[TRAVELS] Menjangan Island @ Pemuteran, Indonesia
Although we had a bad Good Friday traveling from Surabaya to Banyuwangi as stated at this entry, we utilized the following Saturday fruitfully by hiking at Kawah Ijen throughout the night without much sleep. After which, we went to Bangsring Breeze to have lunch and check in when the room was ready. We did not even get much rest and we had to set out to snorkel at 2:30PM.
Menjangan Island
Pemuteran
Jl. Mimpi Resort Menjangan
Banyuwedang, West Bali National Park,
Buleleng – Bali., Pemuteran, Gerokgak,
Bali 81155, Indonesia
The owner of Bangsring Breeze (Jeroen), his captain and one of his staff drove us to the beach 5 minutes away.
We took a mini boat before boarding the speedboat to head to Menjangan Island, which was about 10 minutes away. Jeroen provided us with towels, snorkeling gears, chocolates, beverages and chips. As it was my first time snorkeling, his snorkeling guide is also inclusive. He was very meticulous and patient teaching me how to snorkel, cleaning my googles and putting it on for me and showing me the way to view pretty corals and fishes. It was like having a personal coach around because Charlene and Eugene have snorkeled before so I was following him wherever he went to. I actually know how to swim but Jeroen stated that it would be safer if I put on a life vest for first timers. I really enjoyed snorkeling at Menjangan Island as we were the only people snorkeling there. Thus, we did not have any disturbance at all. I heard from Charlene that at Phi Phi Islands in Thailand, you will bump into other travelers while snorkeling so it is not a good experience being a first timer there. Scratch that, it is not even fun snorkeling there with so many tourists around. Also, people usually go diving or snorkel at the south of Bali. Since this was the north of Bali, it is more fun to venture out the calm sea and warm waters on our own. We snorkeled for more than 2 hours and when we went back to the boat, we were craving for salty and sweet food and beverages that we were literally consuming the whole bag of chips and Bang Bang chocolates. That is what the waters do to you!
P/S: Please take note that the first three pictures & the last two pictures of this section are taken by Jeroen’s Gopro. He was so nice to provide us with Gopro to snap shots of the water but since Eugene and Charlene already bought theirs few days before the trip, Jeroen used it while I was snorkeling with him.
I was so glad that while snorkeling, I saw a beautiful rainbow so I went back on board to take a picture of it. We got to catch the beautiful sunset and feel the breeze as well. It was unlike the afternoon when it was so warm and dry back at Bangsring! We managed to catch the lunar eclipse as well but I did not managed to snap a shot of it. Everything was just so breathtaking and this ended my trip in a high note.
Since we had a personal boat, guide and snorkeling equipments provided by Bangsring Breeze, the costs for 3 pax was 4,500,000 Rupiah, which is equivalent to (CAD$420.26 / SGD$473.68 / USD$342.16) so how much is it per pax? You do the math. As I said, it was my first time snorkeling so I do not really know how much is it elsewhere but no doubt, I had a great experience.
Although our trip started off badly, we made it up by conquering the two activities we wanted to do. We also had a great host and guide that helped us when we encountered madness during the trip. More will be shared in the next entry, till then!
