Another much anticipated day today with an exciting day on a chartered boat. But more about that later. The girls and I are on a time schedule this morning knowing our pick up is at 8am. After a restful night’s sleep we are all up and ready for breakfast for 7am. ‘Our’ table is available today so the girls make a beeline for it as soon as we arrive in the restaurant.
Another great option in the ‘breakfast of the day’, while the girls opt for some good ole bacon and eggs on toast.

We giggle as a dog walks through the restuarant. It’s one we have become familiar with as it has barked at every dog on his ‘turf’ right outside our hotel every morning. Clearly happy to make itself at home. We hear it often before the lift has even hit the foyer.

We notice the “Bali Rizio” car already across the road as we finish off our breakfast, and make a beeline for the rooms to get our final bags packed for a day on the boat. There’s not too much to pack as we are provided with towels, snacks, snorkeling gear and drinks. Pretty much packing sunscreen and alcohol is all that is required. Such a simple preparation time for this day.
I message Rocky to let him know we are on our way down and he informs me that he is stuck in traffic coming home from Ubud and has sent his driver instead to make sure we weren’t late.
The driver’s English is minimal but it’s ok as we weave through traffic areas and soon find our way closer to the water. THe area surrounding the marina is very third world. You see waterways that are polluted and shanties for homes. But before long we pull into the marina drop off area that is also covered in tourists filing onto larger boats for tours out to the various islands nearby. It is at this point I am so happy not to be a part of that, as chartering our own boat means there are no crowds, no time schedules, and Sing Ken Ken (no worries).
We are approached by many of the sellers here attempting to get us to buy fruit and waterproof phone covers, work by so many of the Chinese tourists making their way over to the wharf. We politely decline and are told by our driver to wait by the car. Seems the boat has yet to moor, but it’s not long before we spot it and head down.
We are greeted by our captain and crew member who will be looking after us today. They help us by carrying our bags and tell us to ‘hati hati’ (be careful) as we cross another boat to access ours. It’s clear we have one of the best boats in the harbour and it’s not long before we are off and ready for our adventure.

We set off and plug in the music. The subwoofer in the boat is awesome and we soon learn this is going to be a day to remember. On our journey over to the islands we admire the view and soak in the sunshine. Being on the water is such a soothing place for me. I find being on the water somewhere that I feel at home and at peace. The girls smiles are big, and their eyes are bigger as they take in what view they are seeing as we make our way over relatively calm seas. It’s already going to be a tremendous day, so to celebrate I crack open a Smirnoff. Yes it might only be 9.30 here, but that means it’s nearly lunch time back home. Sure this is ok?

The crew are incredible and pretty much bend over backwards to make us all happy. Between opening drinks, and offering snacks, to taking photos and making sure we have great music, it’s really an incredible day out.

Our first stop is to snorkel with the Manta Rays. Yes manta rays. I have never seen them before, let alone swum with them. The are so graceful as they swim, turn and swim past again. One swims so close I have to pull my arms in as not to touch it. Despite the laksidasical way of life in Bali they definitely have the conservation message starting to be a way of life. We are snorkeling with one of the crew that rouses on another guide for allowing their tourist to touch it. They are incredibly magical to watch and it’s easy to just have your breath taken away by their gentle nature and the smooth way they own the ocean we share with them for a short while.
Our guide has brought with him a buoy in case we get tired. We are all doing ok, and all 3 of us are seasoned beach swimmers and snorkelers, but he wasn’t to know that. Safety first – or as my sister likes to say ‘safety never takes a vacation’. There’s no rush to get to the next spot, but we are asked if we are ready to move on and we jump back in the boat. As we are attempting to gracefully get out of the water we are told by our captain that they are not always there, so we have been lucky.
We sit on the front of the boat for our journey to the next stop. The captain drives slowly so we can enjoy the view and the sunshine. We admire the scenery and Bostons description of the water couldn’t be any truer – stunning! The girls are definitely feeling grateful for this experience, I can tell.

Now to snorkel with gorgeous tropical fish and coral. We are amongst the cast of Finding Nemo here. We also spotted a beautifully striped eel amongst the coral too, it stuck close to the ocean floor but elegantly slithered along the baseline of the reef it called home.
And then it happened……our guide said “look down” he sounded super excited. At first I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about but then, there is was. The most gorgeous sea turtle! I absolutely love animals in general, and seeing this creature, not a care in the world, was truly magical. The girls are also in awe, so we follow it from the surface for what feels like an eternity. Like the manta rays, it’s smooth movements and graceful gliding make it mesmerising. I dive down to swim right near it, of course I didn’t touch it, but was close enough that I could have.
Once again we surface to be told we are lucky because it is rare to have the experience of seeing a sea turtle like that. The girls and I are buzzing, and the captain asked how we liked seeing the turtle. Saghat Bahagia (VERY happy)!!!! The captain has put out a floating mat for the girls to chill out on and he throws them a couple of drinks so they enjoy time above the water this time. The music is still pumping too. Great tunes indeed.

I had jumped back onto the boat, only to be asked if I wanted to jump off the top? Please, of course I do!! The girls see this and immediately want to join in, so they climb aboard and we all laugh when Boston nearly slips jumping off. We seem to have attracted a bit of attention of the boat drivers around us too. They are all dancing and laughing too. I watch as our driver shares a drink with another boat some distance away, but does a throw that any baseball player would be jealous of. Talk about Uber eats taking it to the next level.

We get ready for one last stop which is another snorkeling stop. The waters are incredible once again and the girls opt for a little more snorkeling while I just have a quick dip to cool off and capture some snap shots of the girls from the boat. I giggle as I see Jamei’s very sunburnt butt floating about the surface of the water. I am not sure why the current fashion is to pretty much show your entire arse to the world in your swimmers, but that’s all I have seen over here.

It’s now time for lunch. It’s a stop that is a somewhat secluded beach over on Nusa Lembongan and we have to be tendered in on smaller boats. The driver of the tender tells us how lucky we are for great weather today, as the last two weeks out there haven’t been all that good, but today the seas were calm and sun shining with no clouds.

This is where we hope to see Rocky, but currently no other Bali Rizio boat in the small harbour. The girls and I make our way upstairs. This is a familiar spot for me having eaten here last visit when I traveled to Bali with my mum, sister and brother in law. The views are spectacular. As I write this I am trying not to run out of vocabulary on how to describe the things that we have seen today.

Rocky arrives as we are finishing up our meals and we head down. We spotted his familiar satchel as his tender boat approached the beach. We joins us on the boat and announces that he has brought with him the GoPro. What a shame we didn’t have it earlier for our other underwater encounters. Never mind, we head back out and jump off the boat for one last stoop and Boston takes control of the GoPro and captures some cool footage of the sea life (and herself). Rocky insists on getting a photo with the girls only, he already has plenty of me apparently.

Exhausted yet satisfied we agree it’s time to head home. It’s now just after 3pm and normally takes about 45-60 mins to get back to the wharf where our journey began. However, Rocky is the driver now. We should have been warned to hold on tight. It was a hilarious ride home as we rode the waves and got thrown around a little bit, which was so much fun.

We arrive back to the wharf and are helped back off the boat and walked to our driver to head back to the hotel. We farewell Rocky and the crew and thank them for an incredible day. The traffic to leave is pretty crazy so our driver takes us through a locals route which reminds me out of something from the movie ‘banged up abroad’. Although it is here that I have a very special moment with the girls. They look around at this way of life and Jamei says, “this makes me really appreciate what I have back home”. There are very humble shacks, if you could call them that, the waterways polluted too. I explain that this is where they would bath, get their drinking water and bathe. It’s crazy to think that back home when we see the slightest discolouration come from the tap we are on the phone to report it. We really live a privileged life. Life lessons right there, and THIS is why I love to have young people travel.
There is smoke along the way home, which we were told was from the tip and it made visibility in some areas very poor. Fortunately it doesn’t add too much time to our journey and we arrive back at Zest in no time at all. The girls opt for showers, while I have been sent on the hunt for prices so Jamei can get some extension braids done.
I return back without great news as it is proving to be an expensive exercise. But we also want to get Jamei a aloe Vera treatment as she is off for her tattoo tomorrow and has been kissed by the sun after our day on the boat. Boston gets some braids and I opt for an hour long foot massage. A perfect pre dinner activity.
So now we are ready for dinner which tonight will be down at the Mozzarella restaurant not far from our hotel.

We order cocktails and are served up the most delicious food. I couldn’t believe how quickly the girls plates were cleaned up. Obviously all that swimming and sunshine we’ve all worked up quite the appetite. The staff here are incredible, and I make sure I send some pictures home to a friend who I know will be jealous of where we are.

Boston is ready for bed, but we need to try and find somewhere to do Jameis hair. She has little time left given she will be in the tattoo chair for the next few days.
Success! On our way to grab cash for the next day, while Boston went to bed, we found a small spa prepared to do it for a lot cheaper than anywhere else. We’re asked to come back in 15 mins so we do!
It takes 4 ladies and till nearly midnight to finish it, but I’ve managed to get some blogging done while I sit in the salon drinking Baileys and watching the ladies do their thing.

Finally it’s done and Jamei and I can crash. Boston already fast asleep there are no alarms needed tomorrow. I’ll be hanging with Boston so we hope to do a spot of shopping and maybe some swimming. But you never know what the day will bring.