Bali - Padang Bai
The ferry to Lombok leaves from Padang Bai every couple of hours.
If you have a few days you might want to stay and enjoy the 3 beaches and scuba diving in Padang Bai.
There are a variety of restaurants and places to stay from budget to high end.
5 or 6 dive shops are located on along the beach front and local fishermen often hire out their boats for snorkeling and sightseeing.
The beach in town is lined with brightly painted fishing boats.
Many of the local kids are out there swimming in the morning and lots of boats are moving in and out including the ferrys that leave from the pier in town and the dive boats heading out loaded with divers.
For sunbathing the best beach option would be White Sand Beach just a short walk along the road going south from town.
It is a nice clean beach with a gentle surf coming in. Just follow the road until you get to a small sign (white sand beach) with an arrow pointing the way down a narrow footpath through the trees. It is about 200 meters to the beach.
Blue lagoon is to the north over a small hill. You can walk or take one of the small boats around the point.
There is a restaurant there with cold drinks etc. It is a small beach but the snorkeling there is pretty good, just keep an eye on the currents and don’t go out too far if you are not a strong swimmer.
The people in Padang Bai are a friendly lot and it is easy to spend more time here than you might have planned. If you are a scuba diver there are a number of good dive sites near by.
The shops all do dives on Nusa Penida about an hour distant. It is the big island that you see when looking out from town. It is known to be a great drift dive as the current there can run pretty strong.
There are a number of dive sites around that island but most dives are done on the near side because the conditions are easier and it is not as long a boat ride.
There are a few dives such as manta point on the far side that are pretty good around Aug to Oct for spotting mantas and mola mola under the right conditions and with a little luck.
We saw 3 large stingrays a couple of days ago on the near side. There was some cold water currents on that dive and that sometimes brings in sharks, rays and other neat critters.
Blue lagoon just around the point is a surprisingly good dive with lots of sea life. It has good conditions for training if you are taking open water course. The night dive there is pretty good as well with the possibility of spotting the spanish dancer (nudibranch).
Tepekong, Mimpang, and Gili Biaha are the small islands about 20 minutes from town. Tepekong can get quite strong currents and is a great dive.
Mimpang is the one with the big tree and the eagles nest. Gili Biaha has a number of swim through caverns. All 3 of these dives are a delight to the diver.
The scenery changes with the different conditions. Usually when the tide is running and there is a strong current there tends to be more fish but there will be something different to see on every dive.
Bali - Padang Bai