Island hopping

The title of this blog may be a little misleading, as we have in fact been "island hopping" for some time now. If you recall Borneo is an island (3rd largest in the world), following which we had travelled to Bali, Flores, Rinca and Sebayur...all islands (conveniently arranged in descending size order for you). In a nation with supposedly 17,500 islands it's difficult to do anything else. Thus, after leaving Flores we flew back to Bali, from where we planned to tour the "tropical triangle" (I don't think this is any official designation - just a catchy tourist phrase utilised by the local boat companies).

We first spent a few nights on the eastern coast of Bali in an area known as Sanur. This suburb was our departure point for the trip to Nusa Lembongan, Gili Air and finally Bali's lesser known neighbour - Lombok. We didn't realise that the suburb of Sanur is a favourite for Australian pensioners, most likely retiring here to improve the longevity of their pension funds. One fortunate outcome of this situation was a plethora of sports pubs - mostly showing Aussie rules rugby - but with one at least putting on the South Africa - New Zealand rugby game of the World Cup Rugby. We got nostalgic about home and cheered on the "Boks", but sadly they couldn't hold back the might of the "All Blacks". We took sorrow in one of our few bottles of red wine over the past few months...

Monday morning found us boarding the boat to Nusa Lembongan. The three "Nusas" lie a few miles north-east of Bali and have become a tourism mecca - perhaps offering a more island vibe feeling that their larger, busier cousin Bali. We had selected Nusa Lembongan rather than the slightly larger Nusa Penida and disembarked from the boat and waded ashore to the tranquil island. Our small room provided a view of the sea (something which we aren't usually able to afford), and the owner led us to the local scuba diving centre. Our main reason for being here was indeed once again below the waters. We booked a dive for a few days time, whilst also finding out that the island itself was "incredibly busy" at the moment as a major ceremony was to happen two days later. In this part of the world "incredibly busy" translated into more scooter motorbikes cruising around than usual. With some time to spare I decided that the time and environment were right to learn how to ride a scooter, leading to much fraying of Esti's nerves. I must come clean here and admit that although we were reducing our carbon emissions earlier in the travels, part of our reason for avoiding the scooters was my lack of experience with them. Zero experience to be precise. This quickly changed and once Esti had put her foot down and insisted we hire two scooters rather than sitting dangerously on the back of mine, or I on the back of hers. After a few practice runs near the hostel we took off exploring and came across the beautiful "Devil's Tears" rock formation. We subsequently crossed a tiny yellow bridge - wide enough only for two scooters to pass each other - to the hamlet of Nusa Ceningan. This smaller island had even less people. After viewing the stunning "Blue Lagoon" bay our adventures took us seemingly far off the beaten track, driving through a deserted part of the island - also mostly deserted of driveable road by that point. Our perseverance brought us to a stunning lookout across to Nusa Penida, replete with the much-sought-after "infinity pool" (again not something usually included in our budget lodgings). We cruised back on our scooters across the tiny yellow bridge, satsified with our explorations and satisfied that I had gone from zero experience to a fairly competent level of scooter operating by the end of the day.

But as we had found out before, travels do not always go according to plan. Sadly it was now Esti's turn to experience the dreaded stomach flu which had afflicted Dale on Flores island. Dale went down to call off the day's diving, and re-scheduled for a few days later, along with the boat transfer, as we would not leave this island without chasing our underwater target. Esti slept it off for much of the day, as Dale utilised his new found scooting skills to explore other parts of Nusa Lembongan.

By the next day she had mostly recovered, providing Dale an opportunity to paddle her gently around the mangrove forest on the northern end of the island, and take in a sunset from one of the many beach bars lining the western seafront. We arose the next morning, excited as always by the prospect of participating in one of our favourite past-times - scuba diving. After a short boat ride we arrived at Crystal bay, off the coast of Nusa Penida. This dive is incredibly popular, and for good reason; it is one of the few places in the world with regular sightings of Sun fish or Mola mola. These large pelagic species normally occupy deep, cold waters, only coming towards the surface when it's time for a clean-up. Soon after plunging into the crystal clear water we spotted our targets, two giant Mola mola floating serenely as some smaller fish did their best to rid the behemoths of their parasites. They can average 2.5 m or more from fin tip to fin tip, even reaching up to 4m, and get their strange shape from being laterally compressed. These bizarre looking creatures hung out around 35 m and we dropped to about 25 m in some of the coldest water we have ever experienced, to get great views of this bucket list marine species. Our incredibly excited and able dive guide spotted three more sun fish just to ensure a well rounded experience, along with our first ever sighting of a banded sea snake! We later found out that Pepe, our spanish dive guide, a ex-lawyer who had opted out of his firm to pursue his passion, was probably the most experienced guide with whom we have ever dived; an underwater videographer and major contributor to various nature programs. Following yet another epic Indonesian dive we cruised along the stunning coast of Nusa Penida to Manta Point. We were once again blessed with incredible sightings of Manta Rays - including an all-black or melanistic form - a truly magical looking creature. The soft corals and stunning reef topography stole the show however, providing a fitting last dive in one of the world's great diving paradises. Dale was also treated to a lifer bird in the form of a few White-tailed tropicbirds, soaring around the cliffs as we sped back to Nusa Lembongan. Delaying our departure had surely been worth it.

Or perhaps not? The following morning we boarded the boat, satisfied with our Nusa Lembongan experience and ready for the even smaller Gili islands. The boat at this point needs to cross the deep water channel which separates Bali and Lombok. Although this is a regular trip for the tourist boats, when the moon wanes to a sliver, as it had that night, the sea conditions can get unpredictable. Within an hour many of the occupants were looking rather green as the boat rocked and rolled in the ever growing waves. Eventually the call came down to us that we were turning around - the captain knew these waters and the size of the waves here did not bode well for conditions further ahead. Although disgruntled at our plans not working out, we were pleased at the decision to put our safety first. However, when arriving back on Lembongan to be told we could opt to "try again the next day" we decided to skip that particular trauma and opted rather for a short boat trip back to Bali and an equally short flight across to Lombok. Unfortunately our carbon emissions would take second place to our principal goal of survival. A positive end to this eventful day came in the form of a sports pub showing the South Africa vs Namibia rugby world cup game. Our team winning was complemented by great conversation with a Scottish couple who had sat down to share our table in the busy pub.

Our final few days in Indonesia were spent on the north-west coast of Lombok in the small town of Senggigi. Part of our reason for coming here was the presence of some...birds...and part of the reason was some much needed tanning by the pool and ocean for Esti. Chief travel planner still doing his best to manage all of our participant's needs and expectations...

Dale's new found scooter confidence had him heading off to the local nature reserve in the pre-dawn glow, seeking out the endemic birds, returning in time to meet Esti for breakfast. As a show of his progress Esti even relented to only hiring one scooter at this point and she happily hopped on the back as we drove along the coastline looking for deserted beaches. We managed to find a few and spent the hours relaxing and enjoying the lack of other tourists. A quest for the Rinjani Scops Owl saw us sneaking into the same nature reserve after dark one night. Hearing it hooting in the trees in the pitch dark above us was both exciting and frustrating; unfortunately my small head torch was unable to illuminate the target. Views of a large-tailed nightjar provided an adequate reward for our efforts.

Of course the end to our time in Indonesia would not be complete without more dining tables in the beach sand, sipping on cold beers and watching the sun set behind Mt Agung. The volcano towering up from the opposite island of Bali providing an inspiring backdrop for reflecting on our adventures across the island nation of Indonesia.