With only the round trip open ticket, a bag of things that I believed to be “essential” I arrived at Bali International Airport (Denpasar) in Nyepi “Day of Silence”, the only day of the year where everything remains closed.
Nyepi is a Hindu religious celebration of the Balinese New Year. It is a day of silence, fasting and contemplation. It’s a spiritual time dedicated to yourself.
Fortunately I was collected from the airport by the host of my accomodation. I had planned to stay over there for couple of nights in order to recover from the exhausting trip and be able to think on my next step. The next day I woke up with renew energies and I decided to explore the surroundings of the island.
I heard of Nusa Lembongan, a small near island on the southeast of Bali. Despite the proximity, swimming was not an option, so I resolved that I had to find a mean of transport. I arranged a fast boat which took me to my destination in 50 minutes.
When I was leaving Bali, I sadly noticed how much the coast had been changed since my last trip a 7 years ago. This was a socking and awful sighting caused by the huge amount of plastic garbage floating over the ocean’s water surface. I was truly looking forward seeing the conditions of another Indonesian island still unknown to me.
I reached Nusa Lembongan. The hotel was only a few miles way from the port. A great place to stay for few days. To my delight, the coast also seemed fabulous. The crystal clean water enriched the colorful corals and over it I had the view on the active volcanoes of Bali island, the scenario was spectacular.
After a brief investigation and a few walks around I met the owner of the hotel who suggested going for snorkeling next morning. This was one of the main island’s attractions, so I thought it could be a wonderful experience in this new place.
Nusa Lembongan video
The next day I joined an organized group and we went to the ocean, for the first snorkeling visit points. The guider encouraged everyone to jump into the water. I was very thrilled with the idea of jumping into the ocean as the bottom was not visible and the waves rocked vigorously against the boat. I jumped! Uff, after a few moves everyody commenced to be very excited and the atmosphere in the water became be very lively. After a few minutes we all noticed some huge dark spots moving in the water. These were manta-ray fish who were slowely coming closer to us, curious about new arrivals. It was an amazing experience to watch aquatic creatures so pleasant and beautiful looking for fruitful experience too.
We changed the place and the next stop was a place with a enormous amount of colorful corals. When I was approaching the water and coming closer to fish I could observe how incredibly they move side by side between corals, how the play between them. The saturated colors of corals and crystal water enhancing the visibility of the aura caused amazing impressions, relaxation and hypnotic peace of my soul.
We finished the tour after 4 hours of a wonderful adventure in the water world. The experience was awesome and I only hope that this water life will never change.
We all should be aware of the environemtal change and try to preserve not to damage the natural beauty of our planet.
