Trip : Amed and Nusa Lembongan, Bali 2015 (2)

(have you read the first part)

Its our third day on the trip, after spending 2 days in Amed for Lv.1 SSI Freedive course we decide to take a rest around Denpasar, and then going to Padang padang beach. 

We wakeup late and enjoy our night sleep then first we go to find a gift to bring back to Jakarta. There is several place to go and bought gift, The first one is Sukawati Art Market (this place is known for many years as the place to buy gift from Bali) but we didn’t go there because its not on the same direction to Padang padang, where we heading.

We choose to go find a gift shop around Denpasar which is very easy to find, Krisna or Erlangga is the biggest and famous in Denpasar.

After getting all gift we need, we go straight to Padang padang beach. The beach located between cliffs, and great place to swim and having some sunburn. 

From there, we move on to another beach nearby named Suluban beach. Almost the same with Padang padang beach, located between cliffs, but Suluban isn’t swimmable, but the best for chatting, have a drink and enjoying sunset until the night is late and time to go back home to sleep and energizing for our next trip.

Nusa Lembongan is a small island located on the southeast side of Bali island. Nusa lembongan is one of three neighbouring island, the other island is Nusa Penida and the smallest is Nusa Ceningan. To reach Nusa Lembongan from Bali island is by boat, although you can use helicopter but of course that is expensive.

There is several way to reach Nusa Lembongan by boat, but mostly available from Sanur, such as Bali Fast Boat, Mushroom Lembongan Paradise, The Marlin Cruise, Blue Beach Boat, Sea Horse Lembongan, etc.

At that time, we almost late and had to run to the boat, it almost ruined our day with bad mood but when we arrive at Nusa Lembongan, we all feel happy again. We met our motorbike owner (we rent motorbike to go around the island) and head to Java Café, our meeting point to snorkel around the island. The boat take us to 3 snorkling spot, the first one is “Gamat Beach”, then “The Wall” and the last one is “Mangrove”.

Gamat, The Wall and Mangrove, all is a superb place to snorkeling and reef freedive. But our favorite is The Wall, its located along rocky cliff with good depth (from 4 meter near the cliff and decending to more then 10 meter). The best part of it is there the  sea current moving from one point of the wall to another point, up to 1 km long; so all we have to do is just dive and float around, super fun

Anyway I think that’s all I want to share here, if I go with detail it will need another part. The point is its super fun, relaxing with a little sunburn. Come join us on our next trip.

Read More

Trip : Amed and Nusa Lembongan, Bali 2015 (1)

Finally our first trip, together with Sita from MrsBaliTour and Endah our lovely guest from Jakarta. Our trip schedule is 2 days in Amed (for Lv. 1 SSI Course), 1 day beach rest and 1 day trip to Nusa Lembongan. We arrived at Amed around 17.00 PM and heading direct to our Hotel, most hotel in Amed having sea view with an amazing sunrise in the morning because it located along east seashore of Bali island. First night we spend for resting and preparation for SSI course.

Our SSI Freedive course is host by the amazing Apneista. Its located at Jemeluk, Amed a famous snorkeling spot there. The place is not big, wide, formal building kind of place; it’s small, cozy and warmth kind of place, place that make you don’t want to go back home.

Go check out Apneista at their website.

Jemeluk, Amed has only one single road alongside the beach line. The beach itself have great variation of fish, just a few meter swim you could snorkeling around and have fun, if that not enough there is a snorkeling spot that people named “Coral Garden” or “Amed Wall” and “USS Shipwreck” near by.

At night the place is quite, the wind from the sea is soft, calming and relaxing; resting and honeymoon feel great at Amed. At our first day, we wakeup early and took a moment to enjoy the sunrise, fresh air, and then enjoying our omelet breakfast by the beach and pool. At 9.00 we arrive at Apneista for and preparing for our course. As I have mentioned before, the place is so cozy and warm. The food and drink is great, I just cant stop looking at the menu on the wall.

On the first day we introduced about Equalization, MDR (Mammal Dive Reflect) and Hyperventilation. And then we practice in open water with wetsuite, snorkel, mask and weight. At first we practice on 5 to 10 meter, then we have a lunch break and continue open water practice.

The second day come so quickly, and as the first day we wake up early, enjoying sunrise, breakfast and go straight to Apneista for our second day course. On the second day, the course is more focus on practice on open water the theory, so after a short briefing we take our gear and head to the water.

At second day, we introduced on “duckdive” and “safety buddy”. At second day we start to practice on 10 to 15 meter deep. After 2 to 3 hour practice, we rest for lunch and then get back to the water for another 2 hour practice. What is great about the course is the knowledge about how human body work underwater and how to be stay save underwater or in open sea. I really suggest people that love water, swim on the sea, dive underwater and other kind of water people to take this course.

Read More

An intro to Balinest and Freedive

First of all, what is FREEDIVE

Freedive or Freediving is simply a form of swimming / diving underwater that relies on divers ability to hold their breath until resurfacing rather than on the use of a breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. 

Freediving activities example is spearfishing, synchronized swimming, underwater hockey, or just swimming underwater on your holiday.  The term “Freediving” also associated with competitive breath-hold diving or competitive apnea in which competitors attempt to gain great depth, times, or distance on a single breath.

and who behind this BALINEST? Me (Vidya) and my brother (Adhi) was a competitive swimmer and have swim since we were a little boy, and living in Bali mean beach and salt water is part of our live. Specially because mom and dad used to swim between small island, as childhood activity. Any way the point is water is in our blood :) But the term “Freedive” we know years later, then we got exposed to the freedive community and since we cant stop think about it. Long story short, after having lot of discussion and planning we decide to create BALINEST.

Our dream is to create a public area / a nest in Bali for people like us, who love the sea and ocean, who love to go deep underwater, love tranquility, inner peace and meditation, plus love art, creating art through any media. place for networking, sharing, teaching or just hang out. 

But creating all of those we want, is expensive, for now this is our first step; for now Balinest is a holiday-organizer and holiday-consultant that based in Bali, we help people to organize their dream holiday, let us do the research, analyzing, budgeting, booking, and all the other work; for fair amount of payment of course :) so by using our service, you also helping us build our dream.

Read More