With a Monday holiday and neither of the boys having classes the Friday before, it was clearly the time for us to get away for a long weekend! Matt still had to take some calls and work on Friday, but a 5:45am flight got us to Lombok bright and early. We had great views of Mt. Rinjani on the way in. It's the second tallest peak in Indonesia at 12,000+ feet.
We had never gone north on Lombok and were so impressed by the beautiful coastline on our 90-minute drive to the marina.
It was door to door (or boat) service when the car drove right up on the beach and dropped us at our boat. It was just a quick hop over to Gili Trawangan.
The three most popular Gili Islands (Trawangan, Meno, and Air) and so small that they don't even have motorized vehicles. Everything is done by bike or horse buggy, called a cidomo. It's completely charming, especially because a lot of the horses have bells and it sounds like Santa is coming!
We were really pleased to see how beautiful Pondok Santi looked when we arrived.
A fresh welcome drink is always a good start!
We were there early but still thought maybe our rooms would be ready. We have yet to see a full resort during Covid travel but for some reason, we still have to wait for our rooms. After our early wake up, we were ready to settle in and relax.
The grounds were lovely and everything felt so spacious and green.
We were so happy once we got in our villas. We had two side by side and they were spacious and comfortable.
Ours even had a little private plunge pool in the outdoor bathroom!
The double showers in the greenery were pretty cool!
Our porch looked out toward the ocean and the hills of Lombok.
The boys had a huge room!
The boys and I grabbed some bikes and started exploring while Matt worked. We made it about 75% of the way around the island but turned back when the road got too sandy.
We've grown used to seeing Bali quiet and deserted, but Gili T felt like an absolute ghost town in places. We never saw it at its peak but we knew it was wildly popular and seeing crumbling hotels and overgrown selfie spots was heartbreaking.
We spent the rest of our afternoon lounging and soaking up the beautiful surroundings.
Alex picked a different hammock for his nap.
Dinner in the sand next to the waves was amazing! Some of us had better luck at cards than the rest of us...
Saturday morning was a wet one but still not a bad place for a warm cup of coffee.
The clouds rolled away and we got a lovely morning to go out exploring.
We cruised down the beach and hired a boat to take us out snorkeling.
The glass bottom was pretty fun! It was handy because Alex got a terrible headache after the first spot and didn't get out of the boat again, so he could at least see into the water this way.
Our guide made some pretty cool bubble rings.
The submerged statues are pretty famous and the water above was packed with people trying to get pictures.
Matt went down for a better look. I was taking pictures with my phone and pretty impressed that so many turned out, but lots were blurry too because it couldn't decide which fish to focus on.
The Gilis have lots of sea turtles so Matt was on the lookout as we moved from place to place.
We found some beauties! This one was huge...probably a good 5 feet long and so unconcerned about us swimming around him.
We followed the last one up to the surface and his head popped up right between me and Ben!
We stopped for lunch on Gili Air at the one restaurant that was open. Lunch was a little slow in coming but delicious.
The rain came back in the afternoon, which was perfect timing after we got off the boat. Matt even got to surf a small break out on the beach.
Another lovely dinner on the beach! The restaurant had great food and we ate every meal there. So many places were closed and some of the other ones that were open looked a little too quiet for our liking.
Breakfast was really nice as well! They let us order the night before so we could show up and everything would come out right on schedule.
We biked the entire island, which took maybe an hour and a half with some stops to swim or take pictures. It's really beautiful.
The tourist information booth wasn't terribly helpful.
The main street was the busiest, but we still can't imagine what it must look like during normal times. Gili T is known for being a party island and there were lots of clubs and bars, mostly all closed.
Waiting to get our antibody tests to fly home...barefoot with sandy feet! I love island life.
Matt and I walked around the corner to enjoy the sunset and we were thrilled to see baby black tip sharks patrolling the waters there.
Lombok was so picturesque at any time of day.
Monday morning was the lowest tide we'd seen and so perfectly calm. I walked out in the sea grass admiring critters and fish until it was time to leave.
It was a fun and relaxing getaway! We were so happy to have enjoyed a place we've wanted to visit for years and it was the perfect time to do it. We reversed our arrival transport - horse buggy, boat, car, and then plane to get home. One last look at Rinjani from the Lombok airport!
