Lembongan Island: Banana Boats, Beaches and More

By Tom

On the 13th of March we went on the banana boat in Lembongan.

Banana Boat

If you don't know what a banana boat is it is a long banana shape floating thing with two foot rests one on each side but you could also wedge your feet in between the boat and the foot rests. Also the banana boat is towed by a speed boat that is small, very fast and very bouncy - so bouncy you could bounce to Mars if you let go of the handles.

We did the banana boat at a beach called Mushroom Bay it was the same beach that Ben boked and fainted!

It cost about £5.00 each. It was very expensive (for Lembongan) but very fun.

Now I'll tell you how it worked out. At first the driver went slowly but after a moment he was zooming over the water and bouncing all over the show.

There was one part where it went crazy and it was worse for me because I was at the very front all because Ben said "Tom you go in front.”

We were lucky we had a good driver who took it slowly, I think because there were kids on the banana. We saw lots of tourists falling off the banana into the sea. It looked fun but I’m still glad it didn’t happen to us.

Then the driver did three loops around mushroom bay and back to the beach then he stops and you get off into the water which was very refreshing. Then we sat down at the bar that we booked the banana boat and all had drinks.

Beaches

There are some beautiful beaches on Lembongan. During our two days we saw a few of them.

One spectacular one was Secret Beach. This was only accessible down a cliff path but so worth it. The beach was amazing, but the waves were too strong for us to do more than paddle.

We also went for dinner one night at Sandy Bay where we were able to witness the most brilliant sunset. While having a drink we also saw some dolphins swim past. It was one of those nights we will always remember.

Mushroom Beach is where we did the banana boat, it is also the port where we arrived and left from, Ben left his mark by being sick right beside the small shrine.

Snorkelling Trip

Nyoman arranged for us to go snorkelling. We met with another Nyoman who took us out on his boat. We had lots of lollies and water to prevent Ben being sick again.

It was amazing passing Lembongan from the sea. We saw Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida. The scenery was great with lots of waves crashing against the rocks.

One strange thing we saw were men fishing from the top of cliffs with really long lines going into the sea. I was worried if they caught something big they would fall in - luckily we didn’t see that happen.

We stopped at Manta Bay but the waves were too rough to snorkel so we moved onto Crystal Bay. This was great fun. Me, dad and Ben got on for a snorkel but Mum just had a swim about.

Nyoman threw some bread into the sea and loads of brilliant coloured fish came really close to eat it. It was a bit scary with so many fish but also great fun.

We snorkelled for a bit and then went ashore and had some lunch. I had a mocktail and we also tried out our Balinese on the staff. They thought it was great.

Had a swim about after lunch and then went back to the boat. Headed around the island and stopped off at another spot. Only me and dad got in this time. We saw some coral but I noticed someone had scored their name on a large coral! What is that all about, disgraceful!

Anyway, we had a great day out and it was nice to snorkel again in beautiful clear water. It was nearly as good as Menjangan and way better than Angthong.

By Tom