6. Fuelling the Addiction on Nusa Penida

From the beach in Bali, I could look across the reef and the waves and see Nusa Penida, my next destination. I had my boat and taxi booked and ready … then, the boats out of Sanur (where I was) were all cancelled for 2 days running due to high swell coming out of Sanur. They were initially cancelled the day before my crossing and then advised that the next day was fine. Until the next day dawned and the official decided it still might not be. This lead to a taxi initially to Sanur where there was still general uncertainty and lack of information and advice that I could wait an hour (which would never actually decrease in time or lead to a decision) and see if any boats went. However, I could see the swell forecast (great news for surfers, not such good news for boats) was increasing across the day. Rather than gamble, I piled back into my taxi, we drove an hour further up the coast and I got a boat from there, which was running.

The ‘fast boats’ that run between the islands are another enterprise set up by the locals and although there are some warnings about them and a few incidents, there also aren’t any other feasible options to travel between the islands. The dive place I’m staying with booked my tickets with their trusted company - and rebooked everything as swells changed plans. The originally later departure time did get changed on the morning to 2 hours earlier to try and beat the swell so my packing consisting of ramming everything into my massive wheelie bag, carrying my dive gear on my back in its own bag and rushing off to the ports. This did mean that my wheelie case was even more full and heavier than usual, to the point that when I rolled it up to the men loading the fast boats, he went to grab it, said ‘ooff’ and then summoned a friend and they worked as a team to get it aboard!

I arrived here, in Nusa Penida Island, long before midday - the fast boats have got 6 massive engines bolted on the back so we flew over the swells and did the crossing in about 25 minutes. Dive gear unloaded, forms filled in ready for the diving next day and checked in. My room is lovely with its own little terrace. Nowhere to put your clothes inside really as all there is a table and also a short bamboo ladder. Presumably, it’s for decoration and seems to serve no purpose, unless of course, I need to climb halfway up the wall. Perhaps it’s a last resort tsunami plan?

I like it because we each have our own little front door along the block, which means the ladies make us each our own offering. I think this is so the gods make sure we have a good night’s sleep and also keep us safe while out diving. The offerings are made up of pretty things, flowers, herbs, incense and some food - rice and sometimes sweets and even the occasional pre-rolled cigarette. I thought I should add something to mine for the gods. I don’t have any flowers so I considered either a bit of my cereal bar or perhaps a spray of bug spray over all of it as I find that invaluable here. While I was thinking about it, drinking my tea on my terrace, a little bird came and ate up all the rice it could find and made a right mess of everything else it moved around. I’m pretty sure it’s not the small pigeon type birds they have here that are god but because I couldn’t be sure the gods might not have sent him in their bird form, I left him to get on with it. He went along to each doorway and ate up all the offerings anyway! I’d far prefer the Bali god to be a little bird rather than a rat, which I have also seen eating up the delicious offerings and again, I do not believe to be the gods.

Anyway, off I went for an afternoon at the beach. The driver here took me as it was a little way away, which meant a slightly troubling drive; most of the roads are wide enough for two cars but they’ve largely only tarmaced the central 2/3 so each time you pass, each car has to drive off the edge of the tarmac with one wheel and edge by. It was more concerning when a precipice was what was alongside the road. Nevertheless, we made it! It was the beach recommended as the nicest one on the island, which in fact has been turned into a sea of sun loungers and not the most attractive sand and beach but still nice. I refuse to pay the £7.50 they wanted for a lounger so joined the 90% of people, who obviously felt the same, on our towels along the front of the loungers!

And so to the diving - we traipse through the little palm tree wood to get to the beach and wade out to the boat. As a bit of a shortie, I’m basically swimming by the time I get there with my bag above my head until the boat boys lift it from me. They then grab my hands and haul me into the boat as I don’t have long enough legs to still be standing and manage the up to the high step up and climb in myself!

Most dives are a drift dive - which means we descend and the current carries us along until we reach the exit point where we ascend and the boat comes and picks us up! Maximum dive time is an hour so it depends whether we reach the exit point or an hour first (or someone runs out of air earlier). Sometimes the current is ripping and despite efforts to swim against it or hold on a bit to slow the dive we whizz along; there was one dive that we reached the exit point within about 25 minutes! I didn’t mind as it meant we were a bit earlier for lunch, which we get in between the second and third dive.

Lunch is an absolute delight - often because it could be served around 11am, depending on when we started diving and how long they’ve been. But also because of the Tupperware they use … it’s like a school dinner plate but better as there are 6 elements included, usually meat, a couple of types of veg or salad, rice, a fritter and some sauce. And each bit gets its own little compartment. It’s excellent. You can mix what you want or keep all the elements nice and separate so they don’t pollute each other or touch. I’m going to find out where they got them from and get me a few. I believe all dinners should be served like this forever more!

Two days of diving so far … and no mola mola (sunfish) yet. I’m still holding out hope for the last two days though! After one day of diving, a few of us piled into a car and went off on a little island island tour. The roads were typically precarious, seemingly mostly only partly finished and so obviously the driver went at speed which he didn’t like to decrease regardless of the road width, others cars to pass or valley sized pot holes! Despite the white-knuckle ride, we went to see a few of the sites and photo opps including Kelingking Bay. It has a beautiful view down to the cove and across to the headlands. A few very hardy people do the steep steps climb down to the bay too. In a round 8 months, the climb will be unneeded as ‘the Chinese’ (according to the locals) are building a ludicrous glass elevator down the side of the cliff directly to the bay. It’ll be quite the tourist attraction and it doesn’t ruin the view at all …

We also visited Angel’s Billabong, which it turns out is an actual thing and not just a surf brand. Who knew!? A billabong is typically what we might call as oxbow lake - it’s a cut off, stagnant piece of water. What Penida have named a aBillabong is more or a sea pool, but it’s very pretty nonetheless. From there, we walked round to ‘Broken Beach’ - which is actually a beach that the sea reaches through an archway, having eroded and broken through the rocks over a number of years. In the background, you can see the massive ‘Octopus Queen’ statue currently being erected on a headland, which will form a new tourist attraction and be the literal figurehead of a new swing park! It’s being funded by the Balinese government and a Chinese investment company. After the tour, we went out for dinner and as quite a few of the group were Malaysian / Singapore, they speak the universal Asian language and knew the good, local spots and could translate everything so I took their advice on what to eat and my BBQ chicken dinner and drink cost me £1.30!

Today has been a ‘dry day’ (no diving) so I wandered into town (mostly dodging scooters and walking along the edge of fields to avoid collisions!), had a very western salmon, eggs Benedict brunch and a (hot) latte, got done in a couple of the shops who charged me ‘white tourist’ prices for a camera SD card and some decongestant nasal spray (the good stuff that in the UK you’d need a doctor and prescription for but you can but over the counter here, along with any antibiotics, regulated drugs and heavy duty medications!) and then spent an exhausting day relaxing in the shape with my book! Back to diving tomorrow …. It’s just after full moon so the tides are high, the current is ripping and everything is perfect for the mola mola. Just got to hope someone has told them that and they make an appearance!