By Cristina
Here is my story about snorkeling with majestic mantas in Nusa Penida, Indonesia. I was fortunate to spend two weeks in July 2024 on the gorgeous island of Nusa Lembongan, just east of the main island of Bali, in Indonesia. I have snorkeled here before (see my previous post), and encountered two manta rays on previous trips, but this trip was simply breathtaking.

Looking for Manta Rays
We started out at 11:30 one morning to find the manta rays. There were five in our little group, as we motored away from the island of Lembongan to the neighboring island of Penida, where the mantas tend to congregate. We saw numerous other small boats with snorkelers coming back from the direction we were headed in, and all had been unlucky in their searches.
The local Balinese boat owners have a special hand signal language, and our captain, Willy, said that none of the passing boats had managed to find any mantas that morning.
Our first stop was Manta Bay, but a quick scope of the area showed a distinct lack of mantas. Willy made the decision to motor on to Manta Point, an hour and a half from our place of departure. The water was very rough that afternoon, and several of the younger members of our group began to look distinctly green around the gills!

Snorkeling With Majestic Mantas in Nusa Penida – Manta Point
Still more small boats continued to pass by, with the captains signaling “no mantas.” We finally arrived at Manta Point with low expectations. There was only one other snorkeling boat there (a very rare thing) and a couple of dive boats. As we headed into the semi-sheltered bay, Willy cried “manta, manta!” We looked, and sure enough saw the tell tale flip of a wing protruding from the water.

Willy put down the anchor and we jumped in, cameras in hand. The sight that met our eyes was simply spectacular. There weren’t just one or two mantas in the water, but TWELVE, cruising slowly over a rocky plateau in reasonably shallow water. They were at a cleaning station, and were taking turns to be spruced up by a number of different small fish, including very cute yellow butterfly fish.

We were in absolute awe. For over 45 minutes we floated above these incredible creatures and watched them dance and flap over the rock. Several of them came very close, obviously checking us out! There was even a relatively rare melanistic manta in the group, something I had never seen before. I was in snorkeling heaven!

The time passed so fast, and before we knew it, Willy was herding us back into the boat. It was a very rough trip back to Lembongan but I didn’t care. We had been so fortunate to have had an incredibly rare and special adventure with my favorite sea creature, and I was on a high for days afterwards.
I hope you enjoy my pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them!
We did this as well two years ago and it was outstanding!