox certified and have heard that some dive ops dont not recommend using nitrox on Nusa Penida, is this true?
Thanks again.

Click to expand...

Ops from Bali use speed boats to dive the Nusa Penida area. Some traditional fishing boats are used for snorkeling or as additional boats by local (= from Nusa Lembongan) dive ops.

Currents being impredictable in the area, diving with Nitrox - especially if you have no local experience - is not recommended unless you use a very low O² mix just in case ...

Agree with zivva, dive operators from Bali mainland use speedboats with ladder access after diving, Nitrox is probably NOT the best gas for Nusa Penida as there can be strong down currents, but Nitrox is fine for Manta Point/Manta Bay.

Seminyak to Padang Bai will be at least 2 1/2 hours each way. How about staying overnight in Sanur (or even Padang Bai) on your diving days for Nusa Penida?