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The speedboat over to Nusa Lembongan was pretty rough. Although it was only half an hour, the rough sea made it a journey I wanted to end from the get go! Chris is lucky and doesn't suffer from sea sickness, whereas I spent the entire journey focussing on land and with tiger balm on my temples and nose. One of the many benefits to tiger balm is that it helps prevent nausea.
Glad to reach land we jumped off the boat at the best opportunity. Which involved timing a jump so that the waves crashing on the beach didn't soak us from head to toe. We waited very patiently for our bags to be taken off the boat, but it never seemed as though ours were coming. Despite having clear white tags labelled 'Lembongan' on, they failed to remove our bags from the boat, and Chris had to ask the boatmen to retrieve them. The ticket also included a transfer to accommodation on the island, so we took the opportunity and climbed into the back of a pickup truck. It wasn't too far along the main road of the island before the truck pulled over at 'Radya homestay' where I had pre-booked three nights stay. Well, yes I had pre-booked the accommodation, but as it turned out, I had managed to get myself very confused and booked for the wrong month!
Feeling very embarrassed and stupid, I asked the homestay if they were happy for us to leave our main rucksacks with them whilst we went in search of another place to stay, as Radya were fully booked. Luckily it didn't take us long before we found a couple of options and chose the cheaper, not quite as nice room, as we had to make up for the money we would lose from my mistake. The room at 'Kenta homestay' was perfectly fine, with a fan, private toilet and cold shower. We hired a moped from them and went in search of food and dive shops to research pricing and the best dive sites.
We had two main reasons for visiting Lembongan. Firstly, it is one of the very few places in the world that you can see the Mola Mola, aka the Sun fish. Secondly, the island is renowned for Manta Rays, which we are yet to dive with. So these two were priority for us.
As we stopped off at dive shop after dive shop it became clear that unfortunately due to the swell, Manta Point was not going to be possible to dive over the next few days. However, it could be possible to reach Manta Bay, which we later found out could also be snorkelled. Therefore we decided to book onto a snorkel trip for the following day, paying a little bit extra to go with 'D&B'. Their professional and safety conscious captain, who was possibly being extra careful after an Asian tourist had sadly drowned on an overcrowded snorkelling trip that morning, swayed our decision. He was very clear that he took few passengers as we would be his responsibility out in the water and even asked us health questions. We felt happy with our choice and decided to explore the island further.
We complain at home about the pot holes in winter, but the roads in Lembongan are something else! There really wasn't much road at all, just a row of pot holes leading around the island! There was no way I was going to ride the bike with Chris on the back along these roads, so Chris kindly road us around. Heading to a place known as 'Devil's Tear', Chris carefully tried to dodge as many pot holes as possible but it was often easier to just crawl over them! At one point I had to jump off the back of the bike and Chris had to use his legs to ensure the bike made it up a very steep hill. We passed through the village of Lembongan and over to the west coast of the island, including some off-roading, much to my displeasure.
Devil's Tear is a rocky outcrop on the south western coast. It was like nothing else I have seen before, the waves crashing in against the rocks and towering above our heads. The powerful thud sent shivers through me and I found it hard to stand too close, afraid of the force and potentially life threatening outcome of falling. Regardless of my fear, I was mesmerised by the waves, and finding a rock to perch on at a safe distance I was transfixed.
Since it was late afternoon we decided to stay to watch the sunset, so found the perfect viewing point, with the exception of sitting on sharp bumpy rocks! Sunset was perfect, and with the waves continually crashing against the rocks with tremendous intensity, it made for an even more exhilarating viewing.
Unfortunately, not only did Chris have the ridiculously bad road to tackle on the way back, but the lights on the bike were basically non existent! The iPhone torch did a better job at lighting up the road. To add to the equation, there seemed to be a power cut across the island, so there weren't even any restaurant lights to help guide us.
After a cold shower with the light from our iPhones, we took a wander in search of food. Just around the corner was a small shop with food parcels out for sale. These parcels tend to be some form of rice and meat, and sussing out they were either chicken or tuna we bought two as a lucky dip. We both ended up with tuna with spicy flavoursome rice.
It was an early start for a morning of snorkelling. On our way back last night we had sussed out a small warung serving local dishes, so we headed there for breakfast. Nasi campur (mixed rice) and chicken and rice porridge was on the menu, which both went down well, especially the tasty and warming broth. It was actually quite chilly, and I was glad of wearing my cardigan as we headed out on the boat.
Able to seat eight but just five passengers with the captain and one crew member, we set off just before 8am, headed to Manta Bay. It was around half an hour before the captain said we had arrived at the bay and to keep our eyes peeled for manta rays. It was pretty choppy so it seemed impossible to spot them. After a short while he said we would jump in the water and have a look around in a deeper section where they often see the mantas swimming around. I was glad for the captain to jump in first and with a life jacket in hand, as even as a strong swimmer, the water was choppy, very deep, and literally took my breath away as I jumped in off the side of the boat. At 22°C, it was the coldest water we have been in during our travels, and has even be known to trigger cases of epilepsy for some tourists. We swam around the bay for maybe 15 minutes, searching hard for the mantas, but they weren't anywhere to be seen. Reluctant to stop searching but at the same time glad to be out of the unbearably cold water, we clambered back onto the boat, wrapped up and sought sun to try to warm up. Disappointed, the captain spent a further half an hour or so searching around the bay on the boat for manta rays, but unfortunately we were out of luck. That's nature, unpredictable and fortuitous.
The second stop of the morning was at 'Crystal Bay', where we jumped into the crystal clear water to see absolutely beautiful untouched corals. The downside for me was the water temperature. I just couldn't take my mind off of how cold I was feeling. Thankfully Chris had his rash vest with him which helped make the water a little more bearable. We were lucky enough to catch site of the biggest sea crate we have seen yet swimming up to the surface for air.
Our third stop was at a random semi-submarine surrounded by giant trevallies, but mainly because they were being fed. They look evil and scary and I really didn't like being so close to them as they snapped away at the food being thrown at our heads! One very nearly got Chris.
For the final stop we anchored at 'Mangrove Reef', along with a lot of other boats and 'beginner' snorkelers. The water was quite mirky, the corals had clearly been destroyed from people standing on them, and the sea life was minimal.
We returned back to the island just after midday, had a quick shower, grabbed some local food and found a lovely warung 'Green Garden' for an iced coffee. Refusing to pay £0.50 for a canned Nescafé iced coffee as we would rather have a freshly made one and have our money go to a local warung, we were lucky to find Green Garden. Set behind the main road, near the islands playing field, and ran by a very sweet pregnant lady. The setting was peaceful and the warung had only been open two months, so the furniture was all brand new, with very pleasant landscaping. Twenty-five percent of their profits went to the local community for various projects, and their iced coffee was only £0.40!
For the remainder of the afternoon we made the treacherous journey to the west coast of the island to 'Dream beach'. After an interesting climb down to the beach, where the steps seemed to suddenly stop and present a sheer drop down to the beach, we topped up our tans and enjoyed the perfect combination of sun and breeze for a few hours.
Having had such a pleasant visit to Green Garden, we returned for a decent locally prepared dinner.
The lady at Green Garden was kind enough to open the warung half an hour early to feed us up with banana and honey porridge and coffee for our days diving. We had decided to take two dives with 'Lembongan Dive Centre', but unfortunately neither would be at Manta Point or the location most common for seeing the mola mola. However, having spoken to a freelance dive instructor, she had convinced us that the drift dives around the north of the island were not to be missed, and hence we signed up.
With the water being much colder than we were used to, we were kitted up with full length thick wet suits and booties. It had been raining lightly and the sky was filled with grey clouds, but thankfully the sun made an appearance for our half hour journey to 'SD Point'. En route we made a quick stop at a very swarve catamaran, where a Canadian retiree man, with his nephew, captain and dive master climbed aboard the dive centre's speed boat. It turned out the Canadian retiree was sailing the world and had found a South African captain and an English dive master through the internet, who were now privileged enough to be sailing and diving the world with him!
After some confusion as to who was our dive guide, as no one actually ever told us, we back rolled into the water and made our decent. The current was very strong at SD point, allowing for a long and deep drift dive. We drifted along an immensely colourful coral wall, where sea life was in an abundance. To name a few we saw the largest puffer fish we have ever seen, a beautiful turtle munching away on some soft coral, a very cool peacock mantis shrimp, and the super camouflaged scorpion fish. It was a challenging dive in terms of buoyancy and showing us that every dive is a learning curve.
We had an hours break at the surface, with some mei goreng (fried noodles) to keep our energy levels up. Then it was a short boat ride over to 'Buyuk' for our second dive. Again it was another drift dive, but with my weights adjusted I felt much more in control, and the current wasn't as strong as the previous location. We were lucky enough to see another turtle, loads of really big lion fish, more scorpion fish, and a huge black spotted moray eel. Another great dive.
Despite our early lunch on board, I was very hungry after the morning diving, so after a quick shower and rest back at the homestay, we popped back to Green Garden. I went full out and ordered nasi campur (mixed rice), whereas Chris was not as hungry as me for a change, so settled with a banana and chocolate pancake.
With the moped still on hire we decided to venture over to the neighbouring island of Ceningan. As we scooted along the non-existent road we came across the seaweed farmers. Patches of the sea bed were sectioned off, similar to vegetable patches. Farmers collect the seaweed, dry it out, and most of it is shipped off to China and Japan to be used for cosmetics. We crossed the suspension bridge joining the two islands together and carried on to the south west of Ceningan Island in search of the Blue Lagoon. With some more off-roading and a few wrong turns, we eventually found the lagoon. A 13m cliff jump would take you crashing into the powerful but enticing water below. We were surrounded by cliff views with bright blue waters as far as the eye could see.
Neither island is very big so we decided to scoot back to Lembongan and do a circuit of the island. We passed through small clusters of huts and made a stop to purchase a bracelet from a lady at the side of the road. It didn't seem as though she would receive many sales due to where she had her table set up, so I was keen to provide her with a little something.
A large section of Lembongan is mangrove forest which the road runs along side, but eventually we found ourselves riding back along the sea front and made a stop at 'Oka' for a fruit shake to watch the sun set. Next door was a TripAdvisor rated restaurant, 'Bambu warung', so it was only right to test it out! The food was delicious! I had tuna cooked in banana leaf, served with rice and veg, which was incredibly tasty. Chris chose the seafood curry which was right up his street, full of flavour and plenty of fish, squid and prawns.
Horribly I awoke with a very bad tummy, not ideal for a two hour boat journey ahead. I did manage to walk to Green Garden for our final breakfast and to say goodbye to the lovely lady. But the Imodium was inevitable and suffering with sea sickness as well, this journey was not going to be fun!
- comments
Mummy Jo What fantastic times you have! Diving sounded brilliant! xx