This was our maiden trip to Bali after so many moons of planning. It finally came about on 9 - 15 Sept 2007. Our main objective - to see the mola-mola (or known as the sunfish) which frequents the waters of Nusa Penida in Sept.

So we took a dive safari trip. What does that mean? Well, you move from one dive site to another by van and dive as you go along. Quite an experience!!!

The first 2 days we spent our time in Tulamben (approximately 2 hours ride from DenPasar). It was a nice quiet town (more like a village) facing the majestic Gunung Agung. At the shore, we have the USS Liberty sunk during World War 2, lying about 30meters deep. So for our first 3 dives, we did our shore dives from Tulamben Wreck and Drop off point. It wasn't as amazing as we expected, but crystal clear waters, black sand and some very strong reflexology footwork. The whole shore is covered with large round rocks, from the last eruption of volcano, so u get lotsa of work.

On our 2nd day, we spent diving in 2 excellent dive sites - Rubaya (welcoming garden eels at 10m), Seraya 1 & 2. Seraya is an excellent dive site for macro (small marine life). We saw our harlequin shrimps, flounder and porcelain crab, tons of nudibranch, morays, sea slugs, starfish, lionfish, mantis shrimps, cleaner shrimps, and plenty more.

We headed to Padang Bai for overnite, and the next day, we were diving Nusa Penida sites. The 2 dives wasn't as interesting for seeing marine life but it was more like cold waters (24degrees)and strong currents. One of us even got swept up to surface. We did a night dive at Teluk Jepun, and this was another surprising site. Spanish dancers, flying gurnard, decorated crab, horsechoe crab, squids, octopus, and lots more.

For our final day dive, we headed to Manta Point where we saw the wonderful manta ray. Extremely cold waters (17degrees), thermoclines (and i mean real thermoclines) but excellent visibility (about 30meters). We wore out thickest wetsuits (with double wetsuits).

Last dive, we went to Crystal Bay, but no mola-mola. However,we managed to catch sight of a mola-mola fin on the surface on the way back on the boat. No luck catching hold of mola-mola this time around, but we all went home satisfied with our thoughts to the manta ray and wonderful diving in Bali.

Next August, we will be back!!!

Tom Chan www.tjjadventure.org