Day 4: The big day has arrived. I have always wanted to go to the Gilli Islands and we decided it would be a good way to break our Bali trip in half.
Without checking out of the Champlung Mas, we packed 2 days clothing into the 1 small suitcase, and awaited our pick up from the hotel lobby at 7am. Shuttle bus arrived on time, we then headed up to Padangbai to catch our boat. This was approx 90 minute ride in a squashy bus with no aircon, not the most pleasant but we arrived safely. Stood in the hot sun for 40 mins waiting for bags to be loaded onto the boat, then every man for himself in a race to the comfy seats at the front of the boat. We lucked out and had to settle for the hard plastic bench seats, 3 bums per seat. Another 90 min ride in the boat (waves going right over the boat, people being sick) and we at last disembarked on the beach at Gilli Trewangan. No jetty here, so roll up the shorts, climb down the back of the boat into the ocean and await suitcase. We hadn't book any accommodation as hubbies great idea was "we'll just see what we can find when we get there". So, here we are, dragging suitcase behind us (no bitumen roads on Gilli T, no cars or motorbikes) through puddles and mud, looking for a hotel. Every hotel & villa we passed had "FULL" signs out the front so by now we are starting to get just a little worried. Hubby decided to leave son and I on the side of the road with the suitcase as he can move much quicker without us and the suitcase. Within 20mins we spot him up the road gesturing to us to come hither. Luckily he had found a lovely little hotel 'Villa Unggul' complete with swimming pool and beach area with sun lounges and umbrellas and dining tables on the sand etc. We then unpacked, then onto the beach for some snorkelling (we hired from stand at front of the hotel) and sunbaking. Hint: reef shoes would be a plus, a lot of broken coral & rocks on the ocean floor, made a slow & painful entry and exit into the water.
Hubby hired a private boat for a 4 hour snorkelling trip for the next day on a glass bottom boat ($100), so looking forward to this. Hubby and son then hired pushbikes and rode around the whole island, only took them approx 40 minutes.
Dinner: after strolling for 15 minutes towards the busy part of the island and passing many inviting restaurants, we decided on Indian at Pesona Restaurant. I had read about this restaurant in Balilicious so knew we couldn't go past this. We weren't disappointed, the food was excellent but we passed on the shisha pipes which were very popular with the younger crowd.
Day 5: Gilli T: no sleep in here, woken at approx 5am with the sound of prayer at the mosque. This happens every morning so be prepared. Day of sons 14th Birthday. Nice breakfast on the beach, opting for the Indonesian breakfast which included fruit platter, mie goreng, juice, Nescafe coffee. Back to room to change into bathers then off to glass bottom boat and 4 hours of snorkelling. We snorkelled off Gilli Meno and Gilli Air, had lunch on Gilli Air, then back to Gilli T. Highlight of the day was seeing turtles, hubby actually dove down and touched them. It was a great way for our son to enjoy his birthday, one he will remember forever. Back to the hotel pool for a bit of R&R before showering then heading out onto the main drag. We hired a horse and cart to take us to the tip of the island where we joined 100 others to enjoy the sunset and have a few cold Bintangs.
Dinner that night was decided by our son as it was his birthday, he decided on Scallywags where we chose our own seafood and awaited our feast. Excellent meal, another on Gilli T.
Part 4 to follow