Manta Point (Nusa Penida) — Tulamben

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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Tulamben location page.

Overview

Southwest-coast cleaning station off Batu Lumbung where reef mantas queue up at coral bommies while cleaner wrasse pick parasites from their gill arches. Action begins at 4 m and the wall steps down to about 25 m. Cooler upwelled water from the Lombok Strait — often dropping to 22 °C — and Indian Ocean swell separate this site from the calmer reefs of northern Bali. Mantas are resident year-round; surface conditions, not animal reliability, decide whether the boat runs. Occasional oceanic mantas and the rare mola mola pass through during the July–October upwelling.

Briefing note

Exposed to Indian Ocean swell — trips cancel when southwest swell tops about 2.5 m, most often June–August. Surface chop can make boat exits demanding. Cooler than other Bali sites by 4–6 °C in dry season; reef-safe sunscreen only. Mantas have right of way; do not chase, touch, or block their queue.

What you'll see

5 species curated

Reef manta ray
year-round
Oceanic manta ray
rare
Bluestreak cleaner wrasse
year-round
Whitetip reef shark
seasonal
Peak: Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Ocean sunfish (mola)
rare
Peak: Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct

Sightings evidence

1 record on file

Reef manta ray
high confidence
Last confirmed
May 2026
Recent records
65 within 25 km

Sources & methodology

How we summarise this

We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.

Sources

Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
Manta Trust IDtheManta Database — Manta Trust
OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
FishBase — FishBase Consortium
Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation

Conditions

Month	Water	Visibility	Current
Jan	27–29 °C	10–20 m	mild
Feb	27–29 °C	10–20 m	mild
Mar	27–29 °C	10–20 m	mild
Apr	26–28 °C	15–25 m	mild
May	24–27 °C	15–25 m	moderate
Jun	22–26 °C	15–25 m	moderate
Jul	22–25 °C	15–25 m	moderate
Aug	22–25 °C	15–25 m	moderate
Sep	23–26 °C	15–25 m	moderate
Oct	24–27 °C	15–25 m	mild
Nov	26–28 °C	10–20 m	mild
Dec	27–29 °C	10–20 m	mild

Season calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Peak season highlighted · current month outlined

Gear for this site

Beyond the basic kit

5mm wetsuit — Lombok Strait upwelling pulls water down to 22 °C in the dry season — colder than the 3mm setup most divers bring from Tulamben or Sanur.
Reef hook / patience — Stay off the bottom and behind the cleaning bommies. Pushy divers send the mantas off and end the show for everyone.

Next step

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