At first I thought that a full week on the small island of Nusa Lembongan would be a little too long but in hindsight I was wrong. The island lies approx.12km off the south east coast of Bali and is a mere 8km sq in size. There are hardly any cars on the island and the mode of transport of choice seemed to be the scooter or on foot.
The first thing you notice on the island is that most people work around the clock farming seaweed, which is ultimately sold onwards for use in the cosmetics industry. At low tide the seabed resembles a patchwork quilt of various types of seaweeds of various colours and descriptions. There are large tarpaulins laid out on any free open space piled up with different seaweeds drying in the sun. It doesn’t smell too good !
Nusa Lembongan is home to three main surf breaks called Playgrounds, Lacerations and Shipwrecks, although there are other lesser known ones scattered around the neighbouring islands.
The weather didn’t start too well with a few cloudy days earlier in the week but still with an accompanying small swell. Playgrounds seemed to picking up the bulk of this but with a forecasted mid week ‘blip’ on the charts nobody seemed to mind. In the meantime we had stand up paddle boards and snorkelling to keep us occupied between surfs.
When the swell did arrive Shipwrecks seemed to see the best of it with some solid barrells to be had. I on the other hand could not be dragged away from the ongoing love affair I was having with the left of the Playgrounds peak. (1st pic above)
The week went quite slowly and we all adapted to the surf-eat-surf-eat routine. After 7 days it was back to Bali for the last week of the trip… destination Bingin.
