In Reply to: Nusa Lembongan-accom? posted by hilly on Sunday, 29. August 1999 at 08:57 Bali Time:
Nusa Lembongan is no a shadow of its former self now. In April we took the ferry from Sanur. I endured a couple of days there in April because one of my kids is a serious SURFER. Our accomodation was at the Mainski Inn, we had prepaid,but the bookings were mislaid. There is very little beach in front of the hotels on this strip of beach.
We stayed in the grottiest of rooms with not a light bulb among the 10 of us and had to beg for pillows, sheets had to be brought in....Creepy crawlies were in abundance...how big do cockroaches actually get? A lighter moment was when the kids blowtorched an enormous spider in their room with deodorant and a lighter:)
There were plenty of small losmen down the beach that were pretty well full up with surfers, and this was low season.
There are a couple of upmarket places further down(one the beachclub for Bali Hai cruises) but their beach was grubby, littered with the ubiquitous plastic flotsam. The snorkelling is okay, but the touts are expensive and the two different guys we used were unpleasant,agreed on a HIGH price then you had fork out for diesel as well.
Bali Hai cruises have the virtual monopoly on this place and I am convinced that their large catamaran day cruises and huge Waterworld raft, their associated waste and activities are wrecking the reefs there.
Personally I recommend the Gili Islands(Trawangan, Air and Meno) off Lombok. There are literally dozens of postings on this forum if you search the archives, for transport and accomodation etc. The snorkelling can be done straight off the beautiful white sand beachfronts.
Sorry if this seems such a negative post...but I certainly couldn't endorse visiting Nusa Lembongan with children.