Our four islands holiday (10): Lombok
After visiting two of the main islands of Indonesia – Java and Bali – we headed to our third and last island of this amazing archipelago: Lombok.
Lombok is an island to the east of Bali and the west of Sumbawa with a population of 4M. Its nickname is “the island of a thousand mosques”. It is surrounded by many smaller offshore islands locally called Gili. The most popular of these smaller islands with tourists are called Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. The largest of these is Gili Trawangan (known as Gili T) where we would be staying.
We were collected from Kauara Bali at 10 am and it was a mere half an hour drive to the port at Padang Bai. Our ferry was operated by Ekajaya (motto: “From waves to wonders”).
The sailing from Bali to Lombok took us across the Wallace Line, a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. To the west of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origins is present.
It took us only two hours to reach Gili Trawangan where there are no cars and a horse-drawn carriage was arranged for us. Apparently the east of the island is where all the partygoers stay and we were accommodated on the west coast at a hotel called Aston Sunset Beach Resort.
On our first full day on Gili T, Tess and I really chilled. It was 11.30 am before we ventured out of the hotel and all we did was have an exploratory walk.
We strolled south, stopping for brunch at a place called “Cremoso Gourmet”. Afterwards we continued to the bottom of the island and curved northwards, stopping for a cold drink. Finally, we turned inland and, passing so many local homes of poor standard, meandered across the island back to the west side.
This last stretch took an hour in heat of around 30C, but Tess did not complain. Afterwards I had sunburn on the back of my legs. At our hotel, we had another cold drink and I added a crème brûlée, before we were back in our room at 4.20 pm. We ate dinner on the hotel beach. We had eaten very little today and we both had steak and chips – our first western food for two weeks.
Our second full day accommodated on Gili T was largely spent off the island because we had booked a snorkelling trip which took us to the nearby islands of Gili Meno and Gili Air.
For me, this was the third occasion of snorkelling, following experiences in Australia (2013) and Sri Lanka (2017). But, for Tess, it was the first time and she showed real fortitude in tackling a new endeavour that does come naturally.
The snorkelling only cost us 500,000 RP (£21), which included use of fins and mask, but we had to make our own way from the hotel to the harbour and back by horse and cart, which was another 300,000 RP (£13), and pay for our lunch. Really, it was incredible value for a day of new experiences.
We left the hotel at 8.45 am and travelled to the harbour to select the right-sized fins. On board, we were all given our standard masks and those who wanted them – Tess and I played safe – appropriately-sized life jackets. We cast off at 9.45 am. Our vessel was called “Coral Voice” and took about 25 tourists plus a crew of three.
We sailed over to the west side of Gili Meno where we had out first snorkelling session, a kind of training exercise and therefore short in duration. There was supposed to be a statue under the water and Tess reckoned that she saw it. All I observed were tropical fish. Apparently there is a sculpture called Nest fracturing no less than 48 human figures standing in a circle.
Next we powered round to the east side of Gili Meno and visited a location called Turtle Point. On the island itself, we saw baby turtles in three large tanks waiting to grow sufficiently to be released into the world. Off the point, we had our second snorkelling session which – not always the case – enabled us to see a couple of fully-grown turtles posturing for the tourists.
The third and final snorkelling session was over at the island of Gili Air off its eastern coast. For Tess. This was the worse session: while trying to leave the boat in ungainly flippers, she slipped back and fell inside the boat, deciding to stay on board. For me, it was the best session: there was lots of coral, not very coloured but a multitude of bizarre shapes. When leaving the area and kicking away, I managed to cut his left leg on some sharp coral but the damage was minor.
Finally, we circled round to the south side of Gili Air where we disembarked for lunch of our choice. It was glorious to sit on the beach but in the shade, looking out at a misty blue sky and deep turquoise sea with bouncing boats. We were back at Gili T at 2 pm and at our hotel half an hour later, exhausted but elated.