Nusa Penida
A Limestone Island Off South East Bali, Ringed By Cliffs Several Hundred Metres High, With Manta Cleaning Stations Offshore And The Oceanic Sunfish Appearing In The Cold Months · Toyapakeh, Bali
Nusa Penida is a limestone island half an hour by fast boat off south-east Bali, and its entire coastline is CLIFF - several hundred metres of it in places, dropping straight into water so blue it looks retouched. KELINGKING BEACH, where the headland happens to be shaped like a dinosaur's head above a white crescent, is one of the most photographed views in Asia. So are ANGEL'S BILLABONG, a natural rock pool that fills at low tide, and BROKEN BEACH, a collapsed sea cave forming a circular bay with an arch. UNDERWATER IT IS BETTER STILL: manta rays at the cleaning stations year-round, and MOLA MOLA, the oceanic sunfish, rising from deep water roughly July to October. THE ISLAND'S ROADS ARE GENUINELY BAD and the day trip from Bali is a rushed and sometimes dangerous scramble. Stay a night or two and you get the famous viewpoints before ten and after four, with nobody else standing on them at all.
Nusa Penida, Klungkung Regency, Bali, Toyapakeh, Bali, Indonesia
THE ISLAND IS REACHED BY FAST BOAT from Sanur, Padangbai or Nusa Lembongan, roughly thirty to forty-five minutes, running through the day and STOPPING IN THE LATE AFTERNOON. THERE IS NO SCHEDULE WORTH TRUSTING IN ROUGH WEATHER - crossings are cancelled and people get stranded. THE VIEWPOINTS ARE FREE OR CHARGE A SMALL PARKING AND ENTRY FEE collected locally, and are open during daylight. ANGEL'S BILLABONG IS ONLY SAFE AND ONLY FULL AT LOW TIDE - check the tide table, because people have been swept off the rocks there at high water. GETTING AROUND MEANS A HIRED SCOOTER, A CAR WITH A DRIVER OR A TOUR; the roads are narrow, steep, broken and in places genuinely dangerous. Dive operators run their own schedules to the manta sites.