By Walter Mosley
I found beautiful snorkeling in West Bali National Park in the spring of 2026. I stayed at the NusaBay Menjangan Resort. This was the first part of a two month solo snorkeling tour in Indonesia. I will be sharing five more reports from different areas visited on this trip. I will rate the reefs, visibility, marine life density, and boat logistics to help fellow snorkelers plan remote itineraries.
My Report About Snorkeling in West Bali National Park
The Snorkeling Setup at NusaBay Menjangan Resort
I spent five mornings on a private resort boat for dedicated, solo snorkeling sessions across the marine reserve. Boats were highly personal and well-guided.
Reef Health and Terrain
The terrain of the area features spectacular, vertical drop-off walls encrusted with vibrant soft and hard corals, sea feathers and sponges. While a few shallow spots showed minor wear and evidence of some coral bleaching, the overall reef health was excellent.
What I Saw While Snorkeling in West Bali National Park
The absolute highlight was the sheer brilliance of the coral on the edge of the drop-off walls. There was an abundance of soft cauliflower and leather coral with harder staghorn, boulder, finger, and brain corals. The reef walls were also home to massive, beautifully colored red sea fans, numerous varieties of damselfish, purple tangs, anthias, wrasse, starry pufferfish, and the rare, perfectly camouflaged yellow scorpionfish. Numerous hawksbill turtles cruise the island of Menjangen. There’s plenty of my favorite underwater color palette comprised of coralline algae in various shades of red (maroon), green, purple and pink. I am also particularly attracted to any shades of orange and light blue down under which typically end up being small sea sponges.
Coastal Bonus
While cruising between snorkel sites around Menjangan Island, the boat offered close-up views of numerous coastal caves swarming with millions of fruit bats.
More Posts From My Trip
Second stop: Derawan Islands
Third stop: Gorontalo – Saronde Island
Have been to Misool and Wakatobi and always looking for a resort that is better.
Please share how you got there too- how easy it was to book flights, when you booked them, and if they were expensive and how you arrived there from the airport.
We prefer resorts with house reefs, where we are left alone to snorkel at our own pace, whenever we want, for as short or long as we want.
Do you still recommend a neoprene suit everywhere?
Looking forward to hearing and seeing your pictures!
I have been to Wakatobi Dive Resort which was really nice but best resort I have been to was Bunaken Oasis Dive Resort and Spa. I may write a snorkel report about that area around Manado which has a very lively underwater world.
I was picked up at my hotel in Denpasar by a driver from NusaBay Menjangan Resort. We drove 4.5 hrs right through central Bali into the highlands and then west along the northern coast. The private air-conditioned ride was 850,000 IDR or 47 USD which I thought was very reasonable. In Lubuan Lalang me and another resort guest took a short boat ride—25 minutes—in a small motor boat to their private jetty.
The house reef at NusaBay was not that interesting and a short boat ride to dive spots around Menjangan Island is the way to go here to enjoy the underwater world.
I do typically where 1.5, 2 or 3 mm neoprene when I snorkel in Indonesia as it has very nutrient rich water with lots of organisms that irritate my skin but you could also wear rash guard suit which helps, although you lose the benefits of buoyancy.
Happy snorkeling!