William and I arrived in Ubud the day before yesterday, a popular destination in central Bali. But just to get you caught up as I know we left you last in Pedang Padang. After leaving we took a short early morning ride across the peninsula to the bustling port of Sanur. From there various forms of Transport can be taken to Indonesia's neighboring islands. Being on a tight backpackers budget as we are. We decided to go for the longer but much less expensive local transport to Nusa Lambongan, a small small island to the south east of Bali. Although Sanur claims to be a port there are no docks or clear loading areas per say. The boats all just dock along the beach which means we had to wade out into the waves heavily bagged down to catch our ride. Although a little bit soggy on the ride over, we spend one hour lounging up on deck watching the coastline go by and from here we could even spy the massive volcanoes on the horizon. Definitely an interesting experience for sure.On arrival at the island from our vantage point on the boat we had a fantastic view of the island and As we loped around we took note of the coolest looking beaches and spied some very fancy looking cliff hugging properties... Needless to say out of our budget! We were dumped off at the main beach where most of the accommodation lines the beach walk. Already we noted the small size of the island and its lack for rooms given high season. After a panic infused search for accommodation with the first 5 properties all fully booked up we lucked out on a fantastic property with a great view of the bay.
Lambongan has a very slow pace of life, with hardly any bars or hangout spots with most places closing down around 10. A big change for us after backpacker crazed spots like the Thai islands and Kuta where life seems to pick up at night. Anyways we found ourselves drawn into a slow paced life with early morning yoga in a bamboo structure at a place called the secret garden (it was hard to find!). This place was truely a a little gem with bungalows all decked out with hammocks and little terraces. We would eat here most mornings enjoying real English tea and porridge. They even had movie nights, for the first time in about a month we were able to chill-out sit back and watch a movie. I can't really describe how excited we were for such a simple pleasure. Our days were spend exploring the island, and our nights either with beer and chocolate tucked into a good book, or relaxing on the loungers with new acquaintances.
Our daily excursions included renting a moped and exploring the islands little track roads. As luck would happen we found the one unpopulated beach we had spied on our boat ride over. This little beach was adjoined to the popular mushroom beach but was separated by a huge cliff face so the only way to get to it was to wait for the tide to edge out and for the waves to calm so you could wade around.. This is where our dry bag came in handy!! But we were well rewarded by having a beautiful beach all to ourselves. Other paths took us to secluded waterfront bars and restaurants where we cold retreat to at the hottest Point in the day.
Our little island was also connected to another small island by a yellow suspension bridge. But little did we know until we were driving across it that its only enough for one moped and its made with wooded slats, lots of which are missing, not too comforting!
We also had a great morning of diving with 'big fish' divers, as our first fun dives after achieving our PADI open water certification we were stoked to get out there! On our first dive we had a beautiful sloping reef where already we were amazed at the difference in underwater life compared to that of Thailand. Most notably we saw a massive rock fish just chilling on the reef and many different kinds of trigger fish. Thankfully these are not as territorial or aggressive as those biters in Koh Tao! However both William and I agree that our second dive was one of the most exhilarating experience either of us have ever had! We were taken to a spot further offshore and were given the opportunity to try a 'negative Entry' where you roll straight into the water from the side of the speed boat and descend rapidly without coming to the surface, we felt like experts!! Now, what made this dive truly awesome was the huge current that took us on our way. Immediately underwater we were picked along by an extremely story current which Was akin to a feeling of free falling or floating. It was like a roller coaster ride, almost too dangerous for such newbies as us because you could be pulled away at any moment from the group and it was impossible to swim against it! Thankfully our dive master kept us all at hand, all be it with some frantic swimming to our aid! The fish did seem to take a second hand on this dive, but we were lucky to see various sting rays including eagle rays and a turtle! Also a portion of our dive was spent in and out of a thermocline, an area underwater where waters of highly different temperatures meet creating a mirage-like effect. Altogether this drift dive was an insane ride!
Other things of note during our stay included the food, as you can Imagine on an island you get choice pickings of some amazing seafood. After a recommendation from the owners at Secret Garden we made our way over to the less touristy areas of the island to try some local seafood at Bambu Warung. We ordered one whole grilled tuna fish to share which we were able to view before and was cooked right in front of us on a BBQ. Without William's famous appetite I'm not sure we could have finished it, it was a feast to remember and definitely the best food I've had all summer for only $5!!
We were having such a good time on the island we totally lost track of what we were spending only to find one morning we didn't have enough money for the snorkeling trip we had planned. Initially we thought this to be no problem as we could pay by credit. Once we learned practically nowhere accepts credit and there are no ATMs on the island, we felt like idiots. From a few choice options, leaving the island seemed to make the best sense. So we had to say goodbye to island life a bit earlier than planned, but we are just thankful we had enough cash to buy a boat out of there! A rapid exit only adds to the adventure and so here we are in Ubud ... Stay posted for more...
- Lauren
ps. Im sorry the pictures suddenly stop, we had a some trouble with accessing pictures on Will's camera...we are hoping they can be saved :(
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