Challenging diving with big rewards - Belongas Bay!

Famous for it’s dive sites “The Magnet“ and “The Cathedral“, here you’ll find pristine reefs and an abundance of marine life. Diving in south east Lombok, the seasonable sighting of schooling barracudas, tunas, and other pelagic life is fairly regular, and apart from the mobula- and eagle ray season during September, hammerheads have the tendency to sometimes school around the Magnet end June until early November. As currents and dive conditions in south east Lombok can at times be quite challenging, we recommend diving “The Magnet” only to the more experienced diver! Minimum Prerequisites for diving the “Magnet” and the “Cathedral” are a advanced certification and, from November until end April, 50 logged dives. From May until end October, 100 logged dives. We reserve the right to ask for a check dive before diving at these dive sites.

Swell and Wind Forecast for South Lombok!

As the swell and winds are a big influence on the diving conditions, we have integrated the swell charts for Kuta (Lombok) and Dessert Point. Kuta is 1 hour boat ride from Belongas Bay, so also quite accurate for the conditions there, and Dessert Point is the indicator for Sekotong. In general one can say, with a swell 7 ft and smaller, or winds not exeeding 12 mph, the conditions will be quite good.

The Magnet (Batu Kapal)
A pinnacle in the open sea with challenging conditions and big fish action! Schools of mackerel, rainbow runner, tuna and barracuda accompany your dive, while you are on the lookout to spot the hammerheads. White tip-, and black tip reef sharks are fairly common, but on occasion we also see grey reef sharks and with a little luck schooling hammerheads. Experienced divers only!

The Cathedral (Gili Anak Elok)
This pinnacle comes up from around 50m and sometimes offers less challenging conditions than “The Magnet”. Here many tunas, mackerels and barracudas can be found. Here we’ve watched schooling eagle rays playing in front of the cave entrance at around 40m. Experienced divers only!

Gili Sarang
Many pinnacles and impressive boulders rise up from a depth of around 35m and offer impressive, colorful soft corals. Here too, big fish action. Giant trevalies, mackerels, sweet lips, surgeon fish, white tips, black tips, and, grey reef sharks. Mid September is the season for schooling mobula- and eagle rays. BIG FUN!!!

Blue Hole
A cave that has its entry point at about 17m, and once inside, opens up into a huge dome shaped cavern. Depending on the season and the swells, one can find, jacks, sweet lips, and surgeon fish taking a break in this more protected area.

Soft Coral Garden
A chain of small, soft coral covered, pinnacles beginning in a depth of around 12m, and reaching down to about 25m. Apart from the many reef fish, here we’ve seen Cownose rays, huge moray eels, as well as the one or other eagle ray on his way to Gli Sarang.

Boulder City
Starting at a vertical wall you descend to about 30 meters. There are a lot of big rocks forming hundreds of swim-troughs. Sharks, napoleons and many, many sweet lips and angelfishes have been seen here.

Since some of our dive sites are in the open sea, we cannot guarantee that diving these sites is possible at all times!