A Great White Was Seen in Nusa Penida. Here’s What That Does and Doesn’t Mean

White shark swimming under sunlit surface with small fish nearby. Photo: Gerald Schömbs, Unsplash

In short

In March 2025, divers with a local Nusa Penida dive centre filmed a large, heavily scarred white shark at Pura Ped, on the island's north coast.
It was not the first white shark in Indonesia: a 6 m male was caught off Sumbawa and landed in Lombok in 2013, and its DNA suggests it came from an Australian population.
One sighting does not make Nusa Penida a white shark site. It is a rare, precious record, and a reminder of how little we know about where these sharks travel.

What happened at Pura Ped

Picture a normal drift dive along the north coast of Nusa Penida. A big shadow appears in the blue, and everyone first takes it for a whale shark. It was not. It was a great white. And the honest answer to "what does that mean?" is this: a rare and exciting record, but not a sign that Bali has white sharks you can plan to see.

The group was diving with a local dive centre at Pura Ped, a site on the northern shore of Nusa Penida. The shark, Carcharodon carcharias, was large and heavily scarred, and Swedish divemaster Fabian Clinton filmed it. A local dive-site guide gives the date as 12 March 2025, the depth as 22 m and the length as about 5 m. That size is an underwater estimate, not a measurement, so read it that way.

What the shark did matters as much as what it was. Nothing in the published accounts describes aggressive behaviour. The shark passed the divers and moved on, and nobody was hurt. And the divers' first guess, a whale shark, is a good reminder of how hard it is to judge size and shape in open blue water.

Not the first white shark in Indonesia

The first confirmed record for Indonesia came from fishing, not from divers. A six-metre adult male was caught by bottom longliners working off Dompu, on Sumbawa, and was landed and sold at Tanjung Luar in eastern Lombok. Scientists published it as the first confirmed record of the species in Indonesian waters, with a tooth kept as evidence.

A later study compared DNA from that tooth with white sharks elsewhere. The results point to one of the Australian subpopulations as the shark's origin. The same paper mentions documented encounters in Indonesian waters in 2013 and 2019 and concludes that white sharks in Indonesia are likely rare. Dive reports place the 2019 sighting at Crystal Bay, on the other side of Nusa Penida.

Why might a cool-water shark pass through Bali?

White sharks are usually linked with temperate coasts such as South Africa, southern Australia and California, not with warm tropical reefs. So why would one turn up here?

Nusa Penida is not a typical tropical reef in one important way. It sits beside the Lombok Strait, with strong currents and seasonal upwelling that bring cooler, deep water close to the reef. That same cool water is why sunfish visit, as we explain in Crystal Bay's Mola Are Not Just Visiting the Reef. Whether it has anything to do with a passing white shark is unknown. Shark Guardian co-founder Brendon Sing put it carefully in DIVE Magazine: it is hard to tell where this shark came from, and white sharks may have been moving through the area for a long time without anyone seeing them.

What this great white sighting in Nusa Penida does and does not mean

It does mean that white sharks can, at least now and then, reach Bali's waters, and that careful records from divers add real knowledge about a species that is poorly documented in Southeast Asia.

It does not mean that Nusa Penida has a white shark population, a season or a feeding site. Nothing suggests this shark stayed, and nobody knows whether the 2019 and 2025 sharks were the same animal. Some online posts suggested the shark might be pregnant, or that warmer oceans were to blame. Neither idea has been tested for this individual. A single video cannot show pregnancy with any certainty, and one rare sighting cannot show a change in range.

Nor does it make Nusa Penida more dangerous for divers. The shark showed no aggression and left. Currents, depth and crowding are still the everyday risks here, and they are the real reasons to choose an experienced operator, as we discuss in Crystal Bay: What Happens When a Famous Dive Site Gets Too Busy?

Why a rare shark is worth protecting

White sharks are protected under several international agreements, including the Convention on Migratory Species, and are assessed as threatened on the IUCN Red List. Check the current listings, as they are reviewed over time. The only confirmed Indonesian specimen reached science because it was caught on a fishing line, and the authors of the DNA study say we still need to learn why white sharks come to these waters and whether they return.

A live shark filmed by calm divers is worth far more to that science than a rumour. If sharks and the reefs they need interest you, our pieces on why sharks are essential and how tourism can protect sharks go further, and the species has its own Ocean Atlas page.

How to experience it respectfully

No one can plan a dive around a white shark in Bali, and no one should try. We know of no white shark tours here, and there is no reason to change a dive plan for the hope of one. If any large shark appears, stay calm and close to your group and guide, hold your position instead of swimming towards it, and let the animal decide how close it comes and when it leaves. Wildlife encounters are unpredictable. Diving near sharks should always follow local regulations and experienced professional guidance.

Afterwards, share your footage with the exact date, site and depth with your dive centre so it can reach researchers, and avoid turning a rare animal into a rumour of a regular one. A small underwater or action camera clipped to your BCD is enough for a useful record, and a roll-top dry bag keeps the camera, phone and logbook dry on the boat back.

For the animals you can hope to meet around Bali, gently and without promises, explore our Indonesia Ocean Atlas. If this made you curious about Bali's waters, you can look at our Bali Amed scuba referral trip, where we match you with a vetted local team and you book with them directly.

Questions people ask

Are there great white sharks in Bali?

Only as very rare visitors, as far as current evidence shows. Documented Indonesian records are few, including the 2013 fisheries catch, a 2019 sighting at Crystal Bay and the 2025 video from Pura Ped.

Is it safe to dive at Nusa Penida after this sighting?

The sighting does not change the risk picture. The shark showed no aggression and moved on. The real safety questions at Nusa Penida are currents, depth and choosing a careful operator.

Is there a season for white sharks in Nusa Penida?

No. There are too few records to suggest any pattern, and scientists do not yet know why white sharks reach Indonesian waters or whether individuals return.

Where did the shark come from?

Nobody knows for this individual. DNA from the 2013 shark landed in Lombok pointed to an Australian subpopulation, which makes Australia a reasonable possibility, but it is not proof for the 2025 shark.

When was the first white shark confirmed in Indonesia?

The first confirmed record is a six-metre adult male caught off Dompu, Sumbawa, and landed at Tanjung Luar in Lombok, published by Indonesian scientists in 2014.

What should I do if I film a rare shark?

Stay with your group, do not follow the animal, and afterwards give the footage with date, site and depth to your dive centre so it can reach researchers.

Wildlife encounters are never guaranteed and never forced. Ocean Calling works only with vetted, ethical local operators, and every animal is free to approach, or not, entirely on its own terms.

Sources & further reading

Further reading on Ocean Calling: More from the Journal · Ocean Atlas

A great white was seen at Nusa Penida. What does it really mean?