A 35-minute boat ride from Bali will take you to a completely different setting of Nusa Penida. It is all a bit more adventurous and primitive, and it is generally less tourist-orientated than Bali. What makes Nusa Penida beautiful are the cliffs and the impressive viewpoints.
I went there for the main reason to snorkel with manta rays. Because this can best be done early in the morning, I decided to stay for one night. Therefore, I spent the whole day on the island the day before. The first tip is to take pills against travel sickness for the boat trip. Something small like this can largely influence your trip.
The starting point was Sanur. Several boat companies offered boat rides and it’s good to stay calm so that you can focus on the different prices and negotiate. For IDR 300K per person, we had a return boat ticket. After waiting a while, we left at 9AM by boat. At the port where we arrived, we were overloaded with locals who wanted to sell stuff to tourists. From scooters and taxi rides to trips, it was chaos. We rented a scooter for IDR 70k for 2 days, dropped our stuff at our bungalows, had something to eat, and set off.
Diamond Beach & Atuh Beach
Arriving at the top of the cliff of Atuh beach where we had parked our scooters, we started the journey down. It is quite a distance to arrive at Atuh beach but it is certainly worth it. The beach is beautifully white and the sea clear blue. For Diamond beach, we had to make another climb up and down a cliff from Atuh beach. Since it was in the middle of the day, it was tough, but it was even more worth it then the climb before. Diamond Beach was relatively quiet end less-crowded (probably because of the work-out to get there) and between those huge cliffs, it is a wonderful spectacle.
Teletubbies Hill
To go back into childhood, we made a short stop at Teletubbies Hill. This nostalgic view is no more than a short stop to take a selfie, but for me, it was certainly worth seeing. Time for Tubby Bye Bye!
Broken Beach
From above, we could admire the well-known bow arc at Broken Beach. The natural bridge stretches over the turquoise waters that flow in and out. From the top, the cove appeared to us almost enclosed, but at the lower height at eye level, the arc is quite high. Unfortunately, it was not possible to go down and dive into the cool water, so we mainly came here for the amazing view.
Kelingking T-Rex
Arriving at Kelingking’s “T-Rex” viewpoint, we first took a moment to explain to those -who had not yet seen the Instagram hotspot on his or her feed- how to see a T-Rex in the rock. After that, we did a few workouts up and down so that we were able to admire and photograph this monster from different perspectives.
Snorkelling with Manta Rays
We had come for this to Nusa Penida and it had been on my bucket list for some time. We left at 8AM and at 9AM, our boat left to four different snorkelling points. At the first point, it was possible to spot the Manta Rays. I put on my flippers and diving mask and jumped into the water. After this, I experienced a very special situation. First of all, it took me some time to get used to swimming with flippers. I also had some trouble getting no seawater into my snorkel in the beginning. Surrounded by about 10 boats and 100 snorkelling tourists, our guide shouted and pointed out where there were swimming Manta Rays. He pointed from right to left and everyone obediently swam that way. With all my might I tried to spot a Manta Ray but unfortunately, didn’t see one. Afterwards, it turned out that our guide could not know where there were Manta Rays or not, and that there were only two of them swimming in the water so that was a bit of a buzz-kill.
After 10 minutes everyone had to swim to the boat again for the other snorkelling points. A bit disappointed, I jumped into the water at the following points but was soon delighted with colourful coral and sweet fish. Unfortunately, I was unable to swim at the last point because of nausea. After all, it may not have been the experience I had hoped for, but it was fun to do and enjoyable to see some of the underwater worlds around Bali. In the future, I would rather snorkel at a somewhat quieter and less touristic spot.
