Nusa Penida

To the southeast of Bali are three islands: Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida. The islands are fantastic destinations for diving, along with being a mellow respite from the hustle and bustle of southern Bali. Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan are the most developed, with plenty of resorts, hotels, and restaurants. The tourism industry was slower to reach rugged Nusa Penida, but it is blossoming as we speak. With extremely Instagrammable scenery like breathtaking cliffs and natural infinity pools, the island is growing ever more popular (*note – I am guilty of posting these vistas on Instagram).

So back in October, we set our sites on exploring Penida and managed to gather a small crew to head over there. Richard and Tara flew in from Jakarta, and Tobin’s good friend Jamie joined us as well (he was in Bali for a week scoping out schools and houses - he’ll be moving to Bali with his wife and kids for a year starting in August).

We left early on Saturday morning - the “fast boats” to Penida leave from the beach in Sanur, less than a ten minute drive from my place. It was quite a mob scene when we arrived - hundreds of tourists waiting for boats heading mostly to Lembongan. We bought tickets for a 9am boat and waited around for a sweaty half an hour. The boats anchor close(ish) to shore on the sandy bottom, and everyone has to wade out to them. First step, remove your shoes and toss them in the shoe bucket, second step: hike up your shorts, wade out to the boat, and hope you don’t step on anything sharp. 

Once onboard, the ride was fairly smooth, and we gazed out at the ominous Mt Agung sitting directly to the north. It took about 45 minutes to get across to Penida. At the dock, we were reunited with our shoes, and we trudged off to find our accommodation. Like I said, tourist infrastructure is fairly new on the island, and our guesthouse was less than a five minute walk from the dock.

Tobin's getting really good at relaxing. 

Richard and Tara joined us a few hours later, having travelled from Jakarta that morning. With the team officially assembled, we headed off for the day’s activity: diving! 

We’d booked an afternoon dive and were taken to a site called SD, on the north side of Penida. It was an incredible dive; a gentle current pulled us along and for about 40 minutes we glided past endless corals and swarms of fish. There was no break in the coral coverage - I’d never seen anything like it. Tobin and Richard spotted two deadly sea snakes, but I somehow missed them - maybe it was the zillions of other creatures that distracted me.

Fish for dayyyys!

Hawksbill turtle munching away

Our crew!

That evening, we enjoyed tropical cocktails (like dragon fruit daiquiris and penida coladas) at an adorable café on the beach.

YUM

Panorama of the lovely beach!

On Saturday morning we rented motorbikes and set off to explore the wonders of Nusa Penida. Our first stop was Kelingkling beach, a steep and rugged cliff that stretches out into the ocean in the shape of a T-rex (sort of). It was absolutely gorgeous to see in real life, but the real adventure was following the path down from the top of the cliff to the secluded beach below. It was SO STEEP. Like SO STEEP. Like 90-degrees-at-times steep. Like you-might-pee-yourself-a-bit steep. Like we-had-to-coach-the-girl-in-front-of-us-down-it steep. Like you-really-really-really-hope-the-rickety-bamboo-fence-holds steep. STEEP. 

But so worth it. 

This is not the steep part. The steep part was too steep for pulling out cameras. Did I mention that it was steep?

The beach below was stunning, and the water was perfect. I had the best swim of my entire time in Indonesia so far. I also got completely smashed by the waves as I tried to get out of the water (reminiscent of Hope Town), and was left covered in sand. I spent more than a week picking it off of my scalp and it was an oddly nice reminder of the beach. 

Eventually we forced ourselves to leave the beach – there were more adventures to be had! Luckily going up the steep path was much, much easier than going down had been. 

We continued our motorbike journey along Nusa Penida’s bumpy roads and visited a few other highlights including Angel’s billabong, a natural infinity pool that is a perfect setting for girls who want to pose in their bikinis; and broken beach, a massive natural arch. My favourite moment, though, was when Jamie spotted manta rays in the water below as we stood on a cliff near broken beach. I was giddy with excitement even just watching them from afar!

This is a fairly poor photo of the arch, but it will have to do. 

That evening, we said goodbye to Richard, Tara and Jamie who were heading back to Bali (and onward to Jakarta and Canada, respectively). I took the Monday off of work so that Tobin and I could spend an extra day on Penida in order to do some more diving.

The highlight of our day of diving by far was a place called Manta Point, which is absolutely deserving of its name. From the moment we descended we were graced with the presence of these massive gliding creatures; we probably saw 15-20 of them throughout the dive. I’ve seen so many photos and videos of mantas but it didn’t prepare me for how big and beautiful they really are in real life. It was certainly one of the best dives I’ve ever done. 

After finishing diving, we went back to the same café we’d been to on Saturday and enjoyed some delicious smoothies and the beautiful views. All too soon it was time to pack up and head back to Bali.