Scribbles Abroad

The whirlwind tour of East Java ended as it dropped us off at the ferry port of Ketapang.  We were headed to Gilimanuk, Bali and we got there just in time to board the ferry and secure great seats.  Kahi and I wanted to explore the north coast of Bali and planned on heading to Pulau Menjangan, a small island off of the northern tip of Bali located in a national park and then on to Lovina to swim with the dolphins.  We boarded a bus headed to Singaraja and got off at Pemuteran.  Although Pemuteran was about 30 minutes from the boat harbor to Menjangan it was one of the only nearby towns with decent places to stay.

The ferry from Java to Bali, get seats on the top and get on board early

our bus to Pemuteran

The Jelly Drink, its exactly as it sounds.

For a bus to leave the station it needs to be full so we had to wait for about an hour before we were able to leave.  While we waited there were ladies with baskets on their heads selling everything from fruits to drinks to cigarettes.   I wanted to try this thing called a Jelly-Drink, I was curious to see what it was like.  It was pretty much like orange Jello in a cup with little orange chunks, but instead of eating it with a spoon you sucked it through a straw.  It was pretty yummy.   Kahi liked it too.

This little boy was selling witch brooms at the bus station

Finally arriving in Pemuteran we checked into a hotel and began figuring out how we would get to Pulau Menjangan.  This was another place that Jacopo had recommended to us.  He told us that the diving was beautiful and views of Java were stunning, he said it was a must.  So we looked into doing a dive tour, but it was a little out of our price range at $60 per person.  The dive operators also offered snorkeling tours but those were a little pricy as well at $35 per person.

According to our trusty Lonely Planet book (so kindly donated by Shaun and Mandy, thanks bunches!) we could rent a boat for four hours directly from the boat harbor at a much cheaper price.  We rented our favorite mode of transport, a moped, and drove over to Labuhan Lalang boat harbor.  It was about 5pm and most of the boat operators were already gone, but luck was on our side.  We ran into one of the park guides, Wayan.  He told us he would take us and that the best time to go to the island would be at sunrise and he could take us there the following morning at 5:30.  We were able to secure a private boat for $50 including two boat snorkel dives.  If we wanted to find other people to accompany us we were allowed up to 8 more people.  But we wanted to go solo.
On the way back to Pemuteran we stopped by the Menjangan Resort, which is actually located in the national park.  It had a really interesting restaurant that towers 40ft above the treetops.  We walked up the stairs to the very top and had a drink.

We were pretty high up there and so were the prices.  The view was gorgeous though.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the area.  We drove an hour up the coast to the nearest ATM in Seririt.  Then headed back to check out a couple of the local temples.  The main temple is called Pulaki Temple and is most know for the monkeys that came to be its guardians.

The monkey imitating Kahi

The temple was quite empty when we first arrived except for a small tour group of about 5 people and the monkeys of course.  We were walking around when what seemed to be the entire village poured into the temple.  They were having some sort of blessing or festival.  We stood on the side and watched them as they gave offerings and were blessed by the elders. The monkeys and locals seemed to enjoy each other’s company or at least they entertained each other.  The monkeys were walking though the crowd of people stealing their offering and causing trouble, while the locals equally pestered the monkeys.  It was quite the experience.

This was one of the other temples across the street.  We’re not sure what it’s story is but it had some interesting figures built out of stone facing the ocean and some really cool stone dragons.

We took our snorkels to the beach near our hotel and went for a little swim.  It was a beautiful black sand beach and the reef was somewhat alive offering some snorkeling pleasure.  A little ways down the beach the fishermen were getting ready to launch their boats.  Kahi gave them a hand pushing the boats into the water.  The locals were grateful and got a kick out of it.

The next morning we woke up at 4:45 in order to get to the harbor in time.  We met Wayan and Nyoman, our boat driver, loaded our boat and headed to the island.  The sky was lit with a beautiful array of colors as the sun rose from behind the mountains.  After about 30 minutes or so we arrived on Palau Menjangan, we were the only ones there.

Palau Menjangan

Our boat driver Nyoman, he looks a little sleepy!

Java in the background

The sun had not risen yet so Wayan gave us a small tour of the island.  There were a couple of temples on the island one of which one is the oldest temple in all of Bali.  Most of the temples were made entirely of coral that had been collected from around the island.  There were also great views of Java from the island.  We could see Igen, the mountain we had hiked a few days earlier.

When the sun was up the light was bright enough and the water warm enough for us to jump in the water for our first snorkel dive.  It was amazing!!!.  The island is fringed with very alive coral and then it drops off to 200+ feet like a cliff.  There are so many fish that you feel like you’re swimming in a fish tank or you’re in one of Wyland’s paintings.  The visibility was ridiculously good, I’d say about 60ft, not sure though anyway it was incredible.

The coolest part is the drop off.  One minute your happily snorkeling in 3-4ft of water, the next your in 77m of deep blue spooky water.  There’s just something about being in water that deep, its just damn creepy.  So we hugged the fringe of the drop off since that’s where the fish were and we felt we might be able to get to shallow water just in case.  It was unreal; so many different types of hard and soft corals, colorful giant clams (like the ones that were stolen from the Waikiki Aquarium), clown fish swimming in giant sea anenomies, huge puffer fish, parrotfish, groupers, needlefish, and much much more, oh and not to mention all the weird fish we’ve never seen before.   Words can’t describe the beauty!  The only part that kind of sucked were these pesky jellyfish that stung us.  I didn’t get stung too bad but Kahi got hit pretty badly on his forearm.  The sting wasn’t very painful but boy was it itchy.  After getting back on the boat we showed Wayan our battle wounds.  He told us that wearing sunscreen prevents getting stung because they just slide past you, plus if you get stung do not scratch it because it makes it worse.  Too bad we already scratched the hell out of our stings.

Unfortunately our waterproof camera broke and we don’t have any pictures to show you.  Hopefully one day you’ll go there and see if for yourself, it is a must!

We had the boat entirely to ourselves!
Our second snorkel took us around to the corner to another part of the island.  It was just as beautiful here as the first location but the reef was a bit more developed.  There were areas where you could swim under and through the coral bridges.  About a quarter way through our snorkel Kahi noticed that a little yellow jack was following us.  If we swam one way he followed, if Kahi dove down he followed.  It was cool, we had made a little buddy.  When we got out of the water we told Wayan that a fish was following us, he said “a yellow jack?”  We were surprised, but he told us that he always follows swimmers.  We laughed, thinking that we were special or something.  Wayan was a great guide.  If you every get a chance to head out to Menjangan look for Wayan.  He has been working there for 15 years and is very knowledgeable and has such a happy and vibrant personality.

Wayan and Louise

We checked out of our hotel and caught a bemo to our next stop Lovina.  I love the concept of a bemo.  Pretty much a minivan that drives a certain route, this particular one drove along the north coast of Bali.  You stand on the side of the street and when you see one coming you stick out your hand and they pull over.  When your stop is coming up you let the driver know you want to get off and he pulls over.  It’s just that simple!

Bemo ride to Lovina

Lovina the dolphin capital 🙂
We came to Lovina for its dolphins but we also wanted to check out a Buddhist Temple and the hot springs in the area.  We rented a moped and drove out to the temple, which was like a mini-Borobudur.  There were also little huts that you could sit and meditate in.  To enter many of the temples in Bali, you have to where a sarong, guys included.

An offering to the EA25ID Buddha

The hot springs called Air Panas Banjar consist of several pools where you can swim in the warm water.  This was quite a popular place.  The top pool was the hottest, and it cooled as it got down to the large pool.  The best pool had three fountains that poured from a height of four meters.  Standing under one of these fountains gave you a soothing water massage.  There is also a pretty tasty reasonably priced restaurant overlooking the pools.

Hot Springs Gainer

We were told by others that we wouldn’t be able to swim with the dolphins because it would cause them to swim away, but Kahi and I were determined to do so.  The next morning we woke up at 6 and walked over to the beach where were met our boat driver Putu.  We packed our snorkels in our backpack and hopped on the boat.  We knew there would be others on the hunt for dolphins but we didn’t know our boat would be one of 40!  It was insane!

We told Putu that we wanted to swim with the dolphins but he just laughed at us and thought we were joking.  It wasn’t hard to find the dolphins.  There were hundreds of them.  Putu told us that it usually wasn’t this good and that today was special.  The dolphins were jumping out of the water and swimming around our boat.  We stood on the side rails to get a better view of them swimming below us.
Kahi got excited, put his mask on and stuck his head under the water.  He could see them swimming under us.  Putu decided to let us try to swim with the dolphins since there were so many of them.  Kahi dove into the water and scared the crap out of the dolphins, they all jumped out of the water at the same time.  They had swam away and he couldn’t see anything other than dark blue and jellyfish.  He got back in the boat and we suggested that he slowly get in the water so the dolphins wouldn’t get startled.

Putu our navigator and captain

Another pod of dolphins were swimming by, this time Kahi slowly slipped into the water.  He could see them swimming by the boat only meters away.  He could also hear them calling to each other in their extremely high pitch tones.  Kahi held onto one of the pontoons and Putu slowly drove, dragging Kahi along.

I wanted to give it a go and jumped in the water with all of my clothes because I didn’t have my bathing suit on.  I had never seen anything like this.  The water we were in was very deep and a dark creepy blue.  There were all kinds of jellyfish and weird other gelatinous animals swimming around.  The dolphins were swimming 20 meters below us in groups of about 20.  We had a blast hanging on to the boat and getting dragged along, getting the best view.  I think the people on the other boats were a little jealous of all the fun we were having.  If you go to see the dolphins in Lovina you gotta find our man Putu, and if you can’t find him, just sneak some snorkels on board.  The driver isn’t going to just leave you out there in the middle of the ocean, I think.