SOUTH ASIA BLOG October 3rd, 2024 - BALI

 

10/3/24– Went to bed early so of course we wake up feeling pretty refreshed. At 8am we enjoy the free breakfast, which is a buffet of all sorts of options to choose from with omelet, ham, chicken and rice, porridge and even an espresso machine, all while taking in the view of the garden and pool area.

With the day still ahead of us, we use this time to research what we want to do. It takes about an hour to settle on a booked tour for later in the week. We also want to do a SeaWalk excursion but am having trouble finding one available. Luckily, our hotel comes to the rescue and sets one up for 12 noon. I’m very impressed with the Grand Bali Hotel as the atmosphere is quite nice and the staff very friendly.

Our hotel driver drops us off at the shore where we promptly throw our belongings in a locker, are given safety instructions, jump in the boat and head out into the open water. It doesn’t take long to get to the docking point and soon we are heading underwater with a big helmet over our heads, weighing us down to the sea floor.

Wow, what an adventure this is. They have an underwater eco system set up with plenty of marine life. Our walk on the sea floor last over twenty-five minutes but it’s plenty of time to enjoy the fish nibbling at my fingertips and hidden statues buried like treasure. The water temperature is also very lukewarm, which is much to our liking. I’m not going to sugar coat it, the price is a bit steep at $160 US total (sticker shock when I see over 2 million IDR charging to my card).

We get back to shore and realize very quickly how red we are getting from the hot sun and blistering sand that’s tearing up our feet. We did think about doing another activity like parasailing or snorkeling, but I think the pressure got to my GoPro underwater camera because it stops working. We are so glad we paid extra for the divers to take photos of us otherwise I may have been quite bummed.

They drop us off at our hotel’s private beach where we enjoy some rest and relaxation under umbrella cabanas, order drinks and a pizza from the bar and quite simply enjoy the moment to the fullest. The water is unfortunately at low tide so not ideal for snorkeling, but we do walk around the nearby peninsula to check out the cliffs. While exploring, I stumble upon what I think is a pathway but turns quickly into a dried lava field. The deeper I go into it the sharper the edges become, making me very keen on not slipping and cutting myself. Did I mention I’m in flip flops?

I reach the other side to the cliff’s edge and wait for Sharece to meet up with me (who smartly takes the long way around). Turns out, there’s a paid admission price I was supposed to pay to get into this area. I guess they figured most people are not dumb enough to challenge the knife-like lava rocks to save a few bucks. Well, they haven’t met me yet.

The sun is now beginning to bake us to the point of ridiculousness, so we chill out at the cabanas for another hour before our shuttle takes us back to the hotel. We cap off the night with another dip in our pool and go to bed early again, as we have a 4am pickup for another excursion tomorrow. Stay tuned for some epic photos.

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