Bali is one of the islands among many islands in Indonesia archipelago with plenty of diving sites. Numerous divers from abroad are attracted to dive in Bali. For those who have diving experience in Bali, they admit that Bali is one of their favorite places to dive. With so many places to dive, two weeks are hardly enough to experience them all. Some of the most famous sites are located in Nusa Penida (Penida Island). It is located at the south of Bali. Nusa Penida itself has tens of interesting dive sites with various diving condition and difficulty level. Nusa Penida (the largest island), Nusa Lembongan (medium sized) and Nusa Ceningan (small-sized).
Nusa Ceningan (Ceningan island) is located between Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan. Even as the smallest island compared to other two island, Nusa Ceningan also possess some very attractive dive sites. The most famous dive site in Nusa Ceningan is called CENINGAN WALL, even so this dive site is quite unpopular among local and foreign divers. Only a few dive operators ever take their customers to this place. Because of very strong and unpredictable down current, which continuously change direction, we strongly suggest that only an accomplished diver may try the drift dive here. Ceningan wall is located in the western shore of Ceningan island, directly ahead to the Penida Island the current is continuously changing between norths or south, it is quite unpredictable. The first time we dived there, the current pull us strongly to the south.
We started our dive at 09.12 am; we dived in the northern tip of Ceningan Island. At the depth of 25-35 islands we met packs of Trivelli, Tuna and Barracuda. The bottom of Ceningan wall is a blend of sand, hard corral and various sea vegetation species. In this dive, we also saw a couple of white tip sharks, turtles and a leopard shark, which swam peacefully just above the sandy bottom. The shark looked magnificent, large and yellowish brown with black dots. It is very interesting because this is our first occasion to see a leopard shark.
The water is about 22 centigrade and quite cold for divers from tropical countries, which get used with 28-30 centigrade. After drift diving for about 50 minutes we finally reached the southern tip of Ceningan Island, suddenly we experienced a strong downcurrent during safety stop. The current get even stronger as we reached the surface, we saw the water flowed like a flooding river, fortunately our speedboat crews are experienced for this kind of occurrence, the speed boat cut through the water and throw a rope to pull us out of the water. After all divers were safely aboard the boat, we went to a nice place for rest and lunch after this exhausting dive. The dive in Ceningan wall was very entertaining, this dive site is different compared to other sites, there are many large fishes and unpredictable strong current gave an unforgettable experience.
If you interested to dive in Ceningan wall, first, you must be accompanied by a competent dive operator, who has enough experience in the Ceningan wall and very familiar with this kind of diving. Also, you must be supported by experienced and fast moving speedboat crews. Surely, you do not want to be helplessly drifted away toward the open sea. Just, be careful!