Underwater Adventures

Our villa included use of the big boat for a snorkeling day trip.  Unfortunately, the day we picked had an unusually high swell and the tidal change made for some scary waves between the islands.  We decided to abandon the mantas around Penida and snorkel around Cennigan instead.

Our first stop was a very calm drifting snorkel along the Wall.

After the anxious moments among the big waves, we thought it was sweet to see our guide float out a Hindu blessing as we snorkeled.

The lounge chair at the back was perfect for clearing the motion sickness from my head!

Ready for site two!

It was such a beautiful day and wonderful to be out on the water.  Turns out one of the boat engines didn't agree and it gave out on us.  We were extra thankful we were very close to home and didn't have to go back through the big waves around Penida.

Underwater, it was amazing!  So many fish everywhere.

Some very interesting creatures in the water!

Our crippled boat, which did deliver us safely at home at a slower pace, for which we were extremely grateful.

We went out a second time on our last day on Nusa Lembongan with the hopes of swimming with some manta rays.  Secret Beach was looking particularly lovely that day.  Villa Sayang is up on the hill on the left, Jipsi is on the beach at the right.

We stopped in two places around Nusa Penida (just below several of the places we'd seen by land) and were rewarded with several mantas calmly swimming at the surface.

In one place, the waves were big and it was hard to follow the mantas, but because they were at the surface, the boat captain could spot them and point us in the right direction.

It was just incredible!

I was a pretty big fan of these unicorn fish as well!

On our way back, we spotted a pod of dolphins as well. We really couldn't have asked for anything more and it was the perfect way to wrap up a really wonderful week!

Nusa Penida

The event I'd been most excited about all week was a day trip to Nusa Penida.  We met back at the yellow bridge to catch a boat over to Penida.

It was just a quick trip past Cennigan to get over to Penida.

The water was gorgeous!

The boat dropped us at a tiny harbor in Penida and two cars were waiting to drive us to some of the beautiful sights.  Apparently, this is one thing that Covid has greatly improved - the drivers said it used to take half an hour to park at this natural bridge and even longer to wait for a chance to take a picture.  There were a few other groups there, but nothing that made us wait.

The whole gang! (Little did we know, we would be in the water behind us snorkeling the next day)

The coastline was so beautiful everywhere we looked!

Angel's billabong was perfectly clear...

...until a big wave came and washed in.  It was so much fun to watch.

Almost just as entertaining was wondering if the people who climbed all the way down there for their Instagram shots would get wet!

The spot I'd most wanted to see was Klingkling beach.  It was entirely unremarkable when we parked and started walking down some steps, then suddenly the beach came into view.  It was stunning.

The handrails left a little to be desired on the terribly steep steps.

The colors were just unreal! It was one of those things that couldn't possibly be as good in person, but it was even better than I'd hoped.

The kids were not thrilled about the crazy staircase and the incredibly sweaty day. It had been raining that morning, cleared up just in time for our visit, and got cloudy again as soon as we left. Alex was sure we were going to die.

We coaxed him down a few more steps to make Mom happy with one family picture. It was so steep that we didn't dare try to get a whole group photo.

Farrah and the kids headed back up, I stayed to enjoy a few more moments alone, and Matt and Brian braved the walk down.

I started hearing some noises and realized I wasn't actually alone!

An entire family on monkeys came up the stairs one and two at a time.  I just sat still and watched them pass right by me and marveled at this incredible moment.

Several moms were carrying babies.  They were so close I could have touched them! I definitely didn't.  The big daddy was scary.  I didn't go back up until he told me I was allowed!

Matt went all the way down until the trail turned away to the beach.  It would have been neat to see the beach but not if it meant coming all the way back up.

Back up top, we caught our breath over some cold coconuts and fed the monkeys some peanuts.

The drivers were really comfortable with all the monkeys but we kept our attention toward the cute little ones. They were so entertaining.

We had a nice lunch then made our last stop at Crystal Bay.  It looked amazing but we hadn't brought our swimsuits so we didn't get to enjoy it.  Luckily, this was another stop on our snorkeling trip so we did get to enjoy from the boat the next day!