Nusa Penida · Indonesia · Wall · Reef
Batumulapan
Shallow reef structure, infrequent hammerheads
Area photo: Shrigusti · CC BY-SA 4.0
Batumulapan is a sloping wall on Nusa Penida's north-east coast, and the reef structure divers come for sits in the shallows above 14 metres. Soft fan corals and giant sponges grow there among the hard corals, and the species list runs long: scalloped hammerheads, thresher sharks and pygmy seahorses have all been recorded, each of them an infrequent sighting.
Where it is and how deep
8.6794° S, 115.5757° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
You drop onto a sloping wall and work the shallow half of it, above 14 metres, where the reef structure is. Soft fan corals and giant sponges grow there alongside the hard corals, and the shallow profile keeps bottom time long. Visibility runs 15 to 20 metres through the year and the water sits between 27 and 29°C, so this is a dive to spend an hour on rather than a fast deep pass.
What earns Batumulapan a slot is the range of animals recorded on it rather than any single feature. Scalloped hammerheads, thresher sharks and pygmy seahorses have all been seen here, all of them infrequently, so you dive the reef on its own terms and treat any of the three as a bonus. Divide your attention accordingly: the seahorses need a slow, close search of the fans and sponges, the sharks an occasional look out into the blue.
Marine life and season
- Hammerheads
- Thresher sharks
- Pygmy seahorses
| 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.
Questions divers ask
Can you see hammerheads at Batumulapan?+
Scalloped hammerheads have been recorded here, along with thresher sharks and pygmy seahorses, though all three are infrequent sightings. Plan the dive for the shallow reef structure above 14 metres and treat a shark as luck.
Sources
- Batumulapan - Dive Site — SSI/Scubago
More dive sites in Nusa Penida
Cave & cavern
A 200-metre cave ending in an air space full of bats
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
Rich soft coral in 5 to 7 m under the island's temples
Pygmy seahorses in the sea fans on the north wall
Cabbage coral and green tube coral trees on a cliff face
The corner where Cabilao's sharks are seen, wall to plateau to wall