Sekolah Dasar

Overview

Sekolah Dasar, usually called SD or SD Point, is a boat-dived drift along a coral plateau and a sloping wall on the north coast of Nusa Penida. Its name is Indonesian for primary school. Two Fish Divers, a Nusa Lembongan dive resort, says the site sits in front of the local primary school, and the Dutch dive directory Duikersgids.nl says the school lies opposite the site. The Nusa Penida dive guide nusapenida.org says two primary schools sit on either side of the site along the coast, and calls SD Point the first wall you reach heading north-east from Toyapakeh.

No source gives a map position for the site, so this record has no map point.

How the site is dived

All three sources describe a boat dive. Two Fish Divers says it is a short 15-minute ride from its Nusa Lembongan resort, that its divers back-roll into the water and descend a sloping wall, and that the current then carries them on a drift along the wall. nusapenida.org gives 10 to 15 minutes by boat from Toyapakeh and describes a drift along a large coral plateau that tips over into a wall. Duikersgids.nl describes a shallow, gently sloping plateau that drops away at about 45 degrees from 10 metres, and says divers enter from the boat. nusapenida.org says SD Point is part of a chain of drift sites along the north coast, and that depending on the current a single dive can cross several of them.

Depth

nusapenida.org gives a depth of 5 to 40 metres, with 18 to 25 metres as the ideal range, and says experienced divers can follow the wall down to 40 metres. Duikersgids.nl gives a depth of 40 metres. Two Fish Divers' 2019 dive descended to a planned depth of 25 to 30 metres, which is that dive's plan and not a site limit. This record uses 40 metres as the maximum and 5 metres as the minimum; the minimum comes from nusapenida.org alone.

Level

The sources disagree, and this record sets no difficulty. nusapenida.org rates the site for all levels, with Open Water as the recommended minimum, and says Open Water divers can dive it straight after certification when conditions are calm, staying along the edge of the shallow plateau without dropping onto the wall. It says Advanced Open Water divers get the most out of the site between 18 and 25 metres, and recommends an Advanced Open Water course before diving deep there. Duikersgids.nl describes the site as challenging and suitable for experienced divers. The record sets no certification requirement.

Current

nusapenida.org gives the current as mild to moderate and sometimes strong, and warns of down-currents that can pull a diver toward the bottom along the wall and of turbulence it calls washing machines at the end of the plateau. It says a sudden change in current direction is often the warning sign of a down-current, and advises always diving the site with a local guide. Duikersgids.nl says the current is usually strong and can be strong. This record sets no current strength because the sources disagree.

Marine life

nusapenida.org describes green and hawksbill turtles, which it says are met on almost every dive, and schools of sergeant majors, fusiliers, trevallies and sometimes barracudas, with napoleons, surgeonfish and batfish over the plateau and tuna or giant trevallies off the wall when visibility is good. For macro it names several frogfish, among them a large black one resident on the reef, as well as paperfish, nudibranchs, shrimps, orangutan crabs and occasionally ghost fish. Two Fish Divers describes schools of red-tooth triggerfish and butterflyfish among giant sponges, table corals and sea fans, with green and hawksbill turtles, and says tuna or barracuda may pass. Duikersgids.nl says reef sharks are regularly seen, gives a good chance of mantas and whitetip and blacktip reef sharks at around 25 metres, and names tuna and barracuda.

The sources differ on the ocean sunfish (mola mola). Two Fish Divers' 2019 post says mola mola sightings are very common at SD. nusapenida.org says that between July and October it is not unusual to see one along the deep wall, but calls such encounters unpredictable, rare but possible. Duikersgids.nl says they are seen in season. No source gives a measured sighting rate for any animal.

Conditions

nusapenida.org gives visibility of 20 to 30 metres, a water temperature of 22 to 29 °C that can drop to 18 °C in the mola mola season, and says the site can be dived all year. Duikersgids.nl gives visibility of 10 to 35 metres, 20 metres on average, and says the water can be as cold as 21 °C, lower than normal, because of currents from the deep. This record marks the visibility as disputed and sets no temperature or season.

Sources and lineage

The three sources are worded independently. nusapenida.org is a guide written by a diver who says they are based on Nusa Penida and have dived SD Point since 2017; it promotes an instructor at the Dune Penida dive centre. Two Fish Divers' account is a dive-trip blog post from December 2019. Duikersgids.nl is a dive-site directory that does not name the author of its entry. Nobody has verified this record in person; it was researched and written by an automated process from the sources named here.