Batu Nunggul

Overview

Batu Nunggul is a boat dive on a sloping coral reef off Nusa Penida. Scuba Junkie Penida, a dive operator on the island, says it "often gives us a fast drift" and lists it among its east coast sites. Kapal Selam Dive Club, a diving club whose trip pages list dives here from 2004 to 2015, rates it easy to moderate, while Bali Fun Diving lists it under sites for experienced or advanced divers only. The sources also differ on which shore it is on and on how strong its current is, so those points are stated below and no single value is set.

Where it is

No source used here gives a map point, so this record has none. Scuba Junkie Penida lists the site on the east coast and says its east coast sites are a 20 to 30 minute boat ride away. The club's 2004 trip report puts it ten to fifteen minutes by speedboat north of Karang Sari, "still on the East side of Nusa Penida". Other club pages differ: its Nusa Penida page groups it with sites in the north and west of the island, and its Gamat Bay page calls it a northern shore site. An unsigned 2013 post on the Balipictures blog places it off the island's main town, in a small bay east of the entrance to the harbour, where a buoy is used by dive boats. The club gives access as by boat from Padang Bai or Sanur.

Bali Fun Diving names Batununggul as the village of Sampalan harbour, and Dive Concepts has a separate page for a Nusa Penida site called Sampalan. No source used here says whether that site and Batu Nunggul are the same, so this record does not treat them as one.

The dive

Scuba Junkie Penida describes a sloping coral reef with coral and sponge cover "from 3m to down to 40m depth and beyond". That describes the reef, not a dive profile, so no depth values are set. The Balipictures post describes a descent to 5 metres, a huge boulder on a steep slope running to deep water, and then a swim east along boulders, coral heads and bommies to an outcrop it puts a mile from the entry. The club's 2004 report describes a dive of almost an hour and judged the coral more varied than at Karang Sari, "the best of the day".

Marine life

Scuba Junkie Penida suggests looking for sea snakes, turtles, trevally, tuna and morays. The club's 2004 report, one dive on one day, names the nudibranch Chromodoris annae, a huge spiny lobster, a porcelain crab and many spine-cheek anemonefish. Bali Fun Diving mentions nudibranchs, tropical reef fish, and manta and eagle rays in deeper water. The Balipictures post says nearly the same in similar words, so the two are not counted as independent. No frequency or season is set.

Conditions

The sources disagree on the current. Scuba Junkie Penida says the site often gives a fast drift. Bali Fun Diving says the currents can be highly unpredictable, changing intensity and direction abruptly, and that the site needs a skilled boat captain. The Balipictures post also calls the current unpredictable and advises agreeing the pickup with the skipper before the dive. The club's site page says mild to strong and advises diving at slack tide, but its Gamat Bay page counts Batu Nunggul among sites that "do not posses strong current", and its 2004 report describes a current-less day on the east side.

The club gives visibility as 10 to 30 metres, which is the one value set here from a single source. The Balipictures post says the water can be 26 °C or lower when the current wells up; no temperature is set.