I headed off on a snorkeling adventure today, with the crew Georgina, Karen and Amanda. It was a 1 hour car drive from Medewi beach to Menjangan Island.
We got a driver to take us there for 500,000 IDR ($55 NZD). This included him waiting there for us and taking us back at the end of the day. The drive there was pretty. Loads of rice paddy fields to look at on the way, and going anywhere by road in Bali is always an exciting experience!!
We arrived at the port/beach where you leave to head to Menjangan Island at 10am. It was filled with several warungs (food places), a booking office for the snorkeling tours and about 30 boats all moored up at the port. We booked our tickets at the ticket office which cost us 500,000 IDR per person ($55 nz). This could have been cheaper if we had booked a tour, but tours leave at 8am. The price for us included our own private boat, 2 hours of snorkeling at the island, snorkeling gear and 2 drivers. We grabbed some lunch from the warung to take on the boat and headed off on a 30 min boat trip to the island.
The boat ride to the island was beautiful and the waters were crystal clear. As water-lovers, we were definitely in paradise. The driver put the anchor down close enough that you could wade to the island. The island itself is quite dense and shrubby, but the main attraction is under the water. Several other boats were there already with other groups of snorkelers. We were excited to put our snorkeling gear on and go exploring! The driver gave us some special “anti-fog liquid” to put on our masks. I asked what it was made from and he smiled and told us it was in fact baby shampoo. This made us laugh. It worked a treat though! No fogged masks for us! And it smelled lovely too!
The first snorkeling spot was shallow with a steep drop off into the ocean. The coral formations were really cool and there were many different coloured fish of all shapes and sizes. Once you start exploring I found that you get lost in the underwater world and you barely even notice the other snorkelers!
After 30 minutes of snorkeling, I got hungry and needed a break, so went back to the boat grabbed my lunch and walked in waist deep water from the boat to beach and sat in the shade and ate some lunch. Gina joined me but sat in the sun as she was a little chilly. I wasn’t because I wore a 1 millimeter wetsuit top. It was really warm though and most people were happy in a bikini (and sunscreen) or a rash vest.
I decided to venture around the island a bit to see if there was any bouldering (a type of rock climbing) and I found some rocks. I did a bit of traversing around the rocks but didn’t climb up as I didn’t have any rope and safety equipment. The rocks were sharp and hard on my hands and feet as I didn’t bring any rock climbing shoes with me. Anyway, after all of 20 minutes of bouldering and exploring the island I headed back to the boat and all the girls were back.
Gina and I decided to do a bomb off the boat. As I was jumping in I heard the driver yelling at me “NO, it’s too shallow here. I will take you to a new snorkeling spot where it is deeper”. Whoops. Haha… So off we went to the next spot.
The next spot we headed over to we were anchored on the edge of the reef, so we were deeper in the water and further from the island. The water was deep and blue and very inviting for jumping in off the boat! We decided to do some more snorkeling first and then have some fun on the boat. At this particular spot there were also a lot of divers doing a PADI course. We could see all the divers air bubbles coming up to the surface and Gina and Amanda jumped in to play in them.
The snorkeling in the new spot was more colourful than the last, which meant it was healthier. It was fluorescent blue and yellow in parts and sloped down towards the sea floor. We all snorkeling here for about 30 min.
Finally, it was time to have our bombing and diving competition! Amanda was the judge. I won the bombing competition and Gina won the diving competition. Then we asked the driver if we could get up on the roof of the boat and do bombs and he said yes! This was one of many advantages to hiring our own boat! This was fun and a bit scary climbing up as it was slippery.
We blasted some tunes on the boat from my iPhone. We wanted the volume louder so we popped the IPhone in an old coconut shell with a hole in the top to try get some base and we were all super happy. We chilled and sunbathed on the boat in the sun, listening to some tunes and taking a dip in the crystal clear blue water when we got too hot.
Eventually, after the guide let us stay on an hour longer than agreed, we headed back to land super happy!! We had all really enjoyed the day and I can safely say that it was the best snorkeling I have ever experienced. This was mainly due to the sun shining, amazing visibility, no wind, fluorescent coloured coral, so many different types of fish, and of course, the great company!! Thanks girls for an awesome day, I loved it.