Menjangan Diving
Plummeting walls, WWII wreck diving and huge flat coral shelves, all covered in macro life, make Menjangan Island a playground for underwater photographers. Dive there to discover spectacular coral formations, highly sought-after critters and occasional passing pelagics.
Info
We don't currently have any dive centers or liveaboards in Menjangan, but that might change. In the meantime, take a look at other dive experiences nearby in Bali.
Diving in Menjangan
Part of the West Bali National Park, Menjangan Island, was Bali’s first internationally-known diving location. Famous for incredible wall diving with fantastic visibility, the wall’s nooks, crannies, and overhangs are home to an abundance of macro life. Scuba diving in Menjangan offers divers the chance to dive the mild currents and with 10-metre flat coral shelves it's alsoare perfect for novice divers. Macro photographers will delight in capturing frogfish, ghost pipefish and pygmy seahorse on camera while manta ray and juvenile whale sharks may decide to make an appearance.
There are few dive resorts on Menjangan Island itself but there are dive centres located in nearby Pemutaran and Lovina that arrange daily trips frequently. Many of these dive centres also take advantage of the calm waters to offer dive courses. If you intend to visit a number of diving locations around Bali, Menjangan diving is also possible by dive safaris arranged from dive centers located in and around Denpasar.
Best time to dive
Scuba diving in Menjangan is possible all year round and provides some of the best visibility of all of Bali’s dive locations. The peak visibility is said to be from October through to November while the monsoon season is from April through to October. If you want to spot a manta ray or a baby whale shark the best time to visit is during the rainy season, where you might find them enjoying the cooler water.
Types of diving
Menjangan diving is famous for having some of Bali’s most beautiful wall diving. Known also for easy diving conditions it's a fantastic place to take part in dive courses while admiring the incredible coral cover. At Anker Wreck, experienced divers can enjoy dropping down to examine the long lost boat cargo. A gentle drift dive through Pos II’s dive site will find you carried safely by the current as you peer into caves, crevasses and overhangs. Venture a little further out from Menjangan Island and you can find a number of bays with excellent muck dives that host a variety of strange macro critters.
What to see
At Menjangan, you’ll find Bali’s highest concentration of gorgonian sea fans, many of them holding minuscule pygmy seahorse. Sea turtles are usual visitors to Menjangan’s walls, where they rest on the rocky surfaces many ledges and overhangs while reef sharks glide past. Other megafauna and pelagics are fairly rare to the area as the island is protected from the cold ocean currents yet when the water cools in the rainy season, whale sharks, mola mola and manta rays have been known to make an appearance. Interesting nudibranch, pipefish, frogfish and leaf scorpionfish have all been discovered scuba diving in Menjangan muck dive sites.
Best places to dive
Anker Wreck dive is a small wooden boat encrusted with giant gorgonian fans. Sunk in World War II the wreck derives its name from the anchor that still lies at around 6-metres from the surface. Descending all the way down to 50-metres you will find artefacts of copper sheeting and bottles resting on the sandy bottom. Schools of fusilier and bannerfish circle the boats remains while nudibranch and frogfish decorate the seabed.
Garden Eel Point offers some of the healthiest corals on Menjangan Island. As you make your way along the wall, cracks and crevices are filled with a great diversity of reef fish and sea turtles often visit the area. At the bottom of the wall, a white sanded slope appears where longnose hawkfish hide in huge gorgonian fans and huge colonies of garden eels cover the slope. Reef sharks, napoleon wrasse and scorpionfish often survey the site.
Pos I is a relaxing reef dive without any current. The spectacular corals feature interesting crevices, fissures and small caves with a multitude of sea fans. A drop off descends to 40-metres where whale sharks have been seen passing in the blue. Pos I’s sister site Pos II offers a gentle drift dive along an impressive wall. Slowly descend along the walls many overhangs and crevasses into a thermocline which sometimes brings with it manta rays, sharks and mola mola.
Situated at the West coast of Bali near Menjangan island lies the Secret Bay. It has been called the best place for macro photography on the island with the chance to spot the picturesque dragonet, the huge bobbit worm and plenty of banggai cardinal fish. In the muddy undergrowth, robust ghost pipefish, moray eels, seahorses, sarong shrimps, firefish and frogfish have also been seen - a dream for the underwater photographers among us. Muck dive sites are less often visited by daily trip boats from dive centres near Menjangan Island, so to dive these sites liveaboards are your best option.
