Before getting to Bali, the plan for the 3 days between Seminyak and Ubud was to have no plan. Often the best excursions come when you just plan as you go, and this was a perfect case of that. Initially, we were thinking of going to the Gilis, three small islands off the coast of Lombok (the island just east of Bali) that are an hour and a half speed boat ride. After doing some research, we found a place that was not only closer and cheaper to get to, but also had great diving (and surfing, although we don't surf). I had never heard of Nusa Lembongan before, but we booked a boat and a hotel while sitting at the pool at the W and were ready to roll.
Nusa Lembongan is the middle sized island of three off the south east side of Bali. There are no ATMs, the main industry is seaweed farming, and the pace is below a crawl. We booked our "Scoot" boat for a 30 minute speed boat ride, and had to walk through the water from the beach on both sides to get on/off the boat. Since there are very few cars or roads on the island, the dudes from our hotel met us on the beach and helped us walk 200 yards up some stairs and down a path to our home for the next 3 days, The Lembongan Reef. On the hillside, with a view of the bay and even Mt Agung on Bali when it's clear, a pool, and a cheap/casual restaurant, Lembongan Reef was the perfect home base. Eager to chat up some people to learn the deal on NL, we met some English Gents who lived all over the world and come to NL quite a bit. They gave us the rundown and said The Beach Club at Sandy Bay was the spot for dinner and drinks and a view - and they were heading there later. We went early for sunset, and saw dolphins jumping in the waves in front of the setting sun, looked pretty much like a Lisa Frank folder from back in the day (remember those?). The English dudes showed up later and we had a great night drinking and chatting in one of the more epic night settings of the trip.
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| Our Scoot boat, three engines strong. Note the water entry. |
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| View from our room at Lembongan Reef hotel. |
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| The bay of Nusa Lembongan, no pier or dock. |
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| The main industry of Nusa Lembongan can be seen through the clear water, seaweed farming. |
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| The pool at Lembongan Reef. |
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| Our table at The Beach Club. |
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| Dolphins were jumping in the background, Lisa Frank inspiration everywhere. |
A trip to South East Asia wouldn't be complete without an adventurous motorbike ride on a remote island, and with the lack of cars, the best way to see Lembongan is by motorbike. For $8 including gas, we got set up on our Wild Hog (see pics). We started off heading in a clockwise circle making our first stop in a remote town, and had lunch overlooking the mangrove forest. We continued on, passing not much but some small huts and kids selling bracelets and yelling "buy something!!" as we sped past, Bri clutching on to me on the back of the bike. We passed about a 100 motorbikes parked and local dudes yelling in a crowd, which initially looked like a cock fight. Turned out it was just the betting portion, where people show off their roosters pre-fight and put down money. Just a bunch of dudes holding their... Cocks.
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| The main drag of town. |
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| Wild Hog Binder |
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| The road to the town in the mangrove forest |
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| The end of the road on the north side of the island and ending in a small town, if you can call it that. |
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| Our view from lunch |
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| Heading into the mangroves |
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| The almost-cock fight. Note the size difference between Brando and the locals, not blending in much |
We continued on to find the bridge to the neighboring island Nusa Ceningan, and crossed it, while Bri put claw marks in my sides. The roads continued to get bumpier, until we were on a narrow dirt path through bushes. The road turned to rocks so we finally parked, and walked to what looked like the end of the earth, and watched the waves crash on the rocks and 20 feet in the air. We got back on the path, and once again hit the end of the road on the south side of Ceningan at a point overlooking a popular, but only inhabited by 2 surfers, surf spot. We had a Bintang (beer) and sat and watched surfers from the cafe on the cliff, before heading back over the bumpy roads, over the bridge, and back onto Lembongan. We cruised to Dream Beach for Happy Hour, and got 2-for-1 margaritas and use of the pool, while overlooking an awesome beach. We rolled down the hill, and back into town, but not before snapping some sweet pics at the top of the hill overlooking the bay. If you can tell by the length of the description, this was one of our favorite days of the whole trip.
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| Cruising towards the bridge |
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| The bridge to the neighboring island |
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| Giant waves at the end of the earth |
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| Where we're going, we won't need roads |
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| Secret Bay, the surf spot on the other side and the cafe on the point on the right in this pic. |
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| View of the surf for Mahana Point cafe. |
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| Surf's up bro |
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| Some ceremony of 100 people just wandering past us on the path |
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| Happy hour and free pool use at Dream Beach. Barstools in the pool. |
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| Top of the hill before heading back into town. |
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| Epic day, one of our favorites, possibly ever. |
Day 2 we headed out on a boat for some diving and snorkeling. The two highlights were an amazing drift dive (where you just let the current quickly take you over the reef) and Brando's wetsuit being way too small (it was too hot to try it on, and XL's always fit... But this apparently was the smallest XL in the world). It didn't even zip in the back and I almost split it, but when you're out on the boat, you just gotta make it work. The water is blue and crystal clear, and the dive/snorkel was incredible. We grabbed some post dive beers at our hotel, and befriended three Aussies on a surf trip. We ended up drinking beers in the pool and having dinner with them. It turned out one of the guys was the Aussie version of Brando, they just talked and told stories, cracking themselves up while everyone else just listened. It was an international talking festival, and a great reminder that the people you meet are often one of the best parts of traveling. What an amazing and short stay, on an island we didn't even know existed 2 days before going there.
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| Blue waters and a view of Lembongan |
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| Lesson learned, try on your wetsuit before getting on the boat |
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| Dive Binder |
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| So clear |
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| Our hotel, the second set of red roofs from the left |
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| Sunset on our final night, maybe the best of the trip and we couldn't even see the sun |
We headed back to Bali the next day on the Scoot and inland towards Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. Also, the Indonesian stop Julia Roberts made in the chick flick Eat, Pray, Love. 4 days there, a quick stop in Bangkok, then back to the US of A. Crazy that this amazing trip is winding down, but at least 1-2 more good posts left... Thanks for reading this long post, can you tell we loved Nusa Lembongan?
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