One of the appeals of an Asian holiday is an almost obligatory day trip to an island, even if the place you are staying at is actually on an island.
Such is the case in Bali where the islands of Nusa Penida, Lembongan and the Gillies are only a relatively short distance away.
Our holiday resort in Candidasa offered a great view of Nusa Penida so after several days of fine weather, we decide to book a day trip which would incorporate transfers from our resort to the boat, passage to the island, swimming with manta rays, lunch and some sight-seeing on the island – it sounded wonderful.
However, the best laid plans do often go astray and if there is one thing you should realise, never bank on the weather.
The day we booked, the weather was fine and hot, and our anticipation for the following day was high.
However, waking up on our trip day, we were confronted by rain and winds and rather than letting common sense prevail, we decided that “things might be better on the island” and went ahead.
Right from the outset, we should have realised this wasn’t going to be our day.
The man we booked with, Smiley, rang to apologise that he wouldn’t be able to be our guide as the winds had brought down trees near his house and he was sending his son, Putu along instead.
It rained the entire trip to the boat, a howling gale greeted us at the port and Putu was nowhere to be found at first but once located he and his girlfriend, who had never been to Penida, ushered us onto the boat and to our covered seats. This was Putu’s first time as a tour guide.
Despite the weather and choppy seas, the journey to Penida wasn’t too bad and things improved slightly when we arrived – but not for long. After we were transferred to the dive centre/resort for the mantra ray boat we were told the seas were too rough but we could go snorkelling near Nusa Lembongan.
Not ideal but we thought “OK let’s go” – that was until we saw the boat.
It was about seven metres long, only had a cover over the driver and about 20 people were being crammed on board. Add to that choppy water, driving rain and no shelter.
One look at my wife and I said “we’re not going on this”.
While disembarking, a wave lifted the back of the boat and I immediately lost my footing and fell backways into the water, only just managing to keep our backpack with our phones and wallets out of the briny.
I was drenched.
Fortunately, I had packed another T-shirt and after scrounging around the dive centre/resort, I found a towel and proceeded to dry myself as best I could, having to suffer the indignity of wearing wet shorts.
A phone call to Putu, via his dad, saw them return to pick us up – totally not on the planned schedule.
However, all was not lost and they suggested we head to some of the more famed tourist locations on Penida.
This is where our day started to come good.
Not only did we get to appreciate the skill of our driver negotiating roads that were essentially single lane being shared by multiple vehicles in both directions, but we saw a lot of the island’s interior, passing small villages, seeing agape farms providing the basic ingredient for tequila, and the eastern coastline featuring some fantastic scenery.
One of the stops was Broken Beach, where boats normally take people to see the manta rays off the coastline.
The seas were boiling and we completely understood why they had cancelled the trip.
It was fascinating to see so many tourists queuing up to have their guides take photos of them in key vantage spots.
The next stop was even more spectacular – Kelingking Beach – where a virtual goat track takes you from a cliff hundreds of metres above the beach to the water, if you are game or fit enough.
What made this more challenging was quasi-cyclonic winds (actually the tail end of a cyclone that was near Australia) driving people to seek shelter wherever.
However, the sky cleared, allowing us to get some great shots of the headline and coast.
Having seen these attractions and feeling a little drier, we stopped for lunch (part of the package) before heading back to the port.
Arriving ahead of schedule, we had time to talk to Putu and his girlfriend over a few decent cocktails.
Another choppy boat trip back to Bali and then onto Smiley’s restaurant to sort things out.
He apologised profusely about the day and how it didn’t work out as planned and reduced the price while offering us free drinks.
The food at his restaurant (Wayung) was excellent and his hospitality and company was great way to end a mixed bag of a day.
Making the best of bad situation adds to the challenges of travelling and turning a negative into a positive makes it even more rewarding.
Just check the weather before you book anything.
