Bali
How great it is to finally throw off the shackles and travel again, first stop – Bali. Bali for me is primarily a surfing destination and due to circumstances, it was 2018 since I last surfed here, or surfed at all for that matter. My surfing was terrible, though that says more about my lack of talent on a surfboard than the quality of the waves.
My usual buddy for Bali surfing couldn’t make it this year so I headed over with my girlfriend, Natsasi, and followed my usual modus operandi.
We had an incredible private villa in Seminyak, right in the heart of the action. The villa had an awesome private pool, which we made good use of. Our villa manager quickly managed to rent us a motor scooter, so we were sorted with everything we needed.
Another of my favorite activities in Bali is eating out. Over the years, many Australian and European chefs have opened restaurants and cafes here and the quality is high.
For morning coffee and breakfast, the likes of Watercress Café, Revolver Espresso and Sea Circus have all survived the pandemic and are wonderful options.
Great places for dinner such as Biku, Bo & Bun and Happy Chappy also survived and were busy, but still offering fantastic food. Sadly, our favorite, family run restaurant, Warung Kultur, in the back streets of Seminyak has not survived.
If you’re happy for somewhat of a splurge, the striking Petitenget restaurant, Bambu, is as good as ever. Be sure to book online if you want to try it as it’s often full.
As for the beach clubs, both Potato Head and Ku De Ta were lively on the afternoons we attended.
One of the joys of coming to Bali, for me at least, is exploring the winding side streets on a rented motor scooter. Seminyak is awash with rental scooters and the going rate is IDR50-75K/day.
The same cannot be said for the Kerobokan area, where we had our second villa. There were few places nearby who rented scooters, even fewer who had any left to rent. Those that did have stock wanted IDR150K/day, more than double the usual rate.
Kerobocan was far quieter than Seminyak. Many shops and restaurants have closed due to the financial hit of the pandemic. This made it tricky finding somewhere decent to eat as well as being difficult to get around. For the time being at least, I’d recommend staying elsewhere.
Flores
When I consider all the activities I’d love to do when I visit Indonesia, flying on local airlines doesn’t make the cut. It’s an unfortunate fact that the safety record of Indonesia’s airline industry is poor and it was with some hesitation that we booked our flights to and from Flores with Citilink and Batik Air. Thankfully both flights were fine.
We arrived in the Flores city of Lubuan Bajo, which appears mostly to exist to support the Komodo island tourist industry. The first thing we noticed was that it was noticeably hotter than Bali.
We stayed at a hotel on one of the hills that looks down on the city and two of its bays.
This location provided us with wonderful views at sunset, especially from the nearby Senso Sesto restaurant, though from a more practical point of view it’s probably worth staying downtown for easier access to the action.
Komodo Island tour
Unfortunately, sometimes Independent Adventures are not as independent as you’d like, as it was with our day trip to Komodo Island as part of an organized tour. There is not really a choice in this unless you have very deep pockets and organise a private tour
We purchased our trip one of the many operators on the main street of LB at a price of IDR 1,350,000/person, or around AUD$100. Destpite the currently high global petrol price, some were slightly cheaper but most were exactly that price
The advertised price does not include National Park entry, the cost of which appears to fluctuate somewhat. It was IDR 40,000 pp (AUD$40) when we went.
Despite any promises you may receive from the agents’ selling tickets for this trip, the boat you see in the glossy brochure may not be the boat you end up on. So it was the case with us.
Thankfully, the boat we ended up on was actually quite good, not as flash as the agent had promised mind you.
Our boat was run by a company called East Cruise and I would recommend them, but go direct to them if you can. The entire crew were exceptionally good and even proactive in helping you out.
Bottles of spring water were always available and even if you didn’t ask, they would regularly bring them around.
When at our various stops along the way the team leader would regularly offer to take photos for you, judging by the high-quality shots he took for Natsasi, he’s had plenty of practice.
First port of call was Padar Island. Reaching this island after a 1-hour boat ride, we disembarked and headed on a 20-minute uphill hike to a spectacular, and well photographed viewpoint
It’s well worth the slog despite the morning heat as you are met with views across the mountain peaks two small bays below. Also visible, if you look closely are three different colored sand beaches – white, black and pink.
That hike was by far the toughest exercise of the day, not really that tough if you have even a basic level of fitness.
Next stop was Pink Beach where we were able to enter the water for a swim. Natsasi commented at the time that she’d never seen water so clear before. Having swam and snorkeled at a number of places around Indonesia I’d definitely say it’s easily the most pristine I’ve seen in the country
Moving along we were at the main event – Komodo Island. Landing on the island we were split into 2 groups of around 10 pax each. Half elected for a short hike, the other half a medium hike.
We took the medium and it was flat and easy. The well-worn path took us through scrub and the occasional watering hole looking for the obvious places the Komodo Dragons may be lurking along the way we saw a number of wild animals like some sort of chicken and a black boar.
As we neared the end of the circuit we passed a number of wild deer, a favorite meal of Komodo Dragons. Sure enough, not long after we noticed the deer we also came across a medium Komodo, perhaps 2.5m long.
Before long we were back on the boat and headed off to yet another island for a swim and snorkel. This was an area with abundant coral which lends itself to a healthy fish population. There was plenty to see.
Our final destination was the “Manta Point”, an area well known as a transit point for the local Manta Ray population.
Nothing could be guaranteed, of course, but there were regular siting’s here and that proved to be the case for us.
In all we saw 4 very large Manta Rays in water that I’d guess was 12-15m deep. At this point, a number of the less confident swimmer on the boat put on a life vest and ventured in for a look.
Despite getting quite sunburned on my back, we had a great day on the Komodo trip and couldn’t speak highly enough for the East Cruise crew.
COVID-19 is still impacting the number of visitors to Indonesia, and South-East Asia in general. Natsasi and I were fortunate enough to visit at such a quite time, but it won’t stay that way forever. There’s probably no better time for you to visit than right now.