- Open Water course
- IDR 6,850,000
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- Manta rays are present year-round at Manta Point and Manta Bay, so you don't need to time a trip specifically for them — but mola mola (oceanic sunfish) are strongly seasonal, with the best chance roughly July through October when cooler upwelling water rises to diveable depths.
- That same mola mola season brings noticeably colder water — temperatures at Crystal Bay and Manta Point can drop from a typical 26–29°C down to 18–23°C, so a thicker wetsuit or hooded vest is worth having even in "tropical" Bali.
- Nusa Penida is genuinely current- and surge-prone; sites like Batu Bolong, Blue Corner and Mangrove are best left to advanced/experienced divers, while SD Point, PED, Sental, Toyapakeh and Gamat Bay are calmer options suitable for confident Open Water divers.
- Cheaper operators sometimes market Manta Bay as "Manta Point" because it's closer and saves fuel — if seeing the classic Manta Point cleaning station specifically matters to you, ask your operator which site they actually mean.
- You can dive from Nusa Penida/Lembongan itself (short local boat rides) or as a day trip from Sanur in mainland Bali (roughly 1–1.5 hours each way by boat) — basing yourself on the island cuts transfer time considerably if you're diving multiple days.
- There are enough dive shops on Nusa Penida (roughly a dozen-plus named operators) that it's worth comparing group-size ratios and included gear/lunch before booking, not just price.
- If you specifically want a freediving certification, look for a dedicated freediving school (e.g. an SSI or Molchanovs-affiliated center) rather than a scuba shop — freediving here is taught by separate specialist operators, though some scuba and freediving businesses have partnerships so a mixed-discipline couple/group can dive together.
- Crystal Bay and Manta Point are used by both scuba and freediving schools, so conditions (currents, boat traffic) at these sites are relevant whichever discipline you're training in.
- Course prices quoted by operators are often stated as valid only through a specific year-end (e.g. into 2025 or 2026), so confirm current rates directly with the shop before booking.
Dive Sites And Conditions
Sites
Crystal Bay
- Type
- Bay / coral slopes and walls, includes a cave
- Location
- West coast of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Mola mola (oceanic sunfish) most reliably seen roughly July–October, when cold upwelling brings them shallower; site is diveable year-round otherwise
- Marine Life
- Mola mola is the headline draw here; also manta rays, barracuda, giant trevally, tuna, occasional whale shark, frogfish, moray eels, wobbegong sharks, nudibranchs, shrimps/crabs, and sometimes dolphins on the surface
- Notes
- One of Nusa Penida's two most famous sites. Topography creates strong upwelling/down-welling currents, and water temperature can drop sharply and suddenly when the thermocline rises.
Manta Point (Sekar Kuning)
- Type
- Rocky mound cleaning station over sand/mineral bottom
- Location
- South coast of Nusa Penida, facing the Indian Ocean
- Best Season
- Manta rays present essentially year-round
- Marine Life
- Reef manta rays (the main attraction, very high encounter rate), blue-spotted stingrays, turtles, moray eels, nudibranchs, octopuses, occasional mola mola in season
- Notes
- Very exposed to open ocean swell/surge, so conditions can be rough; corals here are stocky/hardy rather than delicate reef gardens.
Manta Bay
- Type
- Shallow, sheltered sandy bay
- Location
- West/south coast of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round, though sightings are less certain than at Manta Point
- Marine Life
- Smaller/juvenile manta rays feeding near the surface, plus turtles and occasional sharks
- Notes
- Often marketed by budget operators as "Manta Point" due to its closer proximity and lower fuel costs; encounters are not guaranteed and it can get crowded with snorkel boats.
Batu Bolong (Batu Meling)
- Type
- Dramatic pierced-rock/arch formation
- Location
- South coast of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Only diveable on a rising tide with low swell
- Marine Life
- Rich reef fauna, though currents make wildlife-watching secondary to navigating the site
- Notes
- Considered a prestige/advanced-only site with high, unpredictable currents; many operators reserve it for experienced or instructor-track divers only.
Rabbit Hole (Batupahet)
- Type
- Cliff-edge site with strong surge
- Location
- South coast, between Manta Bay and Manta Point
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Manta rays gathering to feed in the surge, brownbanded bamboo sharks, varied macro life
- Notes
- A newer, less-crowded alternative between the two main manta sites.
Malibu Point
- Type
- Sheltered bay leading to sloping reef and wall drop-off
- Location
- Far eastern tip of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Turtles, eagle rays, manta rays passing through, occasional mola mola or hammerhead sharks in the deep
- Notes
- Dives typically start in the protected bay and venture out to the wall if conditions allow, returning to the bay for the safety stop.
Suana
- Type
- Wall dive dropping to unknown/great depth
- Location
- East coast of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round with the right tide/current timing
- Marine Life
- General reef fish and pelagics typical of Penida's east coast walls
- Notes
- Currents can be strong; timing the dive correctly matters a lot here.
Semaya
- Type
- Sloping coral reef, exposed
- Location
- Southern tip of the Suana area, east coast
- Best Season
- Year-round, conditions-dependent
- Marine Life
- Dense fish biomass and big-fish potential due to few operators visiting regularly
- Notes
- Expert-level drift site; currents wrap around the island here and can move fast.
Karang Sari
- Type
- Reef plateau (10–12m) with a deeper wall
- Location
- East coast bay of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Large bommies, sea fans, and overhangs on the deeper wall section
- Notes
- Large, versatile site that can be dived several different ways depending on conditions.
Toyapakeh (Toya Pakeh)
- Type
- Coral slope/drift
- Location
- North mouth of the Ceningan Channel, between Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan
- Best Season
- Year-round; occasional mola mola sightings possible
- Marine Life
- Fine coral structures and high biodiversity; occasional mola mola
- Notes
- Currents through the channel can be strong and unpredictable but are generally suitable for confident Open Water divers, not just advanced.
Batumulapan
- Type
- Sloping wall reef
- Location
- Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Soft fan corals, giant sponges, hard corals in the shallows above 14m
- Notes
- Less frequently dived/mentioned than the headline sites.
Gamat Bay
- Type
- Sandy bay with coral patches/bommies
- Location
- Between Crystal Bay and Toyapakeh
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Macro life, reef fish; a calmer alternative to Toyapakeh
- Notes
- Considered entry-level/beginner-friendly and good for photographers and snorkelers due to calmer conditions and clear water.
SD Point
- Type
- Coral slope drift dive
- Location
- North coast of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Reef sharks, mola mola and occasionally manta rays; also queen angelfish, large puffers, humphead parrotfish, cuttlefish
- Notes
- Named for a nearby elementary school (Sekolah Dasar); a classic Penida drift dive suitable for confident Open Water divers, not just advanced.
Pura Ped (PED)
- Type
- Coral slope down to ~50m
- Location
- North coast, near SD Point
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Groupers, moray eels, barracudas, occasional sharks
- Notes
- Shares very similar topography and conditions with SD Point; divers frequently confuse the two.
Sental
- Type
- Coral slope drift dive
- Location
- North coast, near SD Point
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- White-tip reef sharks, mola mola (occasional), queen angelfish, humphead parrotfish, cuttlefish
- Notes
- Topographically similar to SD Point; dive shops often rotate between SD, PED and Sental depending on the tide.
Buyuk
- Type
- Drift dive over reef
- Location
- North coast of Nusa Penida
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Vibrant reef fish, sponges
- Notes
- Grouped with SD Point, PED and Sental as one of the north-coast drift sites.
Labyrinth
- Type
- Rock maze — huge pillars/boulders forming tunnels and passages
- Location
- Just around the corner from Manta Point
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Schools of reef fish, manta rays cruising past en route to the Manta Point cleaning station
- Notes
- Advanced site due to the maze-like rock structure and swell/surge exposure.
Blue Corner
- Type
- Steep slope to ~60m / blue-water drift
- Location
- Between Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan
- Best Season
- Mola mola possible in the cooler season (roughly June–October)
- Marine Life
- Schools of black stingrays, bull rays, reef sharks, mola mola in season
- Notes
- Raw, current-driven advanced diving with potential for big pelagic encounters.
Ceningan Wall
- Type
- Wall drop-off
- Location
- Ceningan Channel
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Soft corals and sponges along a dramatic vertical wall
- Notes
- One of the more visually dramatic wall dives in the area; channel currents can be very strong.
Mangrove
- Type
- Reef fronting a mangrove forest
- Location
- North side of Nusa Lembongan
- Best Season
- Year-round; colder water during mola season
- Marine Life
- Extremely rich reef life supported by mangrove nutrients
- Notes
- Currents can become multidirectional and very strong — operators often swap this for SD Point or PED when conditions are unsafe.
Lembongan Bay
- Type
- Sandy bottom with coral bommies, max depth ~10m
- Location
- Nusa Lembongan
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life
- Macro life, good for night diving
- Notes
- One of the calmest sites in the area; commonly used for beginners, refresher dives and night dives.
Access Summary
- Shore Diving
- Not a realistic option — Nusa Penida's coastline is exposed rock/cliff with strong surge, so essentially all diving is boat-based.
- Day Boat Accessible
- Yes
- Liveaboard Dependent
- No
- Notes
- Diving here is genuinely day-boat accessible, not liveaboard-dependent. Two common models: (1) day-trip boats crossing from mainland Bali (Sanur) taking roughly 1–1.5 hours each way, or (2) short local boat rides (often well under 30 minutes) with dive operators based on Nusa Penida or Nusa Lembongan themselves, which is the faster and generally preferred option for multi-day diving. Liveaboards occasionally include Nusa Penida on broader Bali/Lombok/Komodo itineraries, but it is not necessary — this is not a liveaboard-only destination.
Courses And Operators
Operator Density
- Summary
- Nusa Penida has a genuinely dense cluster of dive operators for its size — one diving-focused survey counted 13 scuba diving centres on the island, mostly strung along Jalan Raya Toya Pakeh-Ped Road, catering to English, French and Chinese-speaking travelers.
- Named Examples
- Named operators found across multiple sources include Scuba Junkie Penida, Purple Dive, Diving Penida (Legend Diving Penida), Dune Penida, Bali Aqua, Temple Diving by Mar Adentro, Bali Stingray Divers, Reeflex Divers, Pure Dive Resort, Blue Corner Dive, Bagoes Dives, Mambo Dive Resort, Octopus Dive, Nusa Scuba Diver, Gairah Scuba Dive Center, and Nusa Penida Watersport.
- Practical Implication
- This density gives nomads real ability to shop around on price, group-size ratios, language support and instructor style rather than being stuck with one operator.
Freediving Crossover
- Caveat
- Exact current course pricing for the freediving schools (e.g. a Level 1 / Wave 1 certification) was not found at the time of research, so no freediving cost figures are included here — only the scuba course prices above are verified.
- Site Overlap
- The same signature scuba sites double as freediving destinations — Crystal Bay and Manta Point are explicitly marketed by freediving schools for breath-hold encounters with mola-mola and manta rays, and one freediving operator's course literature includes a dedicated manta-focused freediving day.
- Cross Booking
- At least one freediving school explicitly partners with a scuba operator so that a non-diving partner or friend can scuba dive on the same trip while the other person takes a freediving course, indicating the two disciplines are commercially linked here even though taught by separate specialist businesses.
- Genuine Crossover Confirmed
- Yes
- Description
- Nusa Penida has dedicated, standalone freediving schools distinct from the scuba shops — most notably Freedive Nusa (an SSI Freediving Instructor Training Center and Molchanovs Instructor Training Center that states it has trained thousands of freedivers since 2017) and Freediving Penida, which operates out of Pure Dive Resort and runs SSI freediving courses from beginner through instructor level.
Typical Course Costs
- Open Water Diver
- IDR 6,850,000
- Advanced Open Water Plus
- IDR 6,450,000
- Advanced Open Water Basic
- IDR 5,950,000
- Advanced Plus With Nitrox
- IDR 8,900,000
- Enriched Air Nitrox Specialty
- IDR 3,950,000
- Open Water Plus Advanced Package
- IDR 12,700,000
- Note On Pricing
- Prices below are drawn from published 2025/2026 rate cards of specific Nusa Penida dive centers and are broadly representative; individual shops vary by a few hundred thousand IDR.
Certifying Bodies And Levels
- Other Bodies
- SSI is also present on the island, mainly through the dedicated freediving schools (see “Freediving Crossover” below); a handful of general dive operators elsewhere in Bali (not confirmed for Nusa Penida specifically) also run SSI, so it's worth asking a given shop directly if SSI matters to you.
- Dominant Body
- PADI is overwhelmingly the dominant certifying agency on Nusa Penida — nearly every dive shop advertises PADI courses, and several are designated PADI 5-star or PADI Eco Centers.
- Levels Commonly Offered
- Discover Scuba Diving (try-dive), PADI Open Water Diver, PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, Emergency First Response (EFR), PADI Rescue Diver, PADI dive specialties (e.g. Enriched Air Nitrox, Deep Diver), and full PADI Divemaster / Instructor (IDC) programs.
- Instructor Level Training
- At least one operator (Purple Dive) is a PADI Career Development Center with in-house PADI Course Directors, meaning Divemaster-through-Instructor training is genuinely available here, not just entry-level courses.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
More About Nusa Penida
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.