Mola Mola Madness!!!!
It was overcast on the boat trip over to Nusa Penida, and myself and the boat crew had high hopes that we were going to see the majestic mola mola on our first dive at Crystal bay.
As we arrived, the conditions looked good from the surface and only a handful of dive companies were there. As I geared up with Wayan we went through how we were going to guide the site and with that, back rolled off the boat into the crystal clear water.
I was pleasantly surprised with the water temperature - a warm 25 degrees celsius - which was nice especially for a hardened nothern hemisphere lad who is used to diving in 10 degrees celsius. As we made our descent with a group of four, 2 lads from Singapore, 1 from Malaysia and 1 from western Australia, everything looked good. Visibility was around 15-20M and marine life was the usual; what you come to expect from a world class dive site in Bali. As we hit 25m ‘Big’ Wayan signalled to me to look in front; he has become so experienced in dealing with these gentle giants he now knows the clanging of tanks to draw attention can scare this very timid species. Now, can I just say in all of my 5 years of diving I have never encountered a better looking fish than this one; the sheer beauty of it overwhelmed me. It was probably about 2m from top to bottom and as the currents picked up he got closer and closer and didn’t seem fazed by all the divers; if anything he just seemed to love the attention we were giving him.
I was so pleased to get at least 5 minutes play time with him before the currents picked up even more and we had to make our ascent. As we all managed to get back safely, which can only be explained as a challenging dive, but to get the opportunity for the first time in 5 years to spend some quality time with such an amazing creature is something i will never forget. This fills me with excitement for the mola mola season ahead.