Nusa Lembongan

Our transfer from Gili Air to Nusa Lembongan we’d booked via the same website and thus via that same travel agency, which we were not really aware of. So, after another healthy breakfast we walked from our hotel towards the pier, a leisurely 20 minutes’ walk. Although, with our backpacks, it turned out to be a bit sweatier than anticipated. So drenched, we arrived at the check-in counter, where they had no record of us being on that boat. Say What?! So, it was only then that we figured out that we had chosen a wrong booking website… After some back and forth between us and the guy manning the counter and some strange phone calls, he pressed boarding passes and luggage tags in our hands and were sent off towards the pier. Laid back island-style customer service we assume. Once on board (now the same fast boat was able to dock at the pier instead offshore), we settled in our cramped seats for a fast one-and-a-half-hour ride towards Nusa Lembongan. At Nusa Lembongan, the fast boat moored on a pontoon and we had to transfer to a small craft (more like a small pontoon than anything seaworthy) and packed like sardines we transferred from the fast boat to shore. Which turned out to be another half-hour ride. We also arrived on the complete opposite of the island from where we thought we’d arrive. Again, due to our Google Maps-search, which showed us Nusa Lembongan fast boat pier, but not for the fast boat we took. So we were more or less forced to pay another 50,000 IDR per person to transfer(*) us to our accommodation: Kubu Dream Beach Resort. This would be our home for the next 4 nights.

After some relaxing in the hard chairs on our small patio with small sea view, we went out in search for food, which we found at Cookies, not far from our hotel.

We had planned to go diving during our three days here, but a late-notice about Nyepi Laut (or ocean silent day) prevented that. As you might deduce from the name: no activity was allowed at all on the ocean from Nusa. It’s comparable with Hari Raya Nyepi, the silent Hindoe New Year’s Day on Bali, where on the complete island no activity at all is allowed (and as a tourist you are forced, yes, forced, to stay within the limits of your hotel). So luckily not as stringent as on Bali, we were still able to hire a scooter to explore the island. It was from my visit to Camboja that I had driven one, but contrary to what I feared, the driving was rather smooth, but I was still nervous as hell – witness the sweaty spots under my armpits – to prevent an accident, especially since I had Véro as a passenger.  We followed the coastal road around the island, stopping for Mexican-styled lunch, some drinks at a beach bar close to the mangroves, crossed the pedestrian bridge to Nusa Ceningan to check out the Blue Lagoon viewpoint. There we spotted some tourists still cliff jumping in the ocean, while it was not allowed. Tourists, tsss... We didn't really visit the beach, just walked on the cliffs with view on the lagoon. Probably for the lagoon itself you need to pay an entrance fee.

After diner at the local Thai, Papa Tarros, we went to bed early – enjoying the music from our neighbors at the hotel – since tomorrow would be demanding, our first dives on our world trip!

So yeah, off we went, by the local taxi – being a small truck with seats in its loadbed – to Siren Divers. Recommended to us by my colleague Bram, Véro also took advantage of the reasonable rates to go for her PADI Advanced Open Water certification. Having aced the theoretical e-learning exams already beforehand, it was now time to put all those fancy pancy books into practice. And me? I just went along for the ride and joined other divers in the water while Vero enjoyed her leasons with Helen, one of the instructors. The dives itself were fun: spectacular coral reefs (we are lucky to still be able to see them), big and small fish, and another two dives in our logbooks.

On Wednesday, our last day on Nusa, three dives were planned, because Vero had to get her certification (with a minimum of five dives). Since the first day we couldn’t dive due to the festivities, on the last day three dives had to be crammed in. We left early, way too early, around 07 AM, to our first dive site: Manta Point. Yes, the name is predictable: we had to see lots of manta rays. Well, Vero saw lots of them, I saw only a couple. But what gracious creatures, sliding seemingly effortless through the water. Amazing!

Back up, a second dive was planned on the same site, but since the site is in the south of Nusa Penida, and waves have free play, it was a wobbly one-hour surface interval. The sea would claim victims. And yes, Véro was the first – and the last – to puke out her stomach’s content. One of the trainee-divemasters was just able to keep it in. Needless to say, Véro wanted to go back into the water as soon as possible, so we went, trying to spot more mantas. While Véro was doing her exercises as part of her course, I went in search of some more of the promised big fish. Fruitless, unfortunately. The third and last dive of the day was planned at Cristal Bay. Once more quite obvious that the visibility on this sloping coral reef dive site is outstanding. As it was still shoulder season, chances were we’d spot mola mola’s, but nor Véro nor my group did. Conclusion: Véro successfully completed her advanced-open-water certification, but for me it was a bit of a disappointing day.

Once back on the island, we ate lunch of mie goreng and went back to the dive shop, where Véro completed the administration for her new certificate and dive card. Later that evening we celebrated her new achievement in the hotel’s restaurant with a beer, a cocktail and some good food. Ready to rumble back to Bali tomorrow, we headed off to our bungalow for another good night’s rest…