NUSA LEMBONGAN

A low, protected island about 11 km southeast of mainland Bali, measuring only four by three km and ringed with mangrove swamps, and palms and white sandy beaches. Inland the terrain is scrubby and very dry, with volcanic stone walls and processional avenues crisscrossing the small cactus-covered hills. Crops are meager, and the only fruit available is melon. All other food must be imported from the market in Denpasar or from the neighboring island of Nusa Penida.
     The island is small enough to explore on foot, offering pristine beaches and coves, majestic views of Gunung Agung, unique Balinese architecture, and the friendliness of a simple country folk. With a lack of arable land and a severe shortage of tourist attractions, the island's economy is limited to its underwater wealth—seaweed. A secondary occupation is catering to visiting surfers. Between Nusa Lembongan and the adjacent island of Nusa Ceningan, the population is only 60,000.
     There are just two villages on Nusa Lembongan—the large, spread-out administrative center of Desa Lembongan, and the village of Jungut Batu. Surfers and backpackers hang out in the latter—about 150 per month, for an average stay of three to five days. The only other visitors are European, Japanese, and Australian day-trippers on excursion boats. Jungut Batu offers the island's best accommodations and water sport opportunities. There's motorcycle traffic between the two villages and it's easy to get a lift.
     Both villages are heavily involved in the cultivation of seaweed. Before government-supported commercial seafood production in 1980, the people of the island lived on maize, singkong, ubi, beans, and peanuts. Today most everyone is involved in one way or another with cultivation of "sea vegetables," and the air is permeated with its smell.
     Visit the seaweed gardens at low tide; they look like gigantic underwater botanical gardens. Two kinds are grown, the small red pinusan and the large green kotoni. Almost the entire crop is exported to Hong Kong for use in the cosmetics and food processing industries. After harvesting, gatherers leave a floating offering of rice and flowers that gently drifts away on the outgoing tide.
     Life on Nusa Lembongan is very relaxing, with cool breezes, little traffic, no big hotels, no pollution, no stress, no photocopy machines, and hardly any telephones. Best of all, there are almost no pedagang acung (pushy vendors) and few thieves. Jungut Batu's charming "tree house" bungalow-style accommodations—with outdoor open-air mandi, rickety wooden furniture, sand-floor restaurants and offices—are reminiscent of Kuta Beach 20 years ago.

Water Sports
Since the seaweed gardens must be protected from petrol-based pollutants, motorized boats are restricted in these waters. Nusa Lembongan and the adjacent island of Nusa Ceningan are therefore known for superb snorkeling, diving, and surfing. You can rent surfboards, masks, and flippers quite reasonably in Jungut Batu, or they may be supplied "free" by the captain whose services and boat you hire.
     It's not possible to arrange for scuba diving on Nusa Lembongan. You must either bring all your gear and your own dive-equipped boat or accompany a dive excursion with one of the specialized sea sport companies on the mainland. When the tide is low, it's possible to wade out to see reef animals and colorful fish in amazingly clear water. Because of the seaweed farms, it's difficult to wade out that far; most people take a motorized jukung to the reef, about 150 meters offshore.
     If you're part of a small group, bargain with one of the captains to take you out snorkeling or trawling for tuna. Try not to pay more than Rp30,000 or at the most Rp40,000 for three people for two hours. The price includes snorkels, fins, and masks, lines and bait, the boat, and petrol. Not many fish but the snorkeling is great. The captains know the best offshore coral reefs. Probably the best is Mushroom Bay, a small cover within easy reach of Jungutbatu, named after it's extensive mushroom coral.

Getting There
Public boats run from Kusamba and Padangbai, but the most popular point of embarkation is from Sanur, where prahu motor depart from in front of the Ananda Hotel (north of the Grand Bali Beach Hotel). Ask for stasiun bot. Buy your ticket in the small ticket office on the left at the end of Jl. Hangtua. It's Rp15,000 one-way for tourists and Rp3000 for locals. Boats usually leave only in the morning; in the afternoon the waves are too rough.
     It's quite a trick to board. You run out to the boat between the waves while carrying your stuff on your head to keep it out of the waist-deep water, trying to climb aboard before the next big wave crashes over you. Sometimes help is required to push the boat over the sand and out to sea.
     Sit in the back near the motors—you won't get as wet and you'll be first off the boat. You'll alight at either the Waka Nusa Resort at Tanjung Sanhyang or at Jungut Batu. If the ferry deposits you (wet landing) at Jungut Batu, the losmen are right there in front of you on the beach. If you want to get off at the Waka Nusa Resort, it's a one km walk into Desa Lembongan which you can explore first before getting a lift on the back of a motorcycle (Rp2000) to Jungut Batu. From the main road in Jungut Batu, it's about a 500-meter walk to the beach where all the accommodations are located.
     Smaller motorized jukung, which carry about 15 people, sail from Kusamba to Nusa Lembongan. Turn right down Jl. Pasir Putih and ask for the dermaga in Banjarbias. A few captains will try to charge you Rp25,000, but the proper overcharged Westerner rate is Rp15,000. Sometimes the morning boat from Kusamba sails only to Toyapekeh on Nusa Penida; in this case, just hop on the first jukung motor (Rp3000, 45 minutes) leaving Toyapekeh for Jungut Batu on Nusa Lembongan. The 11 km crossing requires an hour and a half, depending on the currents. The strait separating Bali from these offshore islands can be fickle and even treacherous. Lives have been lost. You never know what the weather or sea will bring, so hire something substantial. Boats also leave when full from Padangbai (Rp4000, 1.5 hours).
     One-way charters from Sanur or Kusamba cost around Rp60,000-75,000 to Nusa Lembongan or Nusa Penida. Per day the charter rate is Rp250,000, depending on the size and speed of the boat. If four or five people contribute to a charter, you can visit not only Nusa Lembongan but also Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida. The boatmen always want their money in advance, "to buy petrol."

Returning to Bali
The boats to Sanur leave Jungut Batu at 0400 or 0500. After 0600 it can prove expensive—Rp60,000 and up for a charter. Be prepared to get pretty wet even in a calm sea. Alternatively, you can grab a boat from Jungut Batu to Toyapekeh at around 0500; from there take the local boat to the mainlaind. Or climb aboard the speedy Bali Hai back to Sanur for Rp100,000; a small canoe will take you from Jungut Batu's beach out to the hydrofoil by 1400. The Bali Hai sails back to Sanur at around 1500. From Jungut Batu to Banjarbias in Kusamba, there's only one regular boat in the very early morning. The fare is a flat Rp15,000 per person—no bargaining. You could possibly find a seawood farmer in Jungut Batu who will take you across cheaper. Again, you may have to get yourself over to Toyapekeh on Nusa Penida to catch a boat.

Cruises to Nusa Lembongan
At least a dozen companies offer marine recreational tours to Nusa Lembongan. Craft range from slick high-tech specialized vessels to romantic tall ships. All pick up passengers early in the morning at Bali hotels, take them to Nusa Lembongan for two or three hours, feed them a lavish hot buffet lunch, then sail back to Bali into a tropical sunset.
     A very elegant experience is the sleek catamaran Wakalouka (tel. 0361-261129, fax 261130; Rp145,000), boasting pool, oceanarium, glass-bottom boat, and barbecue seafood lunch. If it's swashbuckling you desire, take the gaff-rigged ketch the Golden Hawk (Rp165,000), older than the Statue of Liberty and looking like something that sailed out of Seven Years Before the Mast. For a relaxing day excursion, and an extraordinary banquet, try the hydrofoil Bali Hai (tel. 0366-234331, Rp150,000), which thunders and bounces in a straight line to Nusa Lembongan. The Bali Hai also offers a Hawaiian-style "Sunset Dinner Cruise" for Rp75,000, departing at 1800 and returning at 2030. Bali Yacht Charters runs day cruises to Nusa Lembongan on the 47-foot sloop Ocean Lady II departing from Benoa Harbor at 0900 and returning at 1700. The Rp150,000 per person price—good value—includes all food and drinks, coral viewing, and island exploring. Call Dewi, Atik, or Captain Patrick, tel. (0366) 287739. Also, any major hotel on Bali carries brochures advertising day trips to Nusa Lembongan.

JUNGUT BATU

The island's only tourist-oriented beach inns, homestays, and restaurants are concentrated in this small seaside village which stretches for 1.5 km along the northwest coast. With just the sound of the waves, distant radios, crowing roosters, and an occasional motorbike, this is Bali at its best. The beer is cold and cheap and the clothing super casual—sarung, surf shorts, barefeet. There's not much to do except surf, snorkel, read, sleep, eat, drink, hang out. You go mad if you stay any longer than two weeks.
     Come in January in the off-season—no one's here and the waves are really good. Jungut Batu is also one of the best places to take children on Bali. Nothing to do but play with the local children; there's a karate club for young ones, and during each full moon a festival and cockfights. Even in the busy tourist season. There's always lots of activity on the long beach or in the water—children flying kites, boats loading and unloading goods and passengers, seaweed gatherers walking and weaving between their gardens, no speeding motorboats or prowling hawkers like in Kuta. The sun sets right over Sanur's Bali Beach Hotel and at night lights twinkle all along the southeast coast of Bali.
     Lining the beach are five eco-friendly bamboo surfer-style restaurants, several with TVs and videocassette players. Bring your CD player—lots of CDs, as well as books. If you bring your own tapes, they'll play them in the restaurants, though the blaring TVs and stereos seem out of place and drown the sound of wind and waves. Also bring lots of cash, because there's no place here to change money. Also no telephone office.
     A daily spectacle is the arrival of the luxury hydrofoil the Bali Hai. The ship moors for an hour at a wet dock off Jungut Batu, then used as a base by passengers who dive and snorkel within a roped-off area 200-300 meters from shore. Half the guests never leave the boat, remaining onboard in air-conditioned comfort, drinking and eating. The food is fantastic—shrimp, lobster, the finest wines.
     From Jungut Batu walk to observe the island's birdlife. It's a hot but level three km walk (30 minutes) south to the main village of Desa Lembongan on the southern coast of the island. Take the stairs at the south end of the beach up into the hills; from there you get a fine view over Nusa Lembongan and the island of Nusa Penida. Tanjung Sanghyang is a 4.5 km walk west of Jungutbatu. Also explore the sandspit extending off the northwest coast.

Water Sports
Four of the best surf breaks in the world are off the Jungut Batu beach: Playground, Shipwreck, Lacerations, and Surgery. Why the foreboding names? Because you're surfing over deadly coral formations. If you slip and fall into these mushrooms of multicolored, razor-sharp coral, it's like jumping into a rubbish bin of broken glass. And there's only one doctor (in Desa Lembongan) on the whole island.
     A surfer's typical day? Get up at sunrise, in the water by 0615, surf for two hours, eat breakfast and meet new people at Agung's until siesta time, snooze, arise and play cards, read, and the like. Some surfers warm up by paddling out to the breaks, but it's easier to charter a motorized jukung for Rp2000-3000. Catching one is as easy as catching a bemo. If you fork over Rp10,000, the jukung will wait in the channel a couple of hours.

Lacerations
is a tubey right-hander with a name that speaks for itself. The tunnel waves are so big you can drive a bus through them. One of the best right-handers in the world, it's perfectly round with a perfectly calm channel in the middle. The tunnels occur only during high tide with the right sort of moon. Surgery is on the south side of the floating platform—a fast left-hander. A perfect right breaking over a coral reef grown over an old shipwreck is appropriately called Shipwrecks. From the beach you can see the prow of the ship sticking out of the ocean. This powerful right-hander, the most consistent wave on the island, ranges from a small mellow hot dog wave to a hairy stand-up tube. You can surf this break at any tide, but it usually fades at low tide. Watch the strong riptide. From the beach it's a long crawl—10-15 minutes (300 meters)—to Shipwrecks, but a jukung will take you out for Rp1500. Playgrounds is a left-hander, less consistent than Shipwrecks. It's a good fun wave that can get pretty scary at low tide, as the reef is sharp and the water shallow.
     Dive tours to Nusa Lembongan can be arranged by the Bali Adventure Club at Tanjung Benoa, tel. (0366) 271767, Baruna Watersports Bali, tel. (0366) 751223-6, and Oceania Dive Center on Jl. Bypass in Sanur, tel. (0366) 288892, fax 288652. Surf tours to Lombok and Sumbawa can be organized at Mainski Inn in Jungut Batu. Rates are around Rp150,000 per person per day including transport, dive master, equipment, refreshments, and box lunch.

Accommodations
All accommodations face the beach—there's nothing between you, the crashing waves, and the setting sun. All water here tastes salty. Almost all accommodations feature generators (turned on only from 1830 to around 2300) and attached bathrooms. Places with two-story treehouse-style bungalows with upstairs verandas like the Nusa Lembongan Bungalows offer the best ventilation. Choose a bungalow with mosquito nets and screens on the windows. Few places have bars on the windows, just flimsy door locks, but thievery is kept to a minimum since everybody knows everybody. Ask for a lower per day price for extended stays or if the place doesn't have electricity. The tariff is less in the low season (Nov.-Feb.). The farther south you go, the cheaper the accommodations. Bobby's and No. 7 is only Rp5000 in the low season, and there's even a place between the police station and No. 7 that costs Rp3000 s, but it offers only grass huts with holes in the walls. Breezy atmosphere, no electricity. The Mainski Inn (Rp25,000) is Jungut Batu's most westernized, professionally run accommodations. Mellower and less expensive are "beach inns" and "beach bungalows" like the Nusa Lembongan Beach cottages. There are 10 places to stay in all, plus two in the village itself (be prepared for roosters).
     Most remote is Mushroom Beach Bungalows, two coves and ridges south of Jungut Batu. It's almost too remote because you have to take a boat to Jungut Batu for a decent meal, unless you want to pay Rp20,000 for the smorgy at the nearby Waka Nusa Resort. Six rooms with double beds, wardrobe, and shower go for Rp25,000-30,000. Breakfast of tea, coffee, and toast; electricity from 1700 until 0700. Simple meals are served; remember, houseboys are not known for their culinary skills. If there's fish, it's served. Great view over a private cove. Fifty meters away is a white-sand, pollution-free beach with offshore coral and fishlife. Very quiet and peaceful.
     As soon as you get off the boat Bobby's and No. 7 is on the right. This losmen is at the south end of the beach, farthest from the sunken ship. Nice people and nicely furnished rooms (Rp7000 s in the off-season, Rp15,000 s in July and August), breakfast included; good food. Garden. Staff will even help argue the price of the boat back to the mainland. Johnny's, south of Agung's and 50 meters from the beach, charges Rp7000 s. Indonesian-style mandi. A favorite of budget-surfers.
     Agung's Lembongan Lodge and Restaurant offers four two-level bungalows big enough for a family, with electricity, WC, mandi, and porch for Rp15,000-30,000. Clean and pleasant, the clientele is mostly surfers. Agung's also has losmen-style rooms with two beds, bathrooms, and electricity for Rp8000-10,000 d. Good food. Tarci Bungalows and Restaurant, north of Agung's, has bungalows for Rp25,000. Each can hold up to four people. The four bungalows in front are split into upper (Rp15,000) and lower (Rp10,000) units. A single bungalow called Eka Dharma must rank as one of the best places to stay on the island. A very agreeable young man, a family member, oversees the bungalow. His name is I Nyoman Yudana; his seaweed storage barn and boat are next door. Nyoman will take you out snorkeling on his boat (Rp10,000), or you can go out when he and his brother tend their seaweed gardens. Facing Agung's with the water to your back, it's down the beach to the right about 150 meters.
     Wayan Mandra is a former seaweed farmer who runs Nusa Lembongan Bungalows with his son I Wayan Adnyana; write to Jl. Hangtuah, Gang Mawar IX/9, Br. Batanpoh, Sanur. Eight bungalows renting for Rp20,000 s, Rp25,000 d in the middle of a coconut grove; the bungalows in the back are cheapest. Each two-story treehouse-style bungalow features a bath and sitting room, bamboo furniture, a skylight roof for cool breezes, a large double bed with clean sheets and mosquito net, and tea whenever you want it. In the rainy season (Dec.-Feb.) enjoy the nice garden. Wayan and his family treat you real good, on occasion even laying on young coconuts, nasi campur, or a fish dinner. Good security. An excellent deal.
     Mainski Inn has nine spacious, double-story bungalows with nice upstairs rooms with thatched roofs, bamboo walls, and balconies open to the sea. Cost: Rp10,000 to Rp20,000, plus seven percent tax and service; rates go up in the busy season. Breakfast sometimes included. The most solid, well-built bungalows on the island, with big rooms, easy access to the path to the main road, and an outstanding second-story restaurant (videos in the evening). There's a good sound system—mostly loud disco and rap music—so bring tapes if you want your own music. The walls are covered with surfing decals. Peruse their bulletin board for information on island towns and surf safaris to Sumbawa.

Food
North of the main part of the village are a number of quite stylish beachfront tourist restaurants with luxurious oversized furniture. Kuta-style menus include Aussie jaffles, vegetable soups, Euro-breakfasts, delicious ice drinks, gado-gado, salads, and yogurt. Many items are unavailable, but the food is surprisingly good for such a remote area. The fresh fish, including lobster, are the best deals. If you go fishing or spearfishing and catch a reef fish or a lobster, the restaurants will cook it up for you. Suckling pig may be ordered in advance. Several warung in the village serve nasi campur.
     No. 7 has the cheapest meals of any accommodation. With its tile floor and color TV, Agung's is one of the more popular places to eat. Certainly it's the most Westernized. Use the house binoculars to observe the surfers. The best place to view the sunset is Mainski Inn's upper-level restaurant. Mainski's has an unusual menu with lots of variety, and it changes every day. Try the killer vegetable pie (Rp3000)—great with an order of guacamole on top. Ask for the grilled tuna, the best dish. If you walk straight back from Mainski Inn to the main road, turn right to the pool hall and stroll 50 meters past; on the left is a warung with the coldest beer on the island. The restaurant in front of Tarci's has a full menu with good chili pizza. Small beers Rp1700, big ones Rp3500.

Shopping
Original woven articles are sold in the Mermaid Shop in the village. From 1100 to 1500 take a boat (Rp1500) out to the Bali Hai and shop in the big kiosk on the upper deck. Purchase film, batteries, shaving cream, razors, souvenirs, T-shirts, and coolers. This boat plugs you into the world; use your American Express card.

Services and Getting Around
A small post office is open 0800-1400; there's a larger post office in Sampalan on Nusa Penida. One doctor practices in Desa Lembongan. A dozen motorcycles are for rent at Rp10,000-15,000 per day. Jukung motor rent for around Rp10,000 per hour or Rp150,000 per day. A few bicycles rent for Rp5000 per day but they're so primitive you have to push them up hills. Get one with springs in the seats.

From Jungut Batu to Nusa Penida
A motorized ferry leaves at high tide at 0500 or 0530 and costs only Rp3000 per person (45 minutes). It's filled with people who shop for chicken, vegetables, and fruit in the market in Sampalan. Leaving Jungut Batu, you get a very picturesque tour of the bay: the adjacent ridges, beaches, and coves, the moored Bali Hai, the shipwreck, workers gathering seaweed from their farms. The channel separating Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida is unexpectedly deep, in some places over 120 meters. This early morning trip is beautiful, but it's possible to charter a trip later in the day for Rp15,000-20,000. It's about a 10-minute walk from Jungut Batu's beach inns to where the jukung motor picks up passengers for Nusa Penida.

DESA LEMBONGAN

With a population of around 4,000, Desa Lembongan is the largest village on the island. Its inhabitants also cultivate seaweed. Besides the temple high on a hill up a long flight of steps, about the only other obyek wisata in Desa Lembongan is the Underground House. Not really a house but a damp, cool, earthen cave with many passages, dips, tunnels, and exits. Watch your step and don't get lost in this rather forbidding labyrinth. The candle provided isn't really enough; you'll also need a flashlight. Built by the puppeteer Jero Mangku from 1961 until he died; they say the old man believed that he was cursed and wanted to hide. An eerie place. From Desa Lembongan, it's a one km walk northwest to Tanjung Sanghyang.
     If you take the road north from Desa Lembongan, the mangroves thicken as the channel between Lembongan and Ceningan gradually narrows; where the land meets two temples face each other. A four-km track heads north past more swamps, salt vendors huts, and finally Pura Empuaji on the stunning northernmost point of the island. From this sacred temple take a right two km back to Jungut Batu.

TANJUNG SANGHYANG

Means "Beautiful Peninsula." The closest village to Desa Lembongan on the Bali side of the island. Very easygoing; a huge banyan tree dominates the beach. One warung near the beach serves nasi campur (Rp1000). The big attraction here, providing employment for the locals, is the Waka Nusa Resort, a tastefully designed, beautifully furnished facility with spectacular snorkeling and no vendors.
     You approach this small, environmentally friendly resort on an environmentally friendly vessel—the club caters almost exclusively to patrons of the catamaran Wakalouka. When the ship pulls into port, this sleepy cove is transformed into a lively beach party; the centerpiece is a full seafood barbecue lunch buffet for Rp20,000 per person. Check out the four-tank aquarium—a taste of what you'll see yourself on a deep dive. A total fantasy world set in palm trees, with a nice white-sand beach out front facing a small cove where a small native fishing fleet bobs at anchor.
     The Waka Nusa Resort is the Wakalouka's only destination. The tour starts in Benoa, runs down the Sanur Reef, then turns east to Nusa Lembongan and moors off the beach. No other day-resort package offers such a class act. Guests may handline tuna over the rail, watch dolphin, swim in the pool, drink in the lounge, frolic or lay on the beach, snorkel any of three reefs. The Wakalouka, a Learjet of the water, takes no more than 40 passengers at Rp154,000 apiece.
     Combining luxury and simplicity, the Waka Nusa Resort's very limited number of bungalows offer big beds, private bathrooms, natural ventilation, alang-alang roofs, sundeck, and private verandas and gardens. The resort also maintains a Toyota to run guests to the villages, the local temple, or seaweed farms. For reservations call (0366) 261129 or 261130, or contact PT Tourdevco in Benoa (tel. 0366-231591 or 231592).

NUSA CENINGAN

The small, neighboring isle of Nusa Ceningan can be reached by boat (Rp5000) from Desa Lembongan or by simply walking out to it across the narrow, shallow 200 meter wide channel at low tide. The sea between the two islands is filled with seaweed gardens, so take a guide so you don't cause damage. The four-by-one-km island, with a limestone and chalky landscape and a 100-meter-high hill in the center, only has one village and no places to stay. It does offer great surfing, sandy beaches, and lazuli and cobalt-blue coral pools filled with starfish.
     Immaculate snorkeling and scuba diving, with superior visibility and infinite small sealife, is possible in the calm, warm, crystal-clear channel between the two islands. Off the temple is a surf break which can jump in size quickly, as the waves come straight in from deep water onto a shallow ledge. The best way to get out to the breaks and around the indefinite channel between the two islands is to hire an outrigger: Rp10,000 for two to three hours.
     The Balinese spearfish here, using homemade wooden spears. They even spear two-inch fish. Watch the sharks in this area. A Balinese was killed off Nusa Ceningan in 1988. He'd speared a sea turtle and was dragging it bleeding through the water when he was attacked. His headless corpse was found two days later. A dangerous sport.