Small islands lead to big dreams
Maybe big block suitcases are not so great for boats
When you’re staying in multiple places (and islands) you will have a lot of trouble with big hard case suitcases.. or at least a little embarrassment when the lovely crew is lugging your huge suitcase on top of a small speedster boat.
So I was headed right outside of Bali to an island called Nusa Lembongan. It was quite easy to find the boat in Sanur but as I realised we had to store our luggage on top of the boats by handing them over while standing in the shallows I realised I was not that great at packing for these kinds of trips. To be fair it was my first trip where I didn’t stay at the same place the entire time.
When I got to the island there was a truck that offered it’s services to get to where we wanted. I had booked something called a homestay and it seemed a little more comfortable than a hostel so I was excited.
I arrived in a small garden with 3 beautiful little cottages and a small reception at the end where I went to check in and pay for my stay. They did not take cards which I really should have thought of but they were happy for me to pay when I left and I could try the only ATM on the island when I got the chance.
Again, these very trusting and kind people made me feel so welcoming. But I still made a mental note to always have some cash on me, especially when travelling to smaller islands.
I added a scooter to my tab which I had never ridden before so they gave me a crash course right outside on the very empty road and I scooted off to town to find this ATM. They had just had a storm so the electricity to it had not been back on. Hopeful it would be resolved the next day I decided to drive to something called the Devil’s Tear.
It was a cliffside that had curves where the ocean spray is thrown out from a cave in the cliff face when a wave hits it!
Seeing this gave me a new type of confident energy. I decided to finally talk to two girls standing close to me and introduce myself. They were very friendly and even offered to take a picture of me by this beautiful natural marvel.
When we said goodbye they even asked me to come to their hotel to have dinner and we ended up having a super fun night together.
The next day I even chatted with my next door neighbour while we had breakfast and deciding to go on a boat trip together the next day to snorkel. I was so excited to meet all these great people.
I finished my tea and headed off on the scooter to finally see a mangrove forest.
It was magical to ride the little boats through the mangroves and I had never seen anything like it. Having lunch in a little tree cottage on the beach close by was wonderful and feeling very tropical I decided to get a coconut. I somehow thought it would just be like a drink but it’s almost a full meal!
Driving on the little scooter through this small island felt so wonderful. If you weren’t close to the beach you could easily drive for at least 30 minutes before seeing another person. It felt so peaceful and just wonderful to be there.
On our snorkel trip I spent so much time with my head under the water. I had never seen such beautiful colours. All these fish and little critters were wonderful and our last stop was even more admiring.
Manta Bay was filled with big beautiful manta rays. The problem with snorkelling though was that I could only stay close to the surface where they were not so much.
I also noticed something very sad and that was all the trash that was floating around near the surface. It really made me think there should be something that can be done about that. Maybe I could help, but how would I even start?
I at least would take the most I could with me back on the boat.
