Snorkelling in Nusa Lembongan Bali

We packed our beach towels and snacks, enough to feed a classroom full of people for a week, into our bags and headed out in the wee hours of the morning. We were going to Nusa Lembongan, a small island off the southeast coast of Bali island, Indonesia.

In our group, only one of us had been there before. The rest of us? We had never even heard of this island. The one who went there before hadn’t stopped yapping about it ever since and was adamant about taking us there. When we booked our next Bali trip, she pencilled in Nusa Lembongan for a day trip.

At that time, we reluctantly agreed to it. “What could be better than Bali while in Bali?” we thought. Well, Nusa Lembongan was the answer.

We headed down to the pier at Sanur. After a long negotiation (done by my friends while I was eating my second breakfast) and paying marked-up tourist prices, we were squeezed into a small boat together with other foreigners, locals, backpackers, grocery bags, and chicken.

The boat ride was choppy. I almost got seasick from it, or was it because of the chocolate pancake I polished off some time ago?

Forty minutes and a few times of being splashed by seawater due to the swell, we arrived.

Nusa Lembongan is a small island with aqua-coloured water surrounding it. From first sight, it was apparent why surfing and snorkelling are the main attractions of this island. Beaches surround the island, and some have strong waves that are ideal for surfing. Since the water is incredibly clear, you could view the sea life without leaving the boat.

The locals mainly work as seaweed farmers. How cool is that? I didn’t even know that there was a farm for seaweed before I came here.

Our first plan was to snorkel. Some of our friends had never snorkelled before; today was going to be their first time. I promised them it would be a fun experience. And if you haven’t snorkelled before, do it! It’s awesome!!

Jik, the only one who had been here before, had a guy in Nusa Lembongan (give it to this girl for having connections anywhere in the world), whom we rented a small boat. He was a middle-aged local who introduced himself as Froggie, which I am sure is the nickname he got (and then became famous as) from tourists because of his face. He does look like a particular amphibian. You know, Kermit’s family. Insulting other people aside, he drove us to the sea, and after like a half-hour ride and boring lectures about being safe in the ocean (too late for that), we reached our first spot. It was not too far from the shore and still considerably shallow. We could see the bottom of the sea clearly, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Corals and fishes looked like moving paintings. We changed into our swimsuits, put our goggles on, and jumped into the water.

We were enjoying ourselves while occasionally yelling to each other each time we saw something unique, which happened every few minutes until one of us saw a purple-coloured snake-like sea creature, which made all the girls yell “Aaaaaaaa…” and climb back onto the boat.

Freddie said not to worry about it because it wouldn’t bite. Yes, Froggie, it wouldn’t bite you because you are on the boat.

We then went further to the sea in search of Mola Mola, the sunfish. A friend of mine was obsessed with finding it. The fish has a fin on top of its body and no tail. She read somewhere that this fish was spotted many times while snorkelling in Bali. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any Mola Mola fish that day; but we saw a Manta Ray instead. It was a huge one, swimming right below us. Everyone was excited when we spotted it, except me. I was terrified. That thing looked scary.

On our last snorkelling spot, I didn’t go down. I was lazy. I wanted to stay on dry land with Pak Froggie. But the ones who went snorkelling there said it was much better than the first two spots. Oh well.

After a few hours of snorkelling, we went back to the island. We were hungry, and Pak Froggie was nowhere to be seen. Should we go, but what about his payment? He came back after some time, and I suspected he had lunch first before tending to us, ugh!! We paid and bid him goodbye.

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