Clapp Radical Sabbatical

The next morning we packed, had breakfast and were prepared to be picked up at 10 am as we had arranged. By 10:30 we started emailing and calling to see where our ride was and finally by 10:50 we were on our way to the coast. Unfortunately by the time we got to the beach we had missed the 11:30 boat and had to wait for the 1:30 boat. Fortunately however, the beach had great views and we got to enjoy a delicious lunch while using the free wifi to book some more of our trip!

The boat ride over to Nusa Lembongan (a small island off of Bali) was extremely bumpy (thankfully we both took some Dramamine) and of course was longer than expected (at this point we realized we needed to get used to ‘island time’). We finally made it to our Airbnb – a super cute four bungalow place with a small pool close to the ocean.

We walked along the road and found the cutest little puppy who I quickly made friends with and enjoyed the view.

The next morning I woke up to my birthday and we got up early and headed out for some scuba diving. It was just us, the dive masters, boat crew and one other couple from New York on our boat (she had stitches from a scooter accident on the main land). We made our way out to the first dive spot, Manta Bay, as soon as we got there we could see manta rays hitting their fins on the rocks and gliding underneath the water. We descended only like 15 feet and kinda just sat there in a strong surge for 50 minutes waiting for manta rays to swim over top and they did not disappoint – we saw at least 10 manta rays! They kind of look like they are just floating through the water – SO cool!

DCIM101GOPRO

After the dive we headed to our next spot and on the way we saw a school of dolphins swimming beside us. Several of them even jumped into the air and did tricks – best birthday gift you could ask for. Our next dive site was Crystal Bay – the most famous spot on Nusa Penida we enjoyed both the views and some watermelon while waiting for our next dive.

This dive spot was a lot deeper and had a TON of divers! Drew actually started following another dive group for a while – luckily we found him. There was some great coral though, tons of fish and I got to see a type of fish I’ve never seen before – it was bright purple. We also had some fun with the camera – doing yoga poses or bubble shots.

DCIM101GOPRO

DCIM101GOPRO

I wasn’t sure the day could get better but we enjoyed some sangria poolside with lunch and then cleaned up and headed the Mushroom Bay for dinner. There we enjoyed some cocktails while watching the sunset followed by a delicious dinner at the Bali Hai. It was a wonderful birthday!

The next morning it was Drew’s birthday and he decided it was time for some adventure so we rented our first scooter on the trip! It was a little scary at first especially when we made a few wrong turns and ended up at the dead end to Mangrove forest. But eventually we made it to the suspension bridge to head over to Ceningan Island. The bridge itself was an adventure, barely wide enough for two people passing, they allow scooters and people to go in each direction. Apparently Drew had decided 36 years was enough because we barreled across!

Our first stop on Ceningan was a beautiful beach with a fun swing out in the water. I had a good time playing on it while Drew did a photo shoot from the safety of the shore.

We headed to our next destination but the road was under construction so we had to take a long way around through a forest – Drew really showed his scooter skills going up a trail like, windy, dirt incline! Finally though we made it to the Blue Lagoon where we had a little lunch and I got to enjoy cliff jumping! I’d say Drew was too scared to cliff jump but it was his birthday…(Drew here-I just didn’t want to get wet on a TINY man-made jump!)

Then we headed back to Nusa Lembongan where we headed to Sunset beach and another fun beach swing! There were tons of tourists there so we headed around the cliffs to Devil’s Tear where there was no one and got some great photos of the rocks and ocean.

On the way home we made more than a couple of wrong turns. At one point we were heading up over a hill on the island and we saw some giant flames and tons of people. Navigating through the crowd slowly Drew turned to tell me to take a picture of the BBQ until he looked to his left and saw all the gravestones and realized it was a cremation. That was probably the most awkward part of our entire trip. He quickly put it behind us though when we saw the beautiful view of the island from the hill and got to race down it saying his new catchphrase ‘beep beep bitches’!

That evening we watched the sunset from the beach sitting on comfy bean bag chairs and sipping cocktails. Then we enjoyed a great band while eating a delicious dinner. Drew even got his favorite, tiramisu, while the band sang him ‘happy birthday’ and ‘Despacito’ (the summer anthem he’s obsessed with). All in all he said it was a great birthday and I’m just happy we didn’t have an incident on the motorbike!

Our final day on the island was rainy so we enjoyed a relaxing day watching DVDs, writing blogs, and booking more of our trip. The last morning again we were supposed to be picked up at 10 am and again they didn’t show up on time and again we didn’t get to our next destination until late in the day but who can complain after such an amazing couple of days?