Photo: stef bemba, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sampalan (Batu Nunggul)

Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia

Beginner
Moderate current

Sampalan is a beginner dive site in Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia. Dives run from 3 to 40 m, with moderate current. Marine life here includes mola-mola, moray eel and frogfish. 11 dive shops on Scubalo run trips here.

Updated 2 November 2026

Conditions at Sampalan

Max depth: 40 m
Depth range: 3–40 m
Current: Moderate
Level: Beginner

Depth profile

Safety

Current: Usually moderate, but it can run fast.
Temperature: Thermoclines can occur at depth.
Fire coral: It stings, so keep clear of it.

About Sampalan

Sampalan, also called Batu Nunggul, is a drift on Nusa Penida's east coast, off Sampalan harbour town. A sloping reef of table corals and barrel sponges from 3 to 40 m, where Plongée Indonésie sees more turtles than anywhere else.

Sampalan lies off the harbour town of the same name on Nusa Penida's east coast. Bali Aqua and Legend Diving also call it Batu Nunggul, and Karang Sari is the next bay to the south.

It is usually a south to north drift along a sloping reef of table corals and huge barrel sponges, from 3 m down past 40 m. The current here is usually moderate, which leaves time to look at the coral, though it can pick up.

Plongée Indonésie says one drift can pass about ten green and hawksbill turtles, the most it sees anywhere. Schools of sweetlips, bannerfish and fusiliers are common, and peacock mantis shrimps live around the fire coral, which stings.