Last evening was bit relaxing still we slept only past 2am. This time I changed the Alarm setting in my phone and we were up at 5:30 in morning. By 6:30 we left hotel after quick early breakfast. Our driver was there on time, and by 7:30 we reached Sunar harbor.
This was the place from where one can get the ferry to go to Nusa Penida. Nusa Penida is a small island southeast of Bali Island but part of Indonesia. It known for its beautiful beaches and diving locations. I was a non-swimmer till 1.5 months before this trip but has the desire to learn this life skill. Like this trip swimming lessons was another self-gift I gave myself. After attending few classes I at least had this confidence that I won’t drown in a 5feet pool 😓 Like the long list of desires we all have, I had snorkeling in my bucket list. And somehow this trip and my swimming lessons both fell perfectly on my plate at right time. So, this activity was something I was really looking forward to in this trip.
Sunar Harbor is a busy area, with many restaurants, local
shops and offices of all Ferry operators and snorkeling and scuba diving
operators. We had our ferry at 8:30, so there was good one hour in hand for us
to spend. Breakfast was part of our activity package but as we already had
breakfast in hotel we gave it a go, yet I did try the Balinese coffee. Unlike
instant coffee which we Indians are used too, Balinese coffee is like the
filter coffee which we mostly get in the south India. However they don’t use
the filters, so you will find the coffee grains/dust at the bottom of your
coffee mug when enjoying Balinese Coffee. We did a bit of window shopping and
bought few Knick-knacks just for the fun of bargaining 😛Somehow the ferry was running too late and we got to sit in our ferry only by 9am. Imagine the amount of frustration we two sleepless souls had. In case you are booking the ferry on your own, I would suggest to go for the first morning ferry which is at 7:30am, and if you are going for later one, don’t rush take your time to reach the harbor. Only by 9:30 our ferry started to touch the waves. The journey lasted for almost 1hour 30 mins, Which the sleep deprived girls used to catch up on some sleep.
When our ferry reached Nusa Penida, our local driver there
was already there waiting for us. He picked us and took us to the office of
their agency. When we reached the speed boat in which we were supposed to go
for snorkeling was ready to leave. Our snorkeling guide (very interesting
person, but I missed his name) was not even ready to give us time to change in
our swimming suits, he said just change it in the boat, but our Indian Sanskar (Believes)
stopped us from doing so 😝 we made him wait for 5 minutes and were on the boat
still adjusting ourself’s in the swimsuit 😁
Waves were very rough that day, and at the Manta Bay
spotting point the guide himself announced “waves are rough, don’t get inside
the water, it’s good for you good for me” We both were naïve swimmers and hence
followed him without even asking a thing.Next stop was Crystal Bay, the waves were bit less here, so they stopped the boat for us to get in the water. I was scared deep inside but really wanted to concur my fear. Wore all the snorkeling Gare and was about to jump in water when my guide tried to be jolly with me and tried pushing me in water. To my bad luck in place of falling in water I fell inside the boat and hurt my knee on a sharp metal. It did pain like hell… still after few minutes I got inside water just to get the feel of it.
By now many of our co-passenger started to feel sea sick because to the strong waves here. We went back to office to drop the sick ones. But the two naïve swimmers were still hopeful that they will go to all spots and snorkel.
Next was Gamat Bay, this place had very calm waves. And looked really safe for us 😜 when I first tried to put my face inside water, I panicked. But after the guide decided to come along, it gave me some courage. Holding his hand, I felt a bit calm and was able to breath the right way inside water. The view inside water was magical. I could see live coral, verity of small fishes. They were so colorful, and so close I was lost in the moment. It was surreal, felt as if the time has stood still, and mind was so calm. Out of the world experience!
Later when I was sharing my experience with friends some did make fun, what is so great in snorkeling, I could do it without even learning to swim. Well I don’t know about you my dear, but for me it was a big deal. I was sacred on drowning in 5 ft pool and now I was in the sea, big deal for me 😊
After this wonderful snorkeling session, I ticked it out of my bucket list, but did feel great and motivated to be a better swimmer and do better next time 😊 Soon we were back to the office. And to my disbelief, I was shown an open shower with no changing room to get freshen up. Well this was not in my bucket list though but with no other option in sight I did enjoy the open shower that day, Again my Indian Sanskar (believes) pushed me to force the guide to arrange some place for us to change. And he happily gave his room 😝 Anyways after all this adventure, we were ready in clean new cloths to visit the beautiful beaches of west Nusa Penida. Our driver first drove us to the restaurant for lunch, which was part of the package. It was a traditional Balinese restaurant and once more getting veg food was a challenge. I somehow found one option, However, I could not gulp it down due to some other issue. Call it my mental block but if there is any strong smell in the food I cannot eat it. Thus, I ended up eating just a spoon of rice with salt. Though many people love the food in Bali, but it didn’t turn out a food fest for me.
By now my knee was hurting really bad, but who cares of the pain when on vacation. Unlike Bali the Roads of Nusa Pineda was in very bad shape. It was already 1:30pm so we had only 2 hours to see 3 beaches, as the last ferry from Nusa Pineda to Bali was at 4:30pm. Quick tip, in case you want to enjoy this beautiful island at your pace, I recommend you stay here for a day or two.
Our first stop was kelingking beach, the roads till there were relatively good. This is a beautiful beach which is 400mtr down a cliffside hike. Going down is time consuming and needs one to be fit, in our case both were not there with my broken knee :P when seen from top, this beach has a limestone hill which is covered with green in shape of a Tyrannosaurus head, hence the name kelingking beach, which means Trax head. We only got to see the beauty of this mesmerizing beach from top. The clean blue water looked amazing against the golden sand. The Trex Head shaped cliff was another highlight for me, after all I am mother of a Trex Lover kid 😍 we clicked many pics here, our driver cum guide was a pro photographer, knew all best photography spots and poses 😊 turned out to be very helpful for us:D while going back to our car driver took us to have some tender coconut, which they call “young coconut” and it was gigantic in size. Difficult to drink full in one go, but we did it, somehow.
After the refreshing treat we rushed to broken beach on broken
roads with my broken knee 😛Jumping jack drive for 45mins and we reached the
parking area of broken beach. On the same stretch one gets to see Angel'sBillabong. Angel’s Billabong has a natural infinity pool framed by rock cliffs
and hangs out over the Ocean overlocking manta Bay point. This looks very
pictures with pristine crystal clear blue water. However, swimming here is
allowed only during low tide, so for us it was out of question.
After a little bit of walk we reached broken beach, a view point with nice lime stone formations. Here one cannot go down to water so it’s just a beautiful view point and a place to click pictures. By now it was already 3:45 and our driver started to panic, as 4:30 was the last ferry. He suddenly turned into 007bond and drove us though some internal very narrow roads. He was driving very fast, the road was almost invisible (just some mud road) and one side we had the valley, real adventure. It was making me remember Dune bashing in Dubai.
After this awesome exploit we manage to catch the last ferry. We thanked the driver and boarded the ferry to go back to Bali main land.
1 and half hours later we reached Sunar port, and our morning driver was already there waiting for us. He drove us back to hotel and also stopped us at one pharmacy, for me to buy some ointment from my knee. Being the planned and organized traveler I am, I had made a list of medicines we must carry and this ointment was in that list. But guess what, we had everything with us except this one, so I overpaid for this ointment in foreign land ☹
Evening we had our spa session booked in the hotel Spa, the session went really well. It had an hour-long massage followed by scrubbing and hot bath, but the highlight for me was the ginger tea they served at end 😊
Later we went for some souvenir shopping nearby and had a nice relaxed dinner. Due to my knee pain we canceled the night track we had planned for Mt Batur on that night.
Next afternoon we had our flight back to India. So, we wanted to sink in the feel of Bali, hence rest of night went leisure.
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