The most beautiful island I've had the privilege of exploring.
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As you arrive on the island by boat which is about a 45-minute crossing from mainland Bali, you get the feeling that this island has definitely been left behind from the rest of Bali. Which in my opinion is probably the best thing that could have happened to this island. The bad news, however, is that it probably won't last much longer.
From the moment we boarded till the moment we disembarked the service was fit for a king. Being from South Africa where you constantly have to look over your shoulder because someone wants to steal your belongings, I think this was the biggest adjustment for us to get used to. We thought our flops went missing when we got off but in the end when everyone had collected their flops from the pile, low and behold there were our flops. The reception from our villa owner on the beach front was just as welcoming. The drive down to Full Moon Bungalows was exciting to put it lightly. There is a single tarred road leading all the way around the island. The thing about this tarred road though is that it's a dual carriageway where pedestrians, animals, scooters, cars, and truck have to pass each other and they don't go that slow either. So needless to say we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed all the way there.
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Another contributing factor for us being wide awake other than the sheer beauty of the island and this new world that was unfolding in front of us every step of the way, is that the shocks in the brand new cars on the island is not a big thing as it's quite a mission to get the cars back to the mainland for the general and annual service making the ride quite bumpy. I have to add I've probably never been in a car with such worn suspension. All things considered, we made it to our destination safe and sound. After checking in it was time for an ice-cold Bintang at the Gallery.
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The Gallery is a quiet little restaurant on the island run by an English man named Mike who has been on the island well over 10 years. What makes him different to most Westerners on the islands is that he does not compete with what the locals have on offer. Instead, he promotes local arts & crafts of the artist in the area free of charge. Him and his wife, a local from the island, offer simple yet generous portions of your Western style breakfasts and if you want to get a good idea of what happening on and around the island The Gallery is where you want to stop off for the best advice in English...
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That's Mike in the middle.
Mike told us about the epic snorkeling on the island just a 100m from where we were then seated. We thought to ourselves this must be too good to be true so we headed down to the beach with our snorkeling gear. We just stashed our valuables in a shirt right there in plain sight. Off we went to find the magic, swimming over about a 100m of Kelp farms, which they use for food and local cosmetics. Yup, the Nori for your soups and sushi is grown right here on the island. The Kelp farms are pretty much the main source of income for the locals of Nusa Penida. Quite literally where the Kelp farms stop it's like you floated straight into the Finding Nemo movie. In the first 10 minutes of snorkeling, we just about saw every fish you can see in the movie, totally mind blowing and a must experience island if you are heading to Bali. The snorkeling here was even better than what we later saw snorkeling off of boats on the neighboring island of Nusa Lembongan, as the reefs around Nusa Penida are some of the healthiest of all of the neighboring islands.
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Other than the amazing snorkeling around the island there is no shortage of mouth watering food, great night life, and beaches. From the cliffs of Crystal Bay to Atuh Beach, some are easily found and others make you work for it, there is something for everyone out there. Rent yourself a scooter and off you go. A pro tip here is downloading the mobile app Maps.me (http://maps.me/en/home) so that even if you don't have mobile reception you will still be able to make it back home in time for happy-hour at Pineda Colada - the local bar & restaurant where you will most likely meet your new best friends.
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If this sounds like the kinda island life you could see yourself experiencing, then check back tomorrow for another installment of Nusa Penida where I'll tell you all about our insane outing to the Sacred Pools with a random couple we met at Penida Colada the previous night.
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Above is a taster of tomorrow's blog.
Peace be the journey.
Great post, this is a place I also need to go and visit.
It truly is worth the trip.
Very beautiful photos and it sounds like an amazing island! Thank you for sharing! I'd love to visit Bali! How are the prices.
I'm from South Africa so not the strongest currency in the world and I found it to be very affordable. It's cheaper traveling out there than travel in South Africa... I hope this helps.