In the last post, we had just arrived on idyllic Nusa Lembongan after a non-eventful boat ride from Bali.
On our second day on Nusa Lembongan, we arranged to head out for a day of snorkeling with a local fisherman/ tour guide. There are a few spots around Nusa Lembongan and the neighboring island, Nusa Penida, which have fantastic snorkeling.
It was an amazing day - beautiful weather, sailing around the islands - our first stop was Crystal Bay on the coast of Nusa Penida. You jump straight off the boat into the water, so the water is deep, absolutely crystal clear and filled with bright colorful fish. It's a pretty popular spot, so there were many other snorkelers around. We paddled around for 45 minutes or so and then reboarded for our next stop.
We were lucky in our second location to be the only ones there and surrounded by hundreds of different kinds of fish. Especially since our well-meaning captain threw bread in the water once we were submerged, attracting a huge species of fish with big teeth which scared the crap out of the other fish... And me. Phil was cracking up in the water as I attempted to 'hide' from the giant mutant fish in the water behind him, only to realise that there were others coming from all directions!
Once a few other groups turned up, we went to our last destination and saw more amazing fish (including a pink and yellow fluoro fish, dubbed 80s fish by me) and coral. On our way back, our tour guide's day was made when we passed huge stunned fish floating in the water. He grabbed it with his bare hands, unceremoniously dropped it in the bottom of the boat and continued on with a huge smile on his face - that was his dinner sorted.
It was a fantastic day and we finished it off with a sunset dinner at a place called Sandy Bay. Very tropical island, no?
Well, that was pretty much all we did on Nusa Lembongan for the whole trip because by dinner, I'd realized that both Phil and I were burnt to a crisp. Especially me. Oh my god. Soooo sore. Sooooo dumb! We did sunscreen at the start of the day, but clearly not enough. It was THREE nights before I could lay down on my back at all. So there was a lot of sitting around for the next few days... But it was lovely and relaxing despite how little I did! That being said, I'm still all red :(
And now we're back in Bali for three more days. This morning we had 'one last' Babi Guling (suckling pig) for breakfast (yup, breakfast). The last two nights have been spent on the beach on huge beanbags to watch the sunset. I never get sick of it.
It's almost impossible not to feel sad that the adventure is almost up, but it is... We actually thought we might be stuck here this week. We had given our passport to a visa agent to get an extension on our 30 day visas three weeks ago and were promised they would be returned on the Friday before we left for Nusa Lembongan. But they weren't ready on Friday or Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. By Thursday we were starting to panic. Especially when they told us that we wouldn't get it until Friday because immigration would not release the passports.
Phil thought quickly and told them that while we understood that dealing with Indonesian immigration was difficult, if we didn't have the passport by 5pm, we would need to report it to the embassy and police, otherwise we'd be stuck in Indonesia. We had the passports back by 4.30pm. Go Phil!
Hopefully the only challenge remaining is how many massages I can fit into the remaining three days in Bali. I'll keep you posted.
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