Good times at Nusa Lembongan & Nusa Ceningan

Nusa Lembongan is our favorite place.  We have been here for a week already, and are still staying for 4 more nights.  We are still staying at Bungalow No. 7 because it is the best!  We have been doing a lot of snorkeling and it is just stunning, the water is so clear, and the reefs are so alive.  Mushroom coral is popular here, and is so pretty.   Dustin and I have rented a scooter twice now for $5 a day, off a young guy that works at our Bungalow.  It is his personal scooter but they offer them out to rent while they are at work for the day.  The guys that work at Bungalow No. 7 are awesome.  They are the happiest, friendliest people who love their home and job, as do all Balinese.

Nusa Lembongan & Nusa Ceningan are two little islands beside each other that attach by a long, old, narrow bridge.  The wood panels on the bridge are old and it is scary crossing it, especially by scooter, but it is a Indiana Jones experience, and it is considered safe as there has been zero accidents to date on the bridge.

We rented a scooter again on Valentines day from the same guy at our bungalow, and spent the day on Nusa Ceningan.  It was absolutly beautiful and we rode around both islands and up to the peaks to admire the views.  A local man showed us a small private beach called Secret Beach.  We hiked down, and were all alone on a beautiful paradise beach spending Valentines together!  The water was the most beautiful colour I have seen yet, and the beach was so private we would have never found it without the help of our local friend, as we had to scooter up steep dirt trails and hike down a steep forested trail to the beach.   We went back to Nusa Lembongan for a romantic dinner at Scallywags Seafood Bar and Grill.  We had made reservations so got the best seat they had, overlooking the ocean on sunset beach!  We got drinks and spent time in the infinity pool before dinner, it was so pretty.  The food was delicious, I had steak and Dustin got a whole lobster, and we were so impressed.  What a day! 🙂

When we got back to our bungalow, we hooked back up with Kev who was surfing for the day.  He had heard from many surfers out on the waves of a party that was happening on Valentines at one of the local bars.  All of the bars close by 10pm here, so we were interested to see if this one was a real party and went a little later.  We walked down and checked it out, and it was bumping.  There was a live singer, and she was amazing.  There were many locals with their families and young kids standing or sitting just outside the open walled bar having drinks.  When we entered Kevin was recognized by a surfer he had met, who co-owns the bar and announces to us that it is free beer all night until the bar runs dry!  It was a great party and everyone was so nice.  Many people wanted to meet Kevin and introduced themselves to him, it was really funny, he was having no problem at all meeting new people, we think it may be because he is tall and stands out amongst everyone else! Everyone wanted to be his friend haha.  One guy even went on to tell Kevin that he can stay at his house in Australia anytime.  The walls in the bar are covered in black sharpie marker writing from tourists around the world.  Me and Dust got a hold of a felt pen and wrote out names and V.I. Canada, as we didn’t have much room to write.  We even ran into a guy from Port Hardy in the little bar!

Oh and all the ladies carry things on their head.  They carry huge 5 gallon water jugs on their heads, and even two huge crates full of full bottled beer on their heads, with no hands.  It is unreal, they have such strength and balance.  On our scooter venture, we saw a young girl scootering with a tray on her head with dirty dishes on it including a glass, and it didn’t budge off her head even on the bumpy moterbike road.  We also saw a young girl around 10 walking home from school with her shoulder book bag balanced on her head.  I guess it is a lot lighter if you know how to do it.

We are very excited for tomorrow as we are going diving again!  We are going to see big Manta Rays at Manta Point, and also going diving at Crystal Cove in hopes of seeing a Mola Mola!

xo

Jade