INDONESIA - BALI - PADANGBAI - 14 to 18 July 2014 - 'SNORKEL, BEACH, HIKE'

Info

Car/driver from Ubud to Padangbai

Car/driver from Padangbai to Legian – 250 000R

Kerti’s Beach Inn - jl Silayukti - 036341391 - www.kertibeach-inn.com

Our journey

We drove from Ubud to Padangbai and checked in at Kerti’s. The room was upstairs with a patio view over Padangbai harbour and beach. The room itself was small and the aircon noisy but the bed was okay and the room was clean.

Padangbai was a port town. The large interisland ferries between Bali and Lombok depart and land here about every hour. The dock area was rough and messy. The west end of Padangbai harbour was very dirty with a sewerage waterway emptying between the docks and the cliffs. Walking along the water’s edge from the docks was a rough area of rocks and reef backed by a jumbled concrete retaining wall. Next, came the pier for the boats to the Gilli Islands in Lombok. After the docks, was the white sand beach. Boats are on the beach or moored just a little offshore. The boats are mainly for tourism – diving, snorkelling and touring. Back from the beach was the main town. The east end has more expensive hotels and the centre area is the start of the main town which spreads out north and eastward up a large hill. There are number of restaurants in Padangbai.

We walked to Blue Lagoon and Bias Tugal a number of times:

We walked over the hill to Blue Lagoon. This was an okay snorkel which starts straight off the beach. The coral and fish was nice but there was a lot less than other years. Boats were anchoring closer to shore damaging the coral. A few larger dive boats had a mooring.

There were two warungs on the hill overlooking the cove, where they have deck chairs, food and snorkelling gear for hire. There isn’t much beach at high tide. Unfortunately, red stinging jellyfish, sea lice and rubbish gets blown and carried in as the tide becomes higher. Low tide seems to be the best time for snorkelling. There was a keyhole at the eastern end of the cove for water entry without damaging the coral.

The other snorkelling and swimming spot was Bias Tugal or white sand beach. It was a 20 minute walk up and down the hill on the western end of Padangbai. The beach was beautiful with some small waves at times. The snorkelling, about 10 metres out and to the right, was excellent with coral, fish and turtles. It was also a great swimming spot. Warungs line the beach providing food and shelter.

Another attraction was the temples on the hill to the east. There was a series of large, small and cliff hugging temples. We continued on pass the temples along a rough track to the point. The rocks on the point were sharp and volcanic. Continuing in the direction around the headland to Blue Lagoon there were a few small beaches and overhanging rocks which were very cave lik., This is also a good viewing spot for the temples hugging the cliffs and the view across the bay to Candidasa.

Overall, we found Padangbai relaxing, especially during the late afternoons.