Nusa Penida · Indonesia · Cave & cavern
Bat Cave
A 200-metre cave ending in an air space full of bats
Area photo: Shrigusti · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bat Cave sits on the west coast of Nusa Penida, close to Crystal Bay. The mouth is at 8 metres and the cave runs roughly 200 metres horizontally to a large open space at the end that bats live in. The entrance itself shelters juvenile fish — sweetlips, batfish, grouper and snapper — along with eels, crabs and lobsters.
Where it is and how deep
8.7138° S, 115.4573° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The mouth of the cave is 8 metres below the surface and works as shelter: juvenile sweetlips, batfish, grouper and snapper hold in it, with eels, crabs and lobsters back in the cracks. Conditions at the entrance change a lot through the year — visibility logged here swings between about 5 and 20 metres and water temperature between 23 and 29°C — so the state of the water on the day decides what kind of dive this is.
Past the mouth the passage runs about 200 metres horizontally and finishes in a large open space with bats living in it. That makes it a genuine overhead environment rather than a swim-through: cave or cavern training, redundant lights, a continuous guideline and a team that has done this kind of dive before are the baseline, and the operator's call on the day decides whether the cave is dived at all or only its entrance.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Nusa Penida: August–September is peak mola mola season on the cold upwelling; mantas at Manta Point are reliable year-round.
Know before you go
- The cave is an overhead environment around 200 metres long with only one way out. Cave or cavern training, redundant lights and a continuous guideline are the baseline for going past the mouth.
- Visibility at the entrance drops to around 5 metres in some months, which changes a penetration dive completely. Check what the water is doing at the mouth before committing to the cave.
Questions divers ask
How long is the Bat Cave dive site?+
The cave has a horizontal length of about 200 metres, with the mouth at 8 metres below the surface and a large open space inhabited by bats at the far end.
Sources
- Bat Cave - Dive Site — SSI/Scubago
More dive sites in Nusa Penida
Wall
Shallow reef structure, infrequent hammerheads
Drift
Bali's other mola mola plateau, deeper and rougher than Crystal Bay
The mola mola site, in cold and sometimes downward current
Reef
West-coast slope where mola mola come up in season
Reef
Bommie-topped plateau above a fan-covered wall
A manta cleaning station in 15 metres under limestone cliffs
Artificial reef
Planted restoration structures at 6 metres, shore entry
Reef
North-coast slope from 5 metres to past 40
Similar dives elsewhere
Fresh water over salt, and 38 degrees below the thermocline
A skylight hole lights the chamber at 12 metres
A hidden air chamber lit through small holes in the rock
A guideline swim in the dark that exits onto a soft-coral wall