Today is the day I have been waiting for! SNORKEL DAY! I absolutely love swimming in the ocean and getting to see incredibly coloured fish and corals, and our hotel offered a great deal with a snorkel trip to see manta rays! Hunter and I really loved our Georgia Aquarium membership where we got to see whale sharks and manta rays (the big ones), so getting the chance to swim with them is super exciting!
We woke up around 6am and headed to breakfast at 7am for a quick bite before our driver picked us up at 7:30.
Debating on ordering breakfast to the room, but deciding against it
Peaceful morning
More delicious fruit to start the day with
We headed to the port where we met with another guy from the tour company who would be our guide for the day at their office. He was very nice and happy to be going snorkeling with us. We walked from their office to the port where we were given water/snacks and then waited for our boat transfer. They had a large terminal building we had to go through to get to the ferry boat. It took nearly an hour for everything to get organized and ready for departure.
The ferry boat ride was around 45 minutes long out to beautiful Nusa Penida. It was pretty hot, but thankfully the windows opened and we got a nice ocean breeze, as well as some water!
On the ferry to Nusa Penida
The water was splashing, but very refreshing
Once we arrived at the Nusa Penida port, we got off the boat and walked about 10 minutes down the beach to our meeting spot where they had lockers and showers. Upon arrival, we were given delicious drinks while relaxing as they organized everything. Hunter and I were the only two in the group going snorkeling as the others were going hiking. Once our guide got everything ready, we had to get on the boat which was anchored close to the short. The waves were coming pretty violently initially and we had to wait before we could safely climb aboard. Once we got on, we started heading out to our furthest stop. We would be making 3 stops total to try and find all sorts of fun animals/plants. The ride out to the first stop was very nerve racking and I almost wanted to call it quits with the 10ft swells, but I persevered and made it! Hunter and I both asked for life jackets as swimming in the open ocean with many large waves was a bit much to start with. The guide handed them over, we put fins on, and into the water we went. It was pretty busy in the first area with tons of people, but eventually we spotted a single manta ray swimming across the ocean floor. Our guide quickly dived down and got some closer photos for us.
Arrival drink to the base point of the start of our Snorkel trip
Hunter and I were a little nervous on the speedboat and choppy waters
The beautiful manta ray!
After spending about 30 minutes hoping to spot another but unfortunately not, we decided to head to the next spot which was a lovely calm bay area filled with colourful fish and corals. This was my absolute favorite spot!
FISH!
We saw clownfish, tangs, eels, angle fish and many other beautiful species
The guide gave me a mushed up pastry that the fish LOVED
I wanted to pet all of the fish!
Our final stop brought us to basically the middle of the channel where we let the current bring us almost all the way back to our starting point. Here we got to see some cool sea turtles and other little fish. It was really impressive to see how quickly the current moved us, probably 5mph which is quite fast for just playing in water.
The lovely sea turtle!
Once we were got back on the boat, we returned to our meeting spot and were served a fresh young coconut. We rinsed the salt water offand then were provided with a huge lunch platter. I wasn't really a fan of the coconut, but the food was quite tasty. For the rest of the afternoon, we lounged around on beanbags under the umbrella soaking in the peaceful ocean view. It was nice to just relax!
Fresh young coconut on our return back to the beach
Another massive and delicious lunch
Friendly puppy
His face is just the most adorable ever! I wanted to snuggle him, but restrained myself as I didn't want to get any bugs.
Fruit dessert
Beautiful ocean day
Mountains in the distant that you can hike
Another cute pup!
After lunch some of the other tourists went out to a different snorkeling location but we were exhausted and really enjoyed their little beach enclave so we hung out, had some drinks, and enjoyed the sun and beautiful views until our ferry back to the mainland. Once we got back traffic at the ferry port was crazy so our guide led us through a series of back alleys to get to a better pickup point and get us home quicker. We were very appreciative and once again being St. Regis guests seemed to guarantee us a 5 star experience with every tour company. Our guides were great, friendly, and knowledgeable and we felt very lucky to have seen a manta ray in the wild along with all the other beautiful fish.
The boat that brought us to/from the island
Lots of kites
When we arrived back to the hotel around 6:30, Hunter was sneaky and had St. Regis iced teas waiting for us! We were pretty tired overall from our long day and just lounged some more by our pool until we were ready to order dinner around 8pm. We decided to have burgers and fries for dinner which were pretty delicious! We were also given a local chocolate themed gift which was a nice touch before checking out tomorrow.
Hunter ordered the special st regis ice tea's for our return
Dinner! Sometimes you just want a cheeseburger in Paradise
A little treat the resort left us
Vanilla loaf
Macroons!
After dinner we did a little bit of packing and organizing in preparation for check out tomorrow. Hunter researched flight loads and routes as well just to ensure we were on the best routes because things change quickly.
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DATE: June 8, 2023
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