OK, it's been awhile since I've been to Bali. Since I'm off to Cocos in few weeks on my own, I owe my gf a nice trip together and we've decided on Bali in mid-october (mola mola season ). Of course If I had my way, I'd dive 5x everyday of the holiday... But alas, my gf isn't a hardcore diver so she'll most likely want to stay at some foo foo overpriced resort/ spa in Jimbaran Bay or some other posh area...

We definitely want to get out to Nusa Penida/ Lembongan to look for Mola Molas. So I'm trying to figure out where would be a compromise to stay (nice resort but without too long of drive to the boat launching area), maybe on the west side for those great sunsets. Last time I dove in Bali was when I got certified ages ago and I remember using a dive shop in Sanur and most of the shops that ran trips to Lembongan/ Nusa Penida left from Sanur. But I wasn't particularly fond of staying in Sanur. BTW, what's the usual schedule for Nusa Penida day trips. What time do they depart, how many dives, and what time do they get back.

For the second part of the trip, we'll likely stay at Mimpi or Scuba Seraya for a couple of days diving in Tulamben.

What's wrong with Sanur? Sure there's no nightlife compared to Seminyak but at least it's quiet. Food is decent as well but there are more choices on the western side.
For cheaper, non-Bvlgari resorts (which sucks btw), I suggest you look at the Parigata Villas in Sanur. You get a private pool etc etc. The Villas is actually 10 min walking distance to the launch site in Sanur. Eric Cheng stayed there once.
For the west side, I'd stay out of Kuta and most of Legian. Seminyak has a few nice chic foo foo places, some of which are very nice. The Ulin and Elysian are both very nice.
The dive boats usually leave around 8 and get back around 2. If you do 3 dives and go to further places like Manta Pt etc, think 3.30 return. Personally I'd stay in Sanur. I hate feeling salty and grimy for too long and you run into rush hour traffic both ways.
However my suggestion is to do a couple of days diving then head up to Ubud for the pampering. I know the Uma Hotel is doing some nice deals now. And Mozaic down the street is probably the best nouvelle cuisine restaurant in Bali. Chris Salons knows his food!
Good luck trying to find a spot in Oct for Seraya. Tim Rock is running a shootout for most of mid Oct. I'll be there around that time too but running around Bali.

Tim who? Spaces still available BTW..

There is places to stay right on the islands.. but not sure the name.

Will find out and let ya know...

Ah thanks Drew on that info. Been awhile since I been around Sanur. If the departure times are 8, I won't mind staying in Seminyak or Jimbaran and dealing with the traffic. But good idea on Ubud. I've been there but its the gf's first time in Bali so I'm sure she won't be happy if we're only diving every day...

MV- ah, that's right... you misfits will be there the same week... excellent, maybe I'll use that as a good excuse to get more diving in.

Oh yeah, you're part of the gang too. Will probably pop by to say hi sometime.

Errr if his gf wants to stay at the 4 Seasons or Karma, I doubt she wants to stay on Lembongan... althought the Lembongan Island Villas is pretty fun to get away from Bali... you just can't get away from the tourists for some reason.

Pakman, do yourself a favor and book at the Uma for a few nights and hit the spa at the Begawan Giri (ask the manager at Uma to arrange it, they won't let you walk into the Begawan if you're not a guest). Then book a table at Mozaic for food and then drinks at the Alila overlooking the Ayung. I guarantee that the Begawan Spa and food will make your gf be very amenable to diving for molas.
If you are really sneaky, arrange to go to Puri Jati at the Zen Resort. It's about 400m to Puri Jati the muck sites. Send her to the spa and you can go moisturize your skin and housing.
Bali and gf really does mix if you get the formula right.... trust me... it's taken a lot of practice to get it right!

Ah the Begawan Giri spa... Heard about that.

OK, now back to the diving. Which Sanur dive shop would you guys recommend for mola molas?

The last 7 years I've been exclusively using BIDP since they were the first with EAN on the island. I've used a few of the others including Aquamarine, Ena and others before. BIDP is my preferred ops for most diving in Bali for a few reasons:
1. They own their boat so there's not a different boat every day.
2. The boat has a head (not important to me but try explain to a prissy princess gf about peeing in the wetsuit)
3. They are local owned and run and find the best local food at various locations. Important for me
4. Guides are excellent and understand shooters.
5. Blah blah blah

I of course prefer to stay in Sanur when I am diving Penida/Lembongan. But do look at Puri Jati. Zen is a nice place but pretty isolated. Good for 2 days. That's all you'll need for the dive site.

I just came back from 2 weeks in Bali. Stayed at a small resort called the Water Garden Hotel in a town called Candidasa. Beautiful place and well away from the loud raucousness of the main tourist drags, well I'm an old codger who likes my sleep!! Couldn't fault the place. Nice pool, nice food, talk about romantic, very secluded and nice. Quite reasonable too.

I was diving with Aquamarine who run an island wide service. Their boats are noored, as most are, in Padangbai which is just a 15 minute drive from the resort. They send the vehicle from the main town every morning. Pretty much the same other reasons as Drew listed:

1. They own their boat so there's not a different boat every day.
2. The boat has a head, s'funny, ours had a toilet!!
3. They are British owned and run
4. Guides are excellent and understand shooters.

No one dive shop can be suggested as being more prone to getting good Mola encounters, you just gotta dive, dive and keep diving. Mind you, I saw one and wasn't prepared for the thermoclines there which can be pretty darn significant. Surface temp in the mid 20's C and then dropped to 18 at 30m, 16 at 40!! I had a 5mm and hoodie which wasn't so bad but another guy with us had a shortie and was bald.......

I think both Aquamarine and the Water Garden Hotel have web sites.

Cheers,
Mark.

Hmm... a friend had suggested Candi Dasa area as well.

Mark, how long of a boat ride is it from Padang Bai to Nusa Penida?

Hi all.

The sun still sets in the West even south of the equator, Pakman, while Nusa Penida is still east of Bali ((and has been since the Jurassic). You have a choice: you can either watch the sun set from where you stay and commute to Sanur on the bypass highway, or you can stay near where the boats leave in Sanur. Actually, at this time of year (southeastern monsoon), Sanur gets the better breeze anyway.

The word on the molas may have got out a bit more successfully than I would like. I'm hearing that there are just too many divers recently, especially on the weekends, and its affecting the molas. I had thought I would finally get some mola hunting in this year just last weekend, but when I heard about the crowds of divers (and fewer and fewer molas), my friend and I decided just to dive Sanur for the hell of it. At least our carbon emission footprint for the day was lower. Actually, we had two ok dives. I can tell you that the water temp was at least 25 and the molas that we didn't see here in Sanur were just as big and friendly as the molas that apparently none of the hundreds of divers in the 20 degree water at Crystal Bay on Nusa Penida didn't see there. So there!

(My advice, at least while for the rest of this month while the crowds are heavier, would be to do Nusa Penida on weekdays when there seems to be slightly less crowd pressure than Saturdays and Sundays. Or else arrange to stay in Nusa Lembongan and get to the mola sites before anyone else gets there. And bring your 5 mm suits and hoods.)

Like Drew, I dive with BIDP in Bali. By now, I'm sure I've done several hundred dives with Avandy (a good friend) and his people, and I think they're one of the best dive operations I've ever used anywhere in the world. Of course, there are other operators in Bali. as well. Contra Mark, however, and nothing against Aquamarine in particular, but if Annabel now has her own boat, it must be brand new, and I'm surprised she doesn't mention it on her website and that I never see it at the beach here in Sanur. The last I heard, Annabel is still chartering when she has customers who wanted to go to Nusa Penida. I did hear she did a longer term charter last summer during the mola season. The problem with operators who don't own their own boat isn't that they aren't good dive masters or anything, but while they save on overheads, they may not have been able to hire a decent boat when you want to go diving.

And Mark, I know Annabel makes a big point of advertising her company as the "only British owned and operated dive shop in Bali", and yes, she definitely is British (though her DMs and instructors aren't), but since you're coming to Indonesia, why would you prefer to dive with a "British owned and managed" dive operation over anyone else's, for example, owned by an ... Indonesian?

Although Aquamarine doesn't have their own boat, several other operations besides BIDP do, but there are boats and boats. Some I would be willing to ride in to NP, others I wouldn't (nor would I let any member of my family). The Lombok Strait can be treacherous. If I couldn't go with BIDP (and they are very busy right now), I'd probably go with Bali Hai, despite the fact that it's "Australian owned and managed." (insert smiley here - some of my best friends are Aussies!) Bali Hai is also a bit of a high volume operation for my tastes, but they operate their own boats, know what they're doing, and their people are also experienced and well trained.

Lots of places to stay here in Sanur, but I'm told that tourist arrivals in Bali are up 30% this summer (most of them apparently looking for mola molas), so it's not as easy to book a room during high season (now) as it has been the past few post-bomb years. And you can probably forget discounts - some places have reinstituted high season surcharges for this first time in five years. In Sanur, I'd probably try the Parigata, in Batujimbar or maybe LaTaverna (on the beach, run by a friend).

Good luck. Message me via the board when you get here - I might be around.

Frogfish (Robert Delfs)

Thanks for the info Rob. How are the crowds around mid Oct which is when we're planning to be out there? Might take your advice on the avoiding the weekend. I think we fly in on Sat. And maybe we'll do some topside touristy stuff on Sun and do the diving starting mon...

Yep, will definitely be bringing my 5mm and hooded vest. An Aussie colleague of mine and his wife were out there last year and had water temps dropping below 20c in below the thermoclines. They did get some great mola mola video footage.

Pakman, the crowds should have thinned out by late September and I'd think it would definitely be OK in October. It's a nice time to be here, and by then, weekends at NP probably won't be a problem either. Yes, it does get cold underneath.

Frogfish

I always thought being British just means there's no sex and lots of tea with spots of milk?

Pakman, the boatride from Padang Bai is about the same as Sanur. What you get in padang bai is cheaper accomodation and more dive ops in one row sort of atmosphere. It WAS once a lot less touristy but sigh... Some of the sites in Padang Bai/Tepekong/Biaha are nice and worth looking at.
However if your gf (which I think being your quality time with her, would get choice of accomodation) wants Jimbaran 4 seasons stuff... she's going to be VERY disappointed with Candidasa in general. Not a lot to do aprés dive.
Also realize that a lot of the mola sites are advanced drift dives and often deep. There are some funky currents in the area and it gets pretty hairy in the channel. One of my gf loved the mola mola dives... but she loved the Begawan much more.
I do understand about being on the western side. Something about an infinity pool, looking on the sunset with a gf ....

** Correction **

I've just been informed that Annabel at Aquamarine here in Bali may have purchased a boat last month. If so (and my source is one that is usually "impeccable"), then my post above stands corrected. I'm sure this will be a first class craft, and a welcome addition to the list of safe, well-found day boats operating here in Bali.

Frogfish (Robert Delfs

Yep, just got an email this morning from a local Bali diver confirming that Aquamarine has a new boat.

Told ya so!!!

frogfish, thats no so pro an attitude mate. Your base location makes it more than easy to confirm or deny the issue of a dive shop owning a boat or not. Not a good thing to publicly state they don't have a boat when you don't know and as it turns out they do! I was diving from it one month ago! I thought I made that clear in my posting.

Definitely back up what Drew mentioned about currents, they can get pretty damn freaky at times, I had Scubapro Split Fins with the Gates Z1 and Wide lens set up, some dives weren't that long!!

Candidasa suited my needs, peace and quiet, somewhere to relax and read a book at the end of the day. I'm not the night club, party hardy kinda person so each to their own. If you want some semblance of nightlife etc then maybe Candidasa may be a bit too reserved for ya.

Cheers,
Mark.
P.S The trip was my first time to Bali so I prefered to dive with an operation who 'by the looks of it' had a good reputation, were well organized and could give me the flexible schedule I needed. As it was Aquamarine stepped up to, and surpassed, that mark.

P.P.S There was not a lot of tea drinking going on. I won't go into the other matter of Brits not being 'up for it'? I'd just make you all jealous!!

Have you thought about staying on Nusa Lembongan? there are a few little resort out there, not a whole lot to do there but if the gf just wants sun and a beach i'm sure she'd be happy.

Edit: Pak, i'm sure the last thing you want to do is go diving with a bunch of Limey's on your hols, so might i suggest the new-ish dive op by Bali Hai on Lembongan.

boat full of limeys I could deal with. A boat load of fellow Korean divers is what scares me more!

Bali Hai? hmm.. what an absolutely original name... Thanks for the suggestion, but I think we'll stay on the mainland side for that portion.

damn pommies, i would stay away from them as well...

Back off, CamDiver. I made it absolutely clear in my posting that if they had a boat now, then it was a new one (and it is). I also corrected my post as soon as I heard from a reliable source that the situation had just changed.

Frogfish

I don't know Pak. A boatful of Hyunjung Kims I can totally live with. Plus Australians are really convict pommies ... in fact they are just rejects from all. Sorta like the US

Staying on the big island is just easier for choice of great accomodation.

Hyun Jung Kim??? Naw... Now maybe a boat load of Lee Hyori!

Thing is though Pak, if you leave your mrs alone on Bali during the day you will have a sex-starved albino Yapese man sniffing around like a stray dog....

that is a scary thought... bad enough having to beat the Bali beachboys off with a stick...

Naw, I'm sure Yapboy will be too busy being your wingman Simon... Take one for the team Mike!!! someone has to jump on those grenades - I mean those supersized female yobs from downunder...

Hey ... you obviously haven't met Megan Gale. Ozzie chicks are hot... just forget the Pauline Hanson types.

Hey get back to thinking about Bali and romance.

A few more facts, for the uninformed about Aquamarine Diving, which were provided by an "insider". AquaMarine 1, their first boat, was launched at the end of 2006 over 8 months ago. Aquamarine 2 was launched in July 2007.

AquaMarine Diving Bali owns two boats - moored in Pandangbai rather than Sanur (like BIDP and Ena who both only own 1 boat each). Why moored in Padangbai? So AquaMarine can also offer diving at Tepekong, Mimpang, Biaha and Selang unlike dive operators who moor their boats in Sanur (it's too far to travel). Also Sanur suffers terribly from those low, low tides meaning guests have long treks up and down the beach and then wading through water to get into boats ... and of course all the gear and tanks have to be
carried/transported to the boats too.

Both AquaMarine boats have toilets and "excellent guides who understand photographers". .

AquaMarine only employs local dive staff and has certified five local Divemasters and so far has paid for three local dive staff to become instructors with the fourth starting his IDC/IE on 07 Sept 2007.
Aquamarine has the first Balinese Instructor to take his IDC/IE on Bali and he was a Divemaster for Aquamarine when he did his IDC/IE.

I have dived with several of AquaMarine's guides and they are excellent critter spotters, know how to handle a camera and are clued in on good eats spots.

Thank you, Tony, for clearing the air on Aquamarine's boat situation. I think it fair to add that they didn't own any boats for many years and the "insider" made an erroneous assumption the situation didn't change. And being associated with CitySeahorse, Aquamarine's webmaster, you would obviously know a lot more than most outsiders. Which is why such forums are great for information and research. We get "insider" information from all sources.
However, irrespective of scuba operation, I think it prudent to revisit Pakman's original question. He will probably be staying on the west side of Bali in Jimbaran or Seminyak. Sanur is 20-30 minutes away depending on traffic, Padang Bai is at least 50mins to 1.5 hours away. Personally I wouldn't spend my holiday in a car for 2-3hours daily when it's 1 hour travel time to and fro by choosing Sanur.
Sure the customers have to wade out sometimes at low tide, but they also have a little row boat that ferries customers and equipment to whichever boat. I personally don't use it as I like the exercise and I even carry my own housing sometimes for the strength training.
Being a frequent diver in Bali over the years, I think most of the operators use a similar MO. Tranport the customer to the dive site of choice and bring along tanks and equipment and hire a local boat/resort to dive that area. Having used a few of the operators, it's been pretty much the same. BIDP, Bali Hai and Aquamarine have stellar reputations on Bali. Pakman would be fine with any of them.
Oh and Pakman, the 'proper' term for the Bali beach boys is Kuta Cowboys.

Anyone use Blue Season Bali? I think my local travel agent has an arrangement with them.

http://www.baliocean.com/en/

No but I've seen their boat.... busy with a lot of Japanese tourists that touch a lot, and I'm not talking about the good kinda touching.

Thanks for clearing that up Tony. I hope all previous posters in this thread read and take note of this information. I knew I wasn't dreaming!!

Cheers,
Mark.

ha... thanks for the warning

Mark,
We get 90% of our info about Aquamarine Diving via their newsletter which is published every 2 months.
As Drew stated I do have a relationship with AMD's WEBMs but the newsletter is our source for most information, I found out about their boats in the newsletter not from some back channel.

We certainly aren't able to just pop down to AMD's office and query Annabel about what is going on with AMD as we live in Fort Worth, TX.
We do get to Indonesia 2 or 3 times a year but not always to Bali.

For those who would like to be kept abreast of information about AMD drop them an email at news@AquaMarineDiving.com and asked to be put on their newsletter subscription list, Annabel will be quite happy to see that you are added to the list.

Hi Tony,
Through professional undertakings I don't feel I will be going back to Bali within the foreseeable future so that negates the issue of needing to receive further information on dive shops there, whether AMD or others. Whenever I go somewhere I sniff around for all information pertaining to the dive shop / destination in general.

Whilst I didn't know if AMD had their own boat before going to Bali, I kinda expected they did. As it turns out I was very pleased with the service in general.

I also wanted to clear up the fact as to why I intentionally decided to dive with someone promoting the fact that their shop is owned by a nationality other than that of the local persuasion. It boils down to the fact that as as an image chasing diver I feel that I, and others like me, need to be understood in our demands. That said I have been to places throughout my years of travels and frequented dive operations using local guides. Most of these operators have had impeccable services but the problem raises its head when one starts discussing things you may need for shots etc with the local guides. Through no fault of their own they tend to be not understanding of camera angles and shot requirements. Mix that with a poor grasp of the English language and it makes communications, at times, so damn painful.

Lest it again be suggested that my actions in selecting an English dive shop in Bali could be construed as racist (believe it, that has been mentioned) I should also point out that I speak French, Spanish and German, but unfortunately not Indonesian. I endeavor to understand at least a spattering of local dialects during my travels and have very strong personal ties and friendships with nationals from many island nations and regions of SE Asia.

Seeking out an Anglophone dive shop in the midst of locally owned ones was made purely to appease that very basic communication issue. With an English boss the guides at AMD speak English with greater competence than that of other locals I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of. Period.

As far as I'm concerned this whole episode is finished. I suggest that every 'insider' be fully aware of all of the facts of any given topic, and double check their sources before posting what could be construed as disrespectful and detrimental comments to others in the forum.

Cheers,
Mark.

Hi Mike,

Since this thread is still rumbling on I thought I'd add some comments on the original question. The one thought I'd add about the mola mola is that they are not the most exciting subjects. They are certainly amazing to see - but since they don't really do that much, as a stills photographer once you have seen them you have seen them. If you get some good encounters on your first day or so, you may be content with what you've got. For me they lack the charm of a subject like mantas that you can watch dive after dive.

Anyway, I guess you won't know until you have the shots. But this is where there is an advatage of staying on Bali rather than Lembongan. If you get lucky with the MM early then you can always do something else.

Just a thought.

Alex

I'm sure no one thinks it's racist to seek an english speaking operation (perhaps nationalist? ). However, again I think that is an unfair assumption to make about local operations in general. So I'll have to disagree with you on that statement. Sure they speak with an accent and broken english, but then again, so do cockneys, and they are british too!
I'm very sure those operations named here speak perfectly comprehensible english to where they can work with photographers. I accept that not all operations are like this but I'm sure the recommendations of wetpixel members would not include a need to speak Bahasa Indonesia.


Ah Sir Moutarde, that's cause you haven't shot them breaching yet. Or getting cleaned by seabirds at the surface, or chowing down a jellyfish or my favorite... getting chowed by a big shark!
Sure, mantas have the graceful movement and flippy cephallic fin lip thing going. They are also probably more engaging to divers and instill wonderment to the diver in general. I think molas have that Edvard Munch/goldfish lip shocked look them that is priceless, thus is the ecletic's choice.
Signed
Mola Mola's just wanna have fun too Foundation.

but Alex, ah shucks... I was gonna film 60 min of non stop video of Mola Mola's doing exactly that... nothing... j/k

I'm gonna have to side with Drew on this one. Those goofy Mola faces are too irresistable. Just one of many things on my "must see" list...
Just heard from a Singapore based friend that she saw 3 mola mola's together on 1 dive last week.

Anyways, we'll be doing a couple days diving in Tulamben as well to round things off.

Pak, you do know you have to hit the water once you arrive for the best period to catch molas? It's 3 days before and after full and black moon, according to local dive ops.
And waitaminit... what do you mean? you don't agree with me on other issues?!?

Drew, yep that's why we're gonna try to hit Nusa Penida as soon as we arrive...

Now we just need a mola mola or two to breach for us...

Had a remarkable trip from Aug 1-15. Did a LOB to Komodo and then to Bali for Molas.

I went to Bali last year in Oct and saw ZERO molas... so this year I told myself to go during the lunar 7th month. That's the season when the sightings of molas is higher. And that's August!....

Last year we stayed in Mimpi (to dive Tulamben & Seraya) then WaterGraden for NusaPenida diving. And we dived with AquaMarine. I really liked out guide a v cool n calm man call Ketut.

This year we stayed in Lotus Bungalow in Candidasa. Dun worry about 'no night life'. There is a restaurant in Candidasa I highly recommend call Vincent's. About 20mins walk away from htl and 3 mins by taxi.

This time all our bookings were made through our local dive ctr, Sea Hounds in Spore (my cousin runs the shop... thus ). Lotus Bungalow uses their own boat. They have a super duper new and fast boat.

We had over 10 sightings of molas at Crystal Bay on 3 dives. And countless display and parade of mantas at Manta Point. The good DMs makes a difference and the dive centre in Lotus Bungalows is ran by a Danish Instructor Jan. We know him quite well we used to dive with him in Gangga Island, Manado (part of the Lotus group). We saw our first blue-ring octopus with him la!

He gave an excellent advise.... DUN go below a mola... once they feel the bubbles.. they'll scutter away before u know it... and they're fast!

I have great videos and pics of Molas.... but I'm really a newbie w my cam so maybe its not really spiffy to you. Nonethless.... it was an exceptionally amazing experience and I will be happy to help you hook up with arrangements if u care...

Good luck!!

I know this post started a while ago but hopefully theres some people still reading it. I'm heading to Bali on the 24th October and diving the 26th-28th. Diving 26th at Tulamben (Liberty Wreck), 27th Nusa Penida / Nusa Lembongan and the 28th outside Padangbai and Candidasa. Was wondering if anyone can give me some ideas of what to expect. Is there any chance of me seeing Mola Mola or am I going too late in the season? Are the Manta Rays going to be about? I have just recently bought a Canon Powershot A570 IS in a Canon housing and have no external strobes. Am I going to be able to make use of this set up, or am I better off leaving it in my dive bag and just enjoy the dives. I'm hoping that I may be able to get some use out of my camera. Is it worthwhile to invest in a magic filter or similar to make best use of having no strobe? If this is the case, what is best filter to go with?

I'm travelling with Aquamarine diving and so far they have been fantastic with everything. The trip I'm going on was a prize I won through Sport Diving Magazine/Divelog Australasia and Aquamarine Diving, so just wanted to give these guys a big thank you (and a small bit of advertising) here in the forum. Looking forward to what I'm sure will be a great trip.

Adam, flying out this Sat. Might do just 2 days diving in Nusa Penida area. Will have more to post in answer to your questions when I get back on the 20th... But I've been hearing rumblings that the mantas have gone AWOL lately around Nusa Penida...

Given how small the A570 is, I'd suggest bringing it. If you do see a manta or mola mola, try some ambient shots (no flash). Or even take some video with it

Agh! Don't tell me that! I've got a month in Bali starting next Tuesday. Besides Mike V and Simon B it sounds like I might bump into a few others from Weptpixel while I am there. First week is at Tulamben then the rest of the plan will be worked out with Mike and Simon. If you see a Canadian, a Brit and an Aussie all in one place then that will be us probably.

Pacman,

Looking forward to hear how your trip was. Spoke to someone the other day that said the Mola Mola were still round in large groups. Hopefully you'll be able to confirm this and tell me that the Mantas are still there. Also wondering what the weather is like at the moment? I'm leaving Sydney on Wednesday morning so thinking it won't have change much by the time I arrive.

As a very novice underwater photographer I will ask the question regarding ambient shots. What exactly do you mean and what is the benefit of this type of shot? If I can get just one good picture from 3 days of diving I will be happy. So any help or suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

As today is when your coming home from Bali, I hope you had a good trip and I look forward to your response.

Adam

I just got back today from Bali. We only ended up doing 2 dives (1 day trip) to Crystal Bay. We saw one baby mola mola getting cleaned for a few minutes before the crowd of 20+ divers spooked it away... We had around 8 boats in Crystal bay during our dives. We were diving with BIDP and they said the manta sightings have been rare so we opted out on having the 2nd dive at Manta Point and did a 2nd dive at Crystal Bay, where we proceeded to freeze our arses off as the thermoclines dropped to 16c at one point!! Absolutely amazed that there were a couple people in just shorties!!! nuts...

After just chilling in Jimbaran Bay, we stayed over at Mimpi Tulamben for 3 days. The tornado of jacks were there every morning. Last time I did USS Liberty, it was for my OW checkout dive over 10 yrs ago, so it was nice revisting this site. Despite the crowds of daytrippers from Sanur, there was plenty of fish life. Mimpi staff were great, and very relaxed about solo nite dives... Had a blast doing 80+ min dives out to Drop off point and back to the Mimpi house reef. Even had the jacks come into to the shallow outcrop on top of Drop Off Point. Came across a cute little blue/green bobtail squid in the sand. There's a monster green moray in the rocks right in front of Mimpi as well as some other smaller yellow morays. Will try to post a few pics later.

Met up with Mike V. for a few beers in Sanur, where he proceeded to rub it in about seeing so many mola molas a few weeks ago with no divers around...

Adam - the flash on a point and shoot isn't very strong, so unless you get in real close to the mola mola, it won't do much other than light up backscatter. This was my 1st Mola encounter so I'm sure the other experts with more experience will have better advice. I was told best not to rush in else you might spook them. Wait until they tilt up for a cleaning and go into a little trance...

Perish the thought, now there's gotta be some jokes about that scenario!

Break a leg, and then Mike's.

Best,
Mark.