Manta Point Dive Site

8 dive logs in “Manta Point”

1. After Tulamben’s USAT Liberty shipwreck, Manta Point is probably Bali’s second most popular dive site. Manta Point is actually more than just one dive site. The Manta Alfredis are present all along the West coast of Nusa Penida. Operators choose to dive in different spots along that coast depending on the conditions and the presence of the rays.

   Some areas are better suited to witnessing a particular behavior. There are both cleaning stations and feeding grounds, deeper walls and shallow plateaus. Mantas that can be seen here range from 1m in size to 3-4m.

   The great thing about this dive site is that the rays can be seen all year round. There may be more during the months of April and May. However, they are sighted on almost every trip.

   If you get bored of the mantas, you may look elsewhere and be surprised by the sheer number of blue spotted stingrays that love this areas. There are sometimes hundreds of rays together on the sandy areas or on top of soft corals. Turtles and nurse sharks are also quite common here. It’s also a great place for rare nudibranches!

   While this site is accessible to any certified diver, it is recommended that divers have dived recently before heading to this dive spot. Some dive centers may ask divers to dive on a different site first in order to see how comfortable they are in the water.

   There are no currents here. However, swell can make diving difficult or inaccessible to divers with poor buoyancy skills. Definitely not a place for Discover Scuba Divers! Snorkeling is better suited if you haven’t completed a dive course yet.

   This dive site can be dived from Sanur or Padang Bai in mainland Bali. Operators from Nusa Lembongan also offer trips to Manta Point.

   By Cedric Saveuse

   Reply ↓

2. Any recommendations to good dive centres/operators for Manta Point? If I come from the mainland? Thank you!

   Reply ↓

3. Spotted 10 mantas yesterday (April 15, 2018), one of the missing his tail, black with white spots on his head. Current was really strong but shifting left and right. Rather murky waters, visibility only up to 10 meters. Cold currents sometimes came from the sea directions. We stayed for 51 minutes watching this graceful ballet of the mantas.

   We also see some groupers, several surgeon fish. Not so many corals, as this is a sandy slope. Maximum depth was 10 meters.

   I used Penida Dive Center with Stiva as our dive master

   Reply ↓

4. March 2018 we went out with a diving group to Manta Point, however my fiance and I chose to snorkel while everyone else dove. The trash our group encountered was astounding, completely unexpected, and of course, heartbreaking. We DID see manta rays. Even from our snorkel vantage point near the water’s surface, and with the water being murky – somewhat cloudy and somewhat brown (because it was March and had just rained the night before) – we still had several manta sightings. The divers of course had even better up-close experiences with the manta. What has compelled me to write a review, though, is the trash. One of our very experienced dive guides said she had never seen it so bad and that maybe it was due to the rain. After returning from our trip we found other videos of divers encountering significant trash there as well – not sure if it’s seasonal or rain related. To be safe, if anyone in your group is considering snorkeling, advise them to wear a wetsuit! I was offered one but declined because I did not expect to be swimming with bare skin amid so much trash. Despite the possibility of encountering the real world effects of human pollution, I recommend doing this dive because there are still manta and most importantly to experience how significant the trash problem is and what we are doing to the mantas’ home. It gave us motivation to support much-needed ocean clean-up projects. Also, the same day we snorkeled at Crystal Bay which is closeby, at the same island, and the waters were crystal clear, with beautiful colorful coral and fish. It was such a stark comparison to see still-spectacular Crystal Bay after Manta Point on the exact same day.

   Reply ↓

5. I was not luck, visibility was very poor and strong swell, no mantas spotted. The dive at Toyapakeh, before Manta point was great tho, we even saw the Mola.

   Reply ↓

6. Absolutely loved the manta point dive. We saw a huge manta ray followed by several small cute ones. Just before we finished our dive, we saw 3 manta rays following each other. I would say that this dive was really amazing. The visibility was decent. We also saw a lot of spotted sting rays and some greats schools of fishes. This is definitely one of the better dives in South-East Asia.

   Reply ↓

7. Blue Corner Dive. Had a great time last week! Amazing

   Reply ↓

8. Amazing spot and dove with Blue Corner.

   Great times. Great times

   Reply ↓

(74 votes, 3.47/5)

Loading...