the channel

Set in between the north coast and south coast dive sites, this small area between Penida and Ceningan island packs a punch and is home to some of the big players! Crystal Bay lies on the south end of the channel and the other lesser-known sites are absolutely incredible. Molas are seen in this area regularly during the season, as well as dolphins!
The currents in this area are super charged with nutrients and the visibility is often 30m+.

Possibly one of Nusa Penida's most well known dive sites, and so called because of the often crystal clear visibility here. Crystal is a top attraction because of the mola mola that love to frequent the sites cleaning stations!

Aside from molas, the site has a lot to offer! The reef is very healthy, macro life is great if you're not too distracted by the lively reef fish and turtles too. Even whale sharks cruise by every now and then - Keep your eyes peeled here!

This site is a big sandy bay with fringing reef on either side and a pinnacle with steep reef on the North side. We usually start the dive on the reef at the pinnacle and head towards the first corner, a known cleaning station for mola's, if the current allows we can go further towards the second corner. You can see schooling fish action here and sometimes bigger stuff swims by too. We then make our way back into the bay checking out the cool macro life along the way and swimming among the bommies. If time and air allows we can swim across the sand and over to the reef on the other side of the bay.

This site isn't crystal clear for no reason - be prepared for thermoclines (cold patches) here!

Toyapakeh is a top favourite among our staff, it's a beautiful site with really rich diversity of hard and soft corals and marine life. Toyapakeh means salt water in Balinese, and is in front of the village of the same name on Nusa Penida's North coast.

Going left shoulder along the reef from the jump point we have a beautiful wall with amazing soft corals, as you swim along to the corner of the channel look out for molas! Heading back right shoulder the reef slopes down with a plateau, dropping off to a deeper wall. As we cruise along the reef undulates with large bommies and a spectacular staghorn coral garden.

Currents can change quickly on this site and we have to jump in around slack tide. Sometimes you can have no current at all, allowing us to look out for macro life such as leaf fish, mantis shrimp, nudibranchs and ribbon eels. Sometimes there can be a fast drift and it's an exhilarating ride!

Marine life highlights here include mola mola (in season), schooling fish, marble rays, tunas, turtles and morays.

Gamat Bay lies a little further down the channel from Crystal Bay - It's a small dive site with a sheltered shallow area, giving way to a deeper slope at the edge of the channel. Currents can be strong here as it's right on the edge of the channel which has a fast moving current, but you can be rewarded with molas here in season as well as bigger fish such as snappers, tuna and maybe reef sharks!

Currents need to be checked carefully before diving here and it's a site for experienced divers only due to the depth.

This stunning site boasts some epic topography as the wall drops to almost 200m depth here! The near vertical wall has many ledges and ridges and we can experience a fast drift dive here. It's a site where we can see molas in season and you should always keep your eyes on the blue to look out for passing tuna, eagle rays and reef sharks. Big snapper and emperors cruise around the reef here and if the current is mild the site has some awesome nudibranchs also!

Again, as a site right in the channel, we have to make a good current check before jumping in here, as the currents can be unpredictable.