Alarm set for 6:15! We have big plans for today, we are heading to Nusa Penida. The weather is not perfect and there are a lot of waves, but going very early and coming back around 5pm we should avoid most of them.
We found two seats on Caspla fast boat, that takes you from Sanur to Nusa Penida in around 40 minutes depending on the weather.
We got a free pick up at the hotel and once at the pier we also had seats to wait for the boat.
Is this a pier?
We got into our boat and Sara was quite scared by the waves, but after 10 minutes of bumpy ride she acclimated.
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We got into the boat completely wet to the waist, but fortunately on the Nusa side the company had a private floating pier waiting for us.
Private floating pier on Nusa Penida
Once on land again, we felt ready for a motorbike trip to the most famous destinations of the island:
Angel’s Billabong
Broken beach
KlingKing
Crystal bay
We got a motorbike from a random guy suggested by the Caspla staff. The first one he gave us was basically a broken bicycle with identity crisis, it also had a crooked front wheel so to go straight we had to basically turn left.
We went to complain to some of his friends (he disappeared in the meanwhile) and after a while a girl with a kid came and gave us her motorbike. Nothing fancy but totally fine for 70k idr (3-4 €).
Little did we know what was waiting for us.
Yesterday night we spent some good time googling about the dangers of getting a motorbike in Nusa, but never we would have thought that the roads would be anything close to what we found.
It’s very difficult to express our experience, but try to imagine going on a Rollercoaster. Its super fun but at the same time scary. Now imagine that some parts of the track are missing. And the cart is missing a wheel. And the breaks don’t work. That’s it! How do you like it now?
Antonio had fun driving on the narrow broken streets of dirt, sometimes made of old asphalt full of holes or just rocks. Sara was scared as hell the whole time. We swore we won’t ever say anything about Italy roads anymore! Those are like top class compared to the Nusa ones.
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After getting some serious squared shaped butts we got to our first two destinations: Angel’s Billabong and Broken Beach.
The view from up there was absolutely stunning, and the waves were so high the locals had to close a part of the walking path to the public. A local told us that all the shattered wood we saw around was what was left of two restaurants being wiped out from the waves of few days before.
It’s amazing to see how the water carved the rocks of the coast.
Shameless selfie
A look at the sea
Posing on a leg over a cliff with strong winds… What could go wrong?
Natural pool formation 30 meters over the sea
Broken beach from the inside
Broken beach rock arc
Unfortunately the wind was so strong we didn’t feel like to flying our lightweight drone this time 🙁 We had to rely on the Action Cam.
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We rested a bit and went to see this famous “dinosaur” everyone was talking about.
This time the road was surprisingly pleasant for 50% of the time! Warm blackish asphalt we missed you!
The Dino head was very cool and there is also a steep path to get to the beach beneath.
Dino head
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Wide angle Dino and beach
It should take around one hour each way. We didn’t feel very adventurous so we went back to ride our little broken friend once again. Just to be fair, our friend had a truck clacson!
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Let’s have some rest now.
Crystal bay sand was waiting for us already 🙂
In 40 minutes we got to its black shiny sand, we took an umbrella and had lunch (no pics this time).
We had a great time there and also used a bit our drone, as the bay provided shelter from the strong wind.
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Crystal Bay
We rode the scooter one last time towards the pier and waited for the boat.
Do you see the little m@$3rf@#¢€r in the above pictures? That’s not a normal scooter. That little fella is the two wheeled son of a german tank and a bullet proof Hammer!
Even with sunscreen spf 50+ we got sun burned, like many other tourists.
The fast boat ride back was even bumpier than the first one, but we were too tired to care this time.
While approaching Sanur we could see all the kites hovering on the city, which is known for its kite festivals
Once on land a driver took us back to our hotel were the spa was waiting for us!
We had a nice and sometimes painful massage. The girls at the spa, as basically everybody in Bali, were really friendly and we for sure are going to get another one tomorrow!
The usual price for 1hr balinese massages can range from 5€ to 15€ here in Bali, ours was around 30€ and it’s the highest we’ve seen here. Still totally worth it, given the quality of the service!
After the spa we grabbed something from the hotel restaurant and literally crushed the bed.
A few tips if Nusa Penida is in your bucket list:
- Do consider hiring a local driver to get around. We saw at least 3 guys injured with the motorbikes in just a few hours. Just scratches and blood fortunately.
- Have sunscreen with you! UV index is high as hell (was 11 as reported from Google).
- When traveling from Sanur or Pedang Bay choose a bigger boat even if it may be slower and more expensive. The waves can be wild.
- Expect crowds. Even if there are less tourists than in Bali, if you choose to do a day trip on the west side of the island it’s very likely that a lot of other people had the same plans 🙂