We provide daily dive trips and dive courses around the island of Nusa Penida, Indonesia
Looking for tips and tricks about diving, marine life or what to do in Nusa Penida? Follow us on our blog for weekly updates from the team!
Nusa Penida is a bucket-list diving destination for divers from all around the globe, who are looking for a chance to dive with mola, otherwise famously known as the sunfish. In fact, it's one of the top five places in the world where you can encounter these incredible creatures.
Normally, these gentle giants dwell deep in the ocean, making them a rare sight for most recreational divers. However, around Nusa Penida, during the months from July to October when the water temperatures drop, they rise to shallower waters, offering an unforgettable diving experience to be checked off your list.
While many believe that Crystal Bay is the only place to dive with mola around Nusa Penida, there are actually several other dive sites where you can encounter these gentle giants. In this post, we share some fun facts, some of our own sightings statistics revealing the best spots around the island to increase your chances of having a dive with mola, as well as our top tips for a successful encounter.
Mola are the largest bony fish in the ocean and are truly one of a kind, as they resemble a giant swimming head with oversized fins. Typically, they can grow up to 3.3m from fin-tip to fin-tip and weigh as much as 2,300kg! These fascinating creatures have been around for millions of years and are usually found lying flat at the surface or cruising the depths of the oceans’ trenches.
Mola have a distinctive bullet-shaped, short body that ends abruptly in a thick rudderlike structure called a clavus which is just behind the tall triangular dorsal and anal fins. The development of the clavus results from the folding of the mola's back fin into its body as the fish grows. The fishes are also flattened from side to side and have tough skin, a small mouth, and fused beaklike teeth.
Mola start their lives as tiny eggs and grow more than 60 million times their original size! As juveniles, they school together for protection, but as they grow, they become solitary. They are slow swimmers, but can propel themselves through the water for short distances if they need to and their sheer size helps them avoid predators.
Mola are omnivores, munching on jellyfish, salps, and small fish. Jellyfish make up about 15% of their diet, but because these have low nutritional value, they have to eat a lot to stay full. They dive to depths of over 600 meters to forage for food, using their beak-like teeth and spiny throat to shred their prey.
Mola are prone to parasites so they will visit underwater “cleaning stations” where fish like wrasse, bannerfish, and butterflyfish help remove parasites. If you see a load of bannerfish especially, hanging around on one of your dives, keep a sharp eye out into the blue as this may be your chance to dive with mola!
This nickname comes from their habit of basking in the sun after spending time feeding or cruising in the deep, cold waters. This sunbathing behaviour is crucial for their survival, as it helps them regulate their body temperature after foraging in the icy depths.
There are a few different species of mola, but the most well-known are:
While all three species share the iconic mola shape, they differ in size and specific features, like the distinctive bump on Mola Alexandrini’s head.
Did you know - All molas are sunfish but not all sunfish are molas!
A common misconception many divers have when they come to Nusa Penida, is that they think they’ll be diving with mola mola - if there's any sunfish around! However, here’s the thing, a lot of people think "mola mola" is the general name for all sunfish, but it's actually a specific species of mola and isn’t the species we see here around the island.
If you're lucky enough to have a dive with mola during your visit with us, the species that you will find around Nusa Penida is actually the Mola Alexandrini, a slightly different, yet equally fascinating giant of the ocean! So, while you might hear the term “mola mola” thrown around, this isn’t the species you’re likely to encounter.
For your best chances to dive with mola during your visit, you want to book your trip within our cold season, which is from July to late October. During these months, the currents around Nusa Penida bring up the cold, nutrient-rich waters from the depths which creates ideal conditions for mola to thrive.
We’ve noticed that sightings are even more frequent during these months around full and new moons, which we believe is linked to the moon’s gravitational pull and it’s affect on the currents and tides.
While July to October offers the best chance to dive with mola, they can occasionally be spotted at other times of the year, though sightings outside of this period are much rarer. If you're set on coming “mola hunting” with us, we recommend planning your trip during the colder months, but remember, cold water is key! Even if you’re not a fan of chilly dives, it’s the cooler water that draws these huge fish up from the depths so if you want to dive with mola, you’ll need to learn how to embrace the cold!
We always suggest bringing extra layers, like a thicker wetsuit, underlayers or hood, to stay comfortable while diving during this season and if you want to read in more detail about what wetsuit and layers we recommend for this time of year, check out our other blog post here.
If you’ve done some online research, you might have read that the dive site Crystal Bay is the only spot to dive with mola, but that’s not the case! While you can certainly encounter them there, there are several other dive sites around Nusa Penida where you might spot these incredible creatures.
Molas can be seen anywhere there’s a cleaning station, as they come to these areas to have smaller fish remove parasites from their skin. Our data collection shows that there are numerous mola cleaning stations on both the North and East sides of the island as well as at every site within the channel between Penida and Ceningan islands. You can also dive with mola at Manta Bay and at the manta dive sites down South, so don’t limit your search to just one spot or let your hopes down if you don’t get to dive with mola at Crystal Bay!
We believe the reason why it states on other websites online that Crystal Bay is the only / best place you can dive with mola, is that many people don’t get the opportunity to dive the other sites where you can encounter them, so they don’t have data collection or much experience diving the other sites around the island.
Here at Scuba Junkie Penida, we like to try give everyone as much variety of dive sites as possible and show you some sites the other operators on the island don’t visit, which includes sites where our dive staff has said to have some of their best mola encounters.
Blue Corner is a dive site that may have also popped up if you have done any research about where is best to dive with mola, which can be true at times! From our experience though, Blue Corner for us is an all or nothing dive. We’ve had incredible dives there where we’ve had up to 10 mola on one dive (September 2024) but we’ve also had dives there where we’ve had absolutely nothing. After all it is the ocean so mola won’t always be hanging around!
We often get requests to dive with mola at Blue Corner, but there is no higher chance of seeing them here than there is anywhere else around the island. We also don't get the opportunity to dive here very often as the conditions to dive this site need to be absolutely perfect (a slack high tide with low waves) otherwise it becomes one of the most challenging sites in the area due to the potential for sudden changes in conditions, especially sudden down currents.
If we get requests to dive Blue Corner, we definitely take them into consideration, but it won’t always be possible as it's a deep dive, so can only be done as the first dive of the day, and it's quite rare we get the perfect conditions at that time.
It’s also the only dive site that we have prerequisites for you to be able to dive with us:
ALL divers on the boat must meet these requirements to dive Blue Corner if we were to have the right conditions to plan for it, and as much as we try to accommodate most requests, safety for everyone is our main concern.
Every day our dive staff enter data into a system in collaboration with Marine Megafauna Foundation for recording the megafauna we have seen on our dives. Below is an insight into our mola data collection throughout July – October 2024.
We looked at the mola encounters from July to October 2024 and here are the vital stats for the success rate with mola encounters:
The earliest regular mola encounters for 2024 were in June. The latest mola encounter was November 5th but regular sightings started to slow down mid-October this year. This differs from year to year, 2024 season ended a bit early but it also started early!
Don't only look at the success rate (here us out!)...
It’s a common misconception that you have to be an Advanced diver and dive deep to dive with mola, and whilst sometimes that may be true and it can definitely increase your chances, many of these sightings actually had a whole range of depths starting from as shallow as 8m. This means that even Open Water divers (limited to 18m) and Discover Scuba Divers (limited to 12m) can also encounter them if there’s any around!
Having a dive with mola is a highlight for any diver, and following the proper code of conduct ensures not only that we don’t influence the mola’s natural behaviour, but also improves the quality of our encounter. When molas feel comfortable, they’re more likely to linger, giving you a front-row seat to their natural behaviours.
Here are the guidelines from The Coral Triangle Center that we follow and how each one leads to a more rewarding encounter:
Molas are shy and can be startled easily so we always aim to approach them slowly, within their field of view, as this makes them feel more at ease. If you swim behind them or make any sudden movements, loud noises or rush towards them, you risk scaring them away. The same goes for swimming underneath them, as our bubbles disturb their cleaning behaviours.
If the mola is approaching a cleaning station, do not approach until the cleaning has begun and they have been stationary for 1 minute. Remember, patience is key - watching them settle at a cleaning station can be just as mesmerising as seeing them up close.
Maintaining your distance from mola shows respect for them as wild animals so they can continue with their natural behaviours undisturbed and without feeling threatened.
Stay at a minimum distance of 3m away from the Mola when they are cleaning.
Stay at a minimum distance of 10m away from the Mola when they are unsettled / considering approaching the reef to clean.
Occasionally a mola will get curious of us and start to approach us coming within these distances. If this happens it’s important to remain calm, maintain neutral buoyancy and let them control the interaction. By doing this, it often leads to longer, closer, and more relaxed encounters.
Mola’s rely on a protective mucus layer on their skin to guard against infections and parasites. Touching them can remove this layer as well as stresses them out, so while it may be tempting to reach out, respecting their boundaries ensures their health and wellbeing.
Cleaning stations are critical for molas to maintain their health. Cleaner fish such as bannerfish rid them of parasites and dead skin, so by entering the cleaning station, you risk disrupting this important process.
It’s also important to ensure you don’t block the mola’s “escape route” from the cleaning station as by doing so, it may make them feel trapped. A relaxed mola is more likely to stay in the area, allowing for a longer and more memorable experience.
Of course, we encourage you to take as many photos and videos as you like, but using the flash or strobes will startle molas and disrupt their behaviour. Please ensure your flash / strobe is turned off so they remain undisturbed.
Our guides have lots of experience diving with mola’s and therefore know how to set the boundaries for a successful mola encounter. By staying behind them and following their lead, you’re increasing your chances for an extended unforgettable experience.
Are you ready to check diving with mola off your bucket list? Book your trip with us today and join us in exploring the magic of Nusa Penida!
