Adventures of a Tribe

Nusa Penida: Day 1

Posted on November 8, 2017 Updated on November 8, 2017

So much has happened over this last week and every night I’ve fallen into bed, exhausted. My sweet Momma arrived and it has been wonderful to have her here. She loves scooter rides even though she has constant helmet hair like the rest of us!!!

We hit the ground running with a watercolor painting class,

and a fun work Halloween Party with 24/7 Pilots! Aidan was a 70’s dude, Emma a pineapple, Jude was Ace Ventura, Mycah an 80’s workout chick, my mom a pirate and me an old lady who’d lost her dog and from behind one could see I’d sat on it.

Nico, Daniel and Teresa looked fabulous too!

We wanted to have one last pow wow with our dear friends, Teresa, Daniel and Nico, before they left Bali to continue on with their journey. We decided on taking a backpack each and spending a couple of days on Nusa Penida.

After a 45 minute ferry ride, we walked over and rented 5 scooters for $120 for two days, and set out on our grand adventure. We quickly discovered that the scooters had extremely bald tires and very little break power, but none the less, served as great all terrain vehicles. We snorkeled for a bit at Crystal Bay, but the clarity wasn’t great due to some funky current and surf (which doesn’t show up in the photo!).

Our adventures took us down roads that would have been unnerving in a 4WD Jeep! Broken asphalt, sand, loose gravel and rocks provided hair raising slides and bumps on the scooters, and Jude and Mycah have the scrapes to prove it.

But, we did reach breathtaking views and traveled through gorgeous scenery.
Kelingking Beach was one of our favorite places. Rock pools far down below from cliffs reaching skyward, were a beautiful scene. I love the eroded rocks gathering water in small pools, providing exquisite variety of texture and color.

Massive waves swelled and crashed into rocky coast line,

then receded to reveal tiny waterfalls reaching down, back into the sea.

A small canyon had formed on the rocky shore, and down inside its saddle, tide pools in inviting colors called to me.

Perhaps the most magnificent scene in the area was, in my opinion, a place called Broken Beach. A sea arch is the only entrance into the beach area from open ocean, and water movement is impressive.

A large bowl with swirling turquoise water, gorgeous waves and a perfect beach, are what one see’s when stepping to the edge to look down inside.

I stood memorized, watching the waves rolling in, soaking in the peaceful sound and colors.

I could have sat watching for hours….

Another gorgeous place we explored, was Atuh Beach, where a rock formation resembles a T-Rex’s head with a gaping mouth.

Tho colors or churning water around a nearby sea stack, reminded me of our back yard in so many places when we lived on Tanda Malaika.

To try and imagine the impressive size of these cliffs, compare the size of the person walking on the beach in this photo.

When I returned from the hike I found my Mom resting with her head on her arms, and brought her a cool, refreshing coconut to hydrate.

At the close of this first day of exploring Nusa Penida, we were thoroughly exhausted, and my mom felt like her tail bone would never be the same again, but we had smiles on our faces and wonderful memories and images fresh on our minds. We sat at a quaint motel and watched the sky darken around Mount Agung. A small amount of smoke could be seen rising from the crater. It is only here, in this setting, that we feel just how large the rumbling volcano is, and all commented on how insignificant it mades us feel.