Call me crazy

I'm not sure if I mentioned how much hotter it feels on the Gili Islands vs. being in Bali? The pools aren't heated but they feel like a jacuzzi once you step into them. Also, just until recently all of the hotel showers were only salt water. Not sure how one could feel clean after being hot and sticky from being in the sun and the water and then going back to your hotel and trying to wash off with salt water. Obviously the natives have been doing it for years! One of the reasons we stayed at Luce D'Alma was that they had fresh water showers....and boy did the fresh water feel good! This morning, Jerri and I slept in and then had coffee on the deck outside of our rooms right next to the ... read more

It was time to say good bye to Jennifer as she was catching the Gili Cat fast boat back to Bali a day early because her flight leaves at 2 pm on the 13th. Jerri had lined up Montana (the waiter from the Beach Cafe) for us to charter a private boat for the two of us today to go explore the other two islands. It was a traditional Balinese boat that had the outriggers on it. There was a nylon hammock between the boat and the outriggers on both sides so Jerri and I each got to ride on the hammock and sail out to Gili Meno on the hammock watching the blue water glide by beneath us. It was good to be us! We did a little snorkeling off of Gili Meno but it ... read more

Leaving Bali this morning was difficult but made some what easier knowing that we were heading to the Gili Islands. (one of my travel mates, who will remain anonymous, came home at 5:30 in the morning after being out all night!) We were picked up at the hotel by a driver at 6:30 to make the hour and a half drive to the harbour to catch the fast boat (the Gili Cat). Its amazing how different each part of the island looks. This was on the eastern part of Bali and had more palms trees and vegetation. We drove through sleepy little villages before getting to the harbour town (can't remember the name of it for the life of me). So after waiting around (I've heard the army can be like that, hurry up and wait) ... read more

As usual the 3 of us (Jerri, Jennifer and myself) were trying to cram 10 lbs of sightseeing into a 5 lb day! But there's so much to do and so little time on this island! We had our driver pick us up early to get a start on the day since we needed to drive an hour north of Ubud to get to the Gitgit Waterfalls. Its the only twin waterfall in all of Indonesia. Besides the 22M Twin waterfalls, there's the cascading waterfalls as well as the massive 60M waterfall to hike to. We hired one of the local guides to get us to each of the waterfalls (excluding the massive waterfall). We did lots of going up and down steps that day! The Twin waterfalls are hidden behind the first waterfall so we ... read more

Sunday, April 5th Took catamaran from Bali to the island of Nusa Lembongan today. Beautiful sailing. Arrived at the island and went snorkeling off of a floating pontoon. Beautiful coral reefs and wonderful tropical fish to see. Even feed them by hand. Went back to the island to have a wonderful buffet lunch. There was a slide that went into the salt water pool. Lunch consisted of chicken satay, prawns, fruit, salad, exquisite. After lunch went on a banana boat with Jerri, Jennifer, Brad and John. Brad,b eing the crazy man, decided to make sure that we landed in the water. Then went back to the pool for a while. Had a wonderful ride back to Bali. Large swells but didn't get seasick. Sat and watched the sunset from the lounge chair and then off to ... read more