I am always at my happiest when I am on, in or near the water (in that order). So needless to say when Matthew was keen to get on a boat on our honeymoon, he didn’t have to ask me twice if I was interested. I managed to stay asleep till 6.30am today, which is the latest I have managed to sleep in for months. The alarms were set for 7am in preparation for our 8am pick up time.
To fuel for the day we get Macca’s breakfast delivered, and we laugh as our very inexpensive breakfast comes beautifully presented in our very own reusable bag too.

Rocky, our friend and tour guide, sadly won’t be joining us today. He has been sick and sends someone else to pick us up.
I grab a quick coffee before we pack up our stuff to head to the meeting spot. I laugh at the window signage realising it’s clearly a post COVID plea for the tourist trade to keep coming back.

Our laneway where our villa is cannot fit many cars so it isn’t too far to catch up with our guy. We chat away and learn the driver and Rocky are cousins with a big family (140 people when they all get together). It rivals my Grygoruk family who weigh in at around 50 people.
It’s not too long before we arrive at the harbour and the magic begins. The harbour, as expected, has many people who accost you the minute you get out of the car, with things you might need for a day on the water, like hats and waterproof phone covers. They are very smart and listen to what you are saying, realising they’d heard our names and started to use them to get our attention. We politely decline of course and are greeted by our crew today consisting of Yudi, Wayan and Ish, two of which I have met before on previous visits. From this moment on, you can’t wipe the smile off our faces. It’s a perfect day for a day on the water and we head out of the harbour in no time as the crew fill the esky with my Cruisers and they ask if we want some water.
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Our first stop is to get some fishing in. There is a reason why they call it fishing and not catching. We tried at least 5 different spots without any luck. But Matthew’s smile showed that it didn’t matter at all. I’ve noticed that when he is truly happy, his dimples are more noticeable, so needless to say, they were VERY noticeable indeed.

Eventually the crew and Matthew draw a line under fishing, and we head to experience the manta rays. There is only one passing by today, but what an incredibly magical experience. They are huge, but so graceful as they pass by the many snorkelers and scuba divers, completely unbothered by our presence as they glide through the water.
As we get back on the boat it is hard to describe how we are feeling about what we just saw. In a bit of a happy daze, we stop briefly for the money shot at Donut Rock before we head to our lunch stop.

We are tendered in by a smaller boat which takes us right up to the beach and we are shown to a beach club where we enjoy a tasty lunch as we watch families and couples enjoy the pool in front of us.

We let Wayan know we are ready to head back to the boat and he whistles at the tender boat to come ashore to take us back. It’s amazing to watch how they manoeuvre the shallow waters to get us out to our boat.

The colour of the water is insane and Yudi tells us we are going for a current snorkel, or as Matthew called it ‘lazy snorkel’. You basically jump out of the boat and the current takes you over the top of an aquarium on steroids. It is by far the best snorkelling I have experienced to date. I felt like I’d been dropped into the scene of Finding Nemo. We were lucky enough to feed the fish, meet a couple of turtles and experience the underwater world in a way that will stay with us forever.
We are met at the harbour by yet another of Rocky’s family to drive us home and we laugh at the organised chaos on the roads here. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but everyone is polite and accomodating of the other road users even though the use of lanes here seems optional.
Our last full day in Legian tomorrow, and we are exhausted, so we order in and fall into bed completely satisfied with an absolutely incredible day.

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