Nusa Lembongan and Penida, and our first Nyepi - 21st March 2026
- Brett Sedgwick
- Mar 24
- 5 min read
Hi from Nusa Lembongan,
The fast ferry was easy, the taxi was easy, lugging suitcases down a 500 metre concrete and sand alley was hard, but we made it to Tarci Bungalows on Jungutbatu Beach, Lembongan, just in time for check-in and lunch!
Our bungalow was cool - metaphorically and literally - as the A/C was cranked, and we unpacked before diving into the turquoise velvet, that is the water on Nusa Lembongan. This’ll do us for a week, we thought!
We had a bit of an explore on the beach and all of the resorts have on-sand dining options. The main drag had shops, restaurants, bars - including an Aussie sports bar where I watched the footy - and massage and tour providers. Pretty standard tourist area. That night we had Nasi goreng on the beach and booked a snorkelling tour for the following morning.
Our captain picked us up at 8 am, and we headed out in his boat with about a dozen others for a morning tour.
Our first stop was on the neighbouring Nusa Penida, and it was called Manta Bay. The azure bay was surrounded on two sides by steep cliffs that house one of the best statues that we’ve ever seen. This huge bamboo goddess was titled: The Octopus Queen, and she was magnificent.
The swell was up by this stage, and the water was choppy, but our captain spied a manta ray off the starboard side. Our guide jumped in the water with a floaty, and we were all in after him.
The next 20 minutes were pretty extreme snorkelling in the conditions, but we saw three manta rays. They were huge, peaceful and regal. Very cool. Everyone climbed back on board fairly wrecked physically, but pretty excited by what we saw. There were even two Aussie kids aged 10 and 6 who were out there the whole time. Great effort!
Our next two stops - Mangrove Bay and back off Jungutbatu - saw us drift snorkelling i.e. floating with the current, while we watched beautiful coral, colourful fish (including about 200 of my favourites, Moorish Idols) and then finally three sea turtles. So cool.
We were back at the bungalows by 11 am with rays and turtles ticked off on the first morning - not bad!
We ate at some great restaurants this week - including at our own resort, the neighbouring Indiana Kernaga, Spice Traders and our new favourite cafe - Ginger and Jamu. This organic cafe was three doors up from us, had amazing food and coffee and a turmeric brew called Jamu, which is very similar to our own master tonic that we take at home. Great food everywhere on this island.
On Saint Patrick’s Day, I wore my green Hendrix shirt, and we decided to rent a buggy to check out Lembongan Island for swims and adventures. And wouldn’t ya know it, it was green!! Ah, to be sure, to be sure! After a lesson from old mate and a few bum steers from Google, we ended up at our first planned spot: Coconut Beach. This is a private beach that can only be accessed via a posh resort called Lago. The friendly security guards said that we could have a swim, and they even parked the buggy for us!! The water was perfect, as was our next stop at Mushroom Beach.
The one thing that we have noticed about Lembongan is the amount of rubbish that washed up on the shore. Jen reckons that the tides or currents may be different because of the seasons, which sounds plausible, but the amount of plastic and debris is pretty confronting.
We then drove down to the seaweed farms, Jen bought a hat and four tops, and we parked near the yellow bridge. We walked over the bridge onto the neighbouring island of Ceningan. A taxi ride later, and we were sat high above the Blue Lagoon beach where we feasted on chicken, potatoes (St Paddy’s Day) and sesame tuna at Klyf Restaurant. The awesome location and food were complemented when we spotted three more sea turtles in the whitewash!! So good. We returned the buggy and started to get prepared for Nyepi.
I’d never heard of Nyepi until this trip, but March 19th is Nyepi, or Silent Day. On the 18th, a festival is held called Ogoh Ogoh.
The Ogoh-Ogoh parade is a vibrant Balinese Hindu cultural festival held on Pengerupukan night, the eve of Nyepi (the Day of Silence), usually in March. Communities parade giant, artistic demon statues made of paper and bamboo, representing negative energies. Accompanied by loud music, they are eventually burned to cleanse the environment and symbolically banish evil spirits. (Wikipedia)
The next day, the entire island shuts down. No cars, no flights in or out, no work. Nyepi is a day of silent reflection, meditation and family time as you stay inside. Our resort had a skeleton crew on, and all activities were banned except the restaurant. Still, we had to order our dinner and eat it by 4.30 pm. We quite liked it as we like down, slow days every now and then. I heard that some peanut tourists flaunted the rules and posted videos on TikTok of themselves out and about. These fucktards were obviously caught and are facing prosecution right now…
The next day, though, we booked a driving tour of the big island that we saw from the water Nusa Penida. Our young driver, Sugi, was a great dude who drove well over some of the worst roads in Bali. Our first stop after 50 minutes was Kelingking Point, which is a picturesque rock island that means “little finger” or “pinkie finger.” The tour buses had descended, and the Instagram girls were posing up a storm, but Jen-Jen and I managed to sneak in a good pic or two.
Our next stop was a twofer: Angel’s Billabong and Broken Beach. Again, the insta-crowds and the stifling heat and humidity nearly killed us, but the pics are here that prove that we came, we saw, we sweat, we left!
We then got Sugi to drop us at Crystal Beach for a swim to cool down before he dropped us back at the ferry. Part of Nyepi is that the ATM’s are turned off too, and so we hadn’t had any real cash in our skyrockets for three days and had been paying with everything by card. I managed to find a working ATM, got some cash, tipped Sugi, the future elementary teacher and an hour later we were back on the ferry to Lembongan and on the taxi back to the resort.
Our week here was great. Both Sanur and Lembongan are fantastic destinations, and now that we know where to go and where not to go, these are places that will be return destinations for the family and us for many years to come.
Every Balinese person that we spoke to, who served us, drove us, cooked for us, or sold us something, was so beautiful, friendly and at peace. The gentleness of these people and the kindness and respect shown were genuine and was just what we needed with the rest of the world going off its nut at the moment.
Thank you, Bali, you are forever in our hearts.
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