More like Nice-a Penida!

This installment of Bali & Me documents our stay on Nusa Penida, an island southwest of Bali, Indonesia. Nusa Lembongan, its more tourist-infected brother, sits nearby. The reason we came to Nusa Penida, when we planned the trip, was adventure! Due to its less developed nature, much of Nusa Penida’s sites are untouched gems, although there are always other travellers at the spots, there aren’t crap-loads of hotels and sarong selling stalls (although there usually is someone selling bintang – the local beer – which I won’t complain about). You arrive via a sketchy road, hike down a sketchy path in a jungle or down a cliff face and voila; (relatively) untouched beauty. We weren’t disappointed!

Day 7 – Nusa Penida, a hidden gem

After a smooth one hour fastboat trip to the Northern Coast of Nusa Penida we were immediately asked by a guy on the street if we wanted a scooter – a few minutes later we were astride a slightly older, more rickety version of the scooter we had in Ubud, with a fuel gauge that didn’t work. All our gear shoved on it, we made our way to our accommodation Ayu Hill Bungalows, which I chose for its sunrise view. It’s in the middle of the island so the idea was it was relatively good to get anywhere from. When we got in, it was only midday or so, and the lovely fella Tade suggested we go to Tembeling Beach (somewhere not yet on our list), Kelingking Beach (very much on the list) and Crystal Bay (on the list).

We decided to go to Tembeling first after a bit of research – 2 natural pools near a beautiful hidden beach – but a treacherous journey down if you attempted the whole way by scooter which we opted not to do. When we got there, after a bit of treacherous scooting already, thanks to the local roads, we parked up above the trail down and a load of guys on scooters offered us a taxi service down. We declined and went for the hike which was hot and LUSH – a whole different experience from any Ubud location we’d seen. I spotted a few of my houseplants in their natural habitat which was nice.

We finally arrived at a beautiful natural pool, with the beach seen in the distance through jungle. We were hot and sweaty so immediately changed into our swimsuits and dived into the deep pool of incredibly cool, refreshing water.

After paddling a bit we went down to the beach where there was another natural pool, shallower but equally satisfying, so we dipped in that, grabbed a bintang and sat on the beach for an hour admiring the incredible cliffs either side, as well as the beach itself. We were pretty content at this stage.

We started to wander back up after a final dip in the shallow pool when Billie spotted a little cave area and suggested we get changed there. We went round the corner and there were hundreds of these tiny little towers of stones people had made and a super view of the cliffs beyond. Truly a hidden gem!

We then plodded up and I convinced Billie to get a scooter taxi back up – the guys clearly knew what they were doing, even though we’d never attempt it ourselves – and I thought a bit of fear outweighed the effort of a gruelling sheer uphill hour hike. Billie gave in and we were up there in 5 mins of mild terror. We’d hung around for a while, so decided to skip Kelingking (to return another day) and headed to the easily approachable and popular Crystal Bay, with the intention of organising a snorkel trip from there for the following morning, and sitting on the beach till sunset, where the view was reportedly great. We succeeded in both tasks and the Nusa Penida sunset was one to remember!

Day 8 – Sun, sea and suspicious turtles

We were too knackered to get up for sunrise, so we slept in a bit, had breakfast at the bungalow then were back at Crystal Bay at 10 for our snorkel trip. A fellow in a boat was called over and we were on our way to Manta Bay, with the hope of spotting some giant Manta Rays. I was pretty disappointed not to see any… We swam around for about 30 mins and the boat guy sort of shrugged and said not guaranteed when I asked. There were lots of other people there, also failing to see mantas, so I didn’t feel too bad…

We then went to Gamat Bay, an amazing and fairly shallow coral reef 15 mins boat away – it was incredible, there were tonnes of fish (including clownfish – love) and beautiful coral. Then we spotted a turtle, which we stalked for a while. Gorge. I also spotted another smaller (probably a teenager) turtle a few mins later flapping it’s little heart out (and travelling faster than I thought possible) in the direction of the other turtle.

We got back to Crystal Bay, had some lunch and found it hard to leave. So in the end we just got some loungers, read our books, drank bintangs and sat there for most of the day, occasionally dipping in the sea. It felt like a well earned rest day. We found a lush little place for dinner that was very much us. They did great smoothies. Smoothies are a big thing here, served in absolutely every warung. We’re both a bit addicted to mango smoothies at the moment.

Day 9 – Adventure day in Nusa Penida!

So with our somewhat lax day, we decided Day 9 would be a full on adventure day. We had two locations on the east of the island (a good hour scoot away) and then still had Kelingking to visit, on the west. After a check of tide and sunset times we decided to head east first, where the tide was high and the sun was on the beaches, then head west to Kelingking to watch sunset.

We set off and 10 minutes later ran out of petrol on the side of the road – thanks broken fuel guage. We saw on Google maps that there was some sort of civilisation a 10 min walk away (this was very lucky) so set off in search of aid. There was a warung and a shop, so we went to the shop and there was a lady who, to our relief, disappeared and reappeared with a can of petrol. We indicated that our bike was a walk away and she insisted on lending us her bike to go get there. It was an even OLDER version of the same bike and was very rickety indeed, but we got there, filled it up, and realised we’d have to bike her bike back and walk to ours as only I could drive. We did so and then when the lady realised what was going on, she then insisted on giving ME a lift back to the bike so I could drive it back and grab Billie – she was so nice! For all that she charged 30,000 rupiah, the equivalent of £1.50 (including the fuel). We were thanking her profusely and waving as we drove off to our first destination, somehow only having lost about 20 minutes of the day.

Our first location was Thousand Island Viewpoint (a bit of an exaggeration, but a great view regardless). This spot famously appeared because an entrepreneurial Penidian (I’m sure that’s not the adjective) found the view and built a treehouse there. It was soon an airbnb hit and people would visit just for the view. Eventually, it got built up and is now a tourist attraction – probably the busiest on the island, if not as famous as Kelingking. The climb across was minorly scary for me, and of course Billie leapt across in the fearless way the youthful do. The view was totally worth the ridiculously hot and sweaty climb back, too.

After a coconut for Billie and a bintang for me, we walked along the clifftop towards diamond beach, the ‘top’ of which was 15 minutes away by foot. We stood at the top of the stairs carved in the rock a year or two ago (when before there was no access, just a view) and decided them safe due to the decent bannisters that had been concreted in, and set off down. After a coconut for Billie and a bintang for me, we walked along the clifftop towards diamond beach, the ‘top’ of which was 15 minutes away by foot. We stood at the top of the stairs carved in the rock a year or two ago (when before there was no access, just a view) and decided them safe due to the decent bannisters that had been concreted in, and set off down.

This was much scarier for me, especially near the bottom when there was a bit of a turn with no bannisters but a rope to hold onto, but I made it down in a fairly unembaressing fashion and the beach was soooo amazing, I’m glad I did. Probably the best beach I’ve been to, it was HUGE and backed by a giant overhanging cliff. The water was an amazing colour, and whilst unswimmable, fine for a paddle to cool off.

The walk back up was via the same staircase, and while less scary was incredibly hot and tiring. The walk back up was via the same staircase, and while less scary was incredibly hot and tiring.

It was a 1hr30m scoot against time to reach Kelingking for sunset but we made it with 15 mins to spare. The rock formation that is celebrated for looking like a T-Rex (which I have to say it does) is the sight in itself. The more daring go down the very sketchy staircase with questionable stick bannisters to the beach, which does look amazing. I knew I wasn’t up for that, so we were there for the view, and sunset – neither of which disappointed.

We were absolutely knackered but found the energy to go to our new favourite restaurant in Nusa Penida for dinner. Full and content, we slept deeply. We were absolutely knackered but found the energy to go to our new favourite restaurant for dinner. Full and content, we slept deeply.

The next morning, I woke up at 5.50 for sunrise outside. I waited for about 20 minutes, watching a nice glow of red appear, and hearing the sounds of so many animals of the island waking up. There was an infinite non-stop sound of roosters cock-a-doodle-do’ing across the island from different locations and distances, it was quite funny. There are loads and loads of chickens all over Indonesia, just another thing to dodge while scooting. After 20 mins of not seeing actual sun, I gave up in tiredness and went back to bed…

We both preferred Nusa Penida to Ubud, while Ubud was GREAT in so many ways, Nusa Penida has all the things we love about travelling; remote nature, quiet roads to scoot on and beaches.

We now head back to Bali to Amed, one of a string of beach towns on the North-East Coast, near to Mount Agung, Bali’s biggest (and active) volcano. Oooh. There we’ll snorkel, eat, snorkel, hike, snorkel and maybe do some yoga.