After pick up from the mainland we boarded Rocky’s fast boat which promised to have us to the island in 30min. This however meant flying across the sea at breakneck speed, and for someone who’s not great on boats, that was a challenge. A pretty serious panic attack took over, leaving my hands little more than immobile claws. Anyway we made it and were pilled into pick up tucks to drop us at our accommodation. This was a bumpy ride to say the least and it felt like were in the middle of nowhere, far from beach, or bar, so we felt a little disoriented when we finally arrived at The Point.
This is a super small, simple hotel but a beautiful location, its infinity pool looks out over the ocean with a fantastic view of the volcanos of Bali. It was an overcast day so we headed into town to explore, and a short 10min walk down the hill brought us to Mushroom Beach, a nice little spot with lots of cute places to eat but not great for swimming as there are a lot of boats. We decided to plough on to the next beach Jungutbatu, although we weren’t sure exactly how far it was. The vast majority of people use scooters to get around but it just seemed far too dangerous to me so we decided to walk, this was a mistake. We arrived at the The Deck 45 mins later and very sweaty, only to learn the most of the bars and restaurants will pick you up and drop you off FOC, everydays a school day. This was a great little bar looking up the beach and we settled in for a bottle of fizz and some dinner, perfect. We then walked to the far end of the beach to Ohanas which is a beach club and restaurant and really nicely done so we settled on a couple of beanbags and watched the beach bonfire crackle just as sun was setting, thankfully they gave us a lift home.
The next morning we had a pleasant, if basic breakfast at the hotel and watched from our balcony as the heavens opened for 10 mins or so. Once that cleared up we set off to Dream Beach which is 15 min walk in the other direction, this is lovely little beach, no boats so much better for swimming, although the waves do get pretty intense. This is right next to Devils Tear which is an unforgiving part of the rocky coastline in which the sea has battered the rocks into a unique formation so that when the huge and dramatic waves slam into it, it blows spray back out, at the same time creating rainbows. A pretty impressive sight, if you can see past all the day trippers.
For some reason Dan has a fair bit of trouble seeing where he’s going so after a small foot injury and some assistance from a lovely local lady we popped next door to Sandy Bay. This is another beautiful little beach and the restaurant is a perfect place to watch more of the enormous waves relentlessly pounding the cliffs. There is a little area where it’s safe to paddle but there’s also a pool where can watch with cocktail in hand… We spent most of the afternoon here, some more fizz was drunk and we headed back to our hotel for the sunset as it’s one of the best spots on the island. We chatted to the other hotel guests as we watched the show and then made the fatal mistake of a quick lie down before heading out for dinner, so that was the end of that night. A very fun day though.
Lembongan is one of 3 Nusa islands, there are loads you can do on the other 2 but as it’s not that easy to get around, and we had done so much already we decided to spend most of the time just on our island. The next morning however we did set off on a snorkelling trip which proved to be a great way to see the stunning coastline of all 3 islands, some of it made me think of Jurassic Park, it’s so green and untouched. We stopped at Broken Beach which is a huge archway carved in the rock by the sea and we also passed by the Blue Lagoon. The water here is an amazing shade of turquoise but they are in the middle of building a huge hotel there, which ruins it somewhat.
The star of the trip was to be the huge Manta Rays but after swimming around a very deep dark sea for a hour or so there was so sign of them. Given the number of people and boats, I can’t say I blame them. Still we stopped at a couple of bays on route back and saw a plethora of colourful fish, the coral here also seemed to be more alive than a lot of what we had seen in the Maldives. So a good trip and after a spot of lunch at Mushroom Beach we spent at afternoon at the pool. That evening we went back down to Mushroom to try the no.1 on Trip Advisor, Hai Ri Zen. The water laps right up to the edge of the restaurant and its decked out with fairy lights, lovely! The tapas style food, and the wine also went down a treat.
Next morning was an early one and we were picked up at 6.30 for our surf lesson, on scooters! The guys driving obviously know the ‘roads’ of by heart, and it was actually a pretty fun ride. Dan has done a fair bit of surfing at uni in Newcastle and summers in Cornwall so was pretty confident. I had never done it and am fairly scared of the sea, so was less so. Anyway after about 30 seconds training in the basics we set off on the boat to get past where the waves break on the reef and off we went. Dan was probably the best surfer there bar the instructors so it was great fun watching him ride the waves while everyone cheered on. I did ok, managed to stand of a couple of times which I was pretty happy with, got wiped out about 20 times, but it was fun and injury free which was a relief. After a good breakfast we headed back for some panic tanning, worrying we hadn’t put enough effort into sunbathing, this resulted in very red faces that evening. Now in full relax mode we didn’t venture far and had another tasty dinner, and more wine down on Mushroom beach.
Our final full day we headed straight for Ohana’s, we bagged sunbeds right on the beach and basically spent the day eating and drinking excessively, it was glorious. Finishing with a bottle of fizz and by far the best sunset of the trip (perhaps ever) we were very happy. The next day we went back to Sandy Bay for lunch and a couple of hours by the pool before we were picked up for the long journey home. Just before we left we saw some dolphins playing in the sea just below our hotel which was a lovely ending.
So in conclusion, Bali and its islands are bloody brilliant. Yes the traffic is unbelievable, the tourists are insatiable and the humidity is oppressive, but it is of course all worth it. The local people are lovely, the food, drinks and tunes are great if you know where to go, and the landscapes are beautiful, from jungle to temple and volcano to rice terraces, not to mention the many beautiful beaches, a truly epic trip and I’m sure we only scratched the surface.
If you like Piña Coladas... 