Menjangan has the clearest water in Bali and the least crowded reef, and both come down to the same thing: it is a long way from anywhere. The island sits inside West Bali National Park, three to four hours from the airport, which keeps away the day-trip traffic that reaches Amed and Nusa Penida.
The reef starts in waist-deep water and falls away into a wall within a few metres of the shore. That is unusual, and it is what makes the island worth the drive for snorkellers rather than only for divers. You float on the surface and the drop-off is directly beneath you.
What the water is like
Visibility is regularly 20 to 30 metres and can reach around 50 in good conditions late in the dry season. The water sits at roughly 27 to 29 degrees year round, and currents on the sheltered side of the island are mild. How good a given day is depends more on wind than on season.
The sites
Boats work a handful of named sites around the island. A half-day trip usually covers two of them.
Coral Garden
Shallow, sheltered and the usual first stop. Hard coral in quantity with parrotfish, angelfish and anemonefish through it. The best of the sites for anyone snorkelling for the first time.
Eel Garden
A sandy slope where hundreds of garden eels stand up out of the seabed and withdraw into it as your shadow passes over. Strange to watch, and unlike anything else on the trip.
The Drop-Off
The wall at its most dramatic, hung with sea fans and barrel sponges. There is deep water directly below you, but almost everything worth looking at is in the top few metres.
Anchor Wreck
Primarily a dive site. An old anchor sits shallow enough to make out from the surface, and the reef around it is good, but the wreck itself is below snorkelling depth.
What you will see
Reef fish are the constant: parrotfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, anemonefish, sweetlips, and large schools of fusiliers moving along the wall. Green turtles are common enough that most trips see one. Blacktip and whitetip reef sharks patrol the drop-off and are no hazard to anyone on the surface.
The smaller things reward swimming slowly. Nudibranchs, octopus, cleaner shrimp working in the coral heads — none of it is visible if you cover the site at pace.
Getting there and getting in
Boats leave from Labuhan Lalang, inside the national park, and from Pemuteran twenty minutes east along the coast. The crossing takes about half an hour. Trips run in the morning.
A standard half day includes the boat, a guide, mask, snorkel and fins. The marine park fee is the item most often left out, so it is the one to ask about. Bring your own mask if you have one that fits — a leaking rental is the usual reason someone has a bad morning.
You do not need to be a strong swimmer for the sheltered sites, and the boats carry buoyancy vests. Say when you book if anyone in the group is uneasy in deep water, because it changes which sites the boat uses.
How it compares with the rest of Bali
Amed is far easier to reach and can be snorkelled straight off the beach, but the reef is smaller and the water busier. Nusa Penida has manta rays and much stronger currents, and it is a rougher day out. Menjangan trades access for quiet: the drive is long and the boat is an extra cost, and in return you are usually on a reef with one or two other boats rather than fifteen.
Looking after the reef
This reef is in better condition than most in Bali because it is inside a national park and has been protected for decades. That is a result rather than an accident, and it is easy to chip away at.
- Wear a rash vest instead of sunscreen where you can, and reef-safe sunscreen where you cannot.
- Do not stand on coral, hold it, or push off it. Most of the damage is done by people who did not notice.
- Keep your fins up and behind you, especially in the shallow gardens.
- Watch turtles from a distance. Following one to get a photograph makes it surface early and often.
When to go
April to October, and September and October are usually the clearest of those. Through the wet season crossings are called off at short notice when the wind gets up, so if the reef is the reason for the trip, build in a spare day.