We Make Our Third Journey
to Glorious Bali 
(Last updated July 3, 2007)
The idyllic tropical island of Bali, in the southernmost part of Indonesia’s sprawling archipelago in the South China Sea, is fast becoming our wintertime destination of choice, just as those of you in the northern hemisphere often pick one of the Caribbean islands for annual respites from the cold. Last year, whilst we were holidaying in beautiful Pemuteran, on Bali’s northwest coast, we happened to be present as friends Dennis and Pat decided to build a villa. It’s now completed, and this year we joined Pat and Dennis and Sally and Geoff for two weeks in Bali, mostly spent at the lovely Amertha Sari Resort where Pat and Dennis built their investment dream villa. Pictures of the resort’s villas and booking information are available at http://sariamertha.com/.
The whole point of a holiday like this is doing virtually nothing besides swimming, snorkeling, lying on a beach, eating, partying and just generally slowing down the metabolism to a crawl. So, this report, accordingly, will be very brief. One of the most strenuous activities in which we participated was thinking of witty names each day for the six wooden ducks that Pat bought in Ubud, subsequently assigning one to each of us as our sort of fine-feathered alter egos. Each day our task was to think of a clever situational name for our designated duck. For example, one day I placed my duck so that he appeared to be spying under a curtain into Pat and Dennis’ bedroom at night. Naturally, I gave him the name, “Peeking duck” and everybody had to guess the name. When Pat’s duck went missing one day, she named it “Abduction.” There were “ducks on the pond,” “sitting ducks,” “roast ducks,” “air-conditioning ducts,” “ducks out of water,” ducks who were “ducking and weaving,” “lame ducks”and all manner of oddly-named ducks. You get the drift. Yes, I told you we didn’t have much to do on this holiday, but at least this kept us amused for a while and out of trouble. When I sent Lisa some pictures of the goings-on, she emailed back that we old grannies and grandpas seemed to her like kids on Spring break from school.
We had a wonderful time together on this journey, which began with four days in Ubud, in the central hills of Bali, and featured some splendid gourmet dinners at places like Canadian chef Chris Salan’s famous Mozaic restaurant, which we always visit when we go to Ubud. The food is out of this world. Then we drove to Bali’s remote northwest coast to Pemuteran and the Amertha Sari Villas, which were built by the developer of the adjacent Taman Sari Resort, where we stayed last September, to the specifications of the owners like Dennis and Pat.
This area is heaven for serious snorkelers and divers, and I’m happy to say that coral reefs that had been severely damaged (as are reefs all over the world because of abuse by fishermen and the effects of global warming) are being slowly restored thanks to the efforts of some hard-working environmentalists.
Here are a few photos of our trip:
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The Taman Sari Amertha villas where we stayed for 11 days |
The restaurant and adjacent communal pool at the Amertha Villas |
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Villa No. 8, Pat and Dennis’ idyllic Bali retreat in Permuteran |
The kitchen and, above it, the 3d bedroom of Pat and Dennis’ villa |
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The private pool at Villa No. 8, in Sari Amertha, Pemuteran |
Pat, Sally, Alma and Geoff at lunch on the beach at Pemuteran |
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Sally, Alma and Geoff at the poolside bar having a Bintang beer |
Bill clowning around as an off-course snorkeler (or beached whale) |
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Sally up to no good as Bill readies himself for snorkeling. Do not try this at home! |
The mob gets together at the villa for nightly drinks before dinner, a ritual that was never missed during our 11 days in Pemuteran |
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Life in northwest Bali is not exactly demanding by any means |
Lots of relaxing after a hard day relaxing on the beach |
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We head out to a coral garden reef and some fantastic snorkeling |
Sally and Geoff can’t wait to swim among thousands of tropical fish |
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Waterlogged Bill back from a long snorkel |
Our National Parks ranger and boat driver on an outing at the reefs off the coast of Pemuteran, in northwest Bali. The coral gardens were loaded with beautiful tropical fish, and ranked high among other spaces I’ve dived or snorkeled, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Red Sea and the Caribbean. Just a few steps from Pat and Dennis’ villa at Sari Amertha, Pemuteran, there are several reefs that are being wonderfully restored after local fishermen damaged them using dynamite to increase their catch. Pemuteran is relatively undeveloped and unspoiled right now and we just hope that it stays undiscovered by hoards of tourists. As it is, mostly serious European divers come here. |
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We inaugurated the game of Petanque to Pemuteran |
Bill checks out the score after a game with Pat and Dennis |
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On the way to Pemuteran we stopped in Ubud, in the central mountains of Bali, for four days of rest and fun |
The staff at the Ananda Cottages, in Ubud, helped Sally mark her birthday |
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On the way to
Permuteran, we stopped in Bedugal to shop a bit…. Pat with a welcome drink. She also celebrated a birthday during the 11 days we spent in Pemuteran |
….and have some lunch and a rest in the cool mountains of Bali
Geoff gets caught up by a swizzle stick during nightly drinks time
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Bill sipping over-full martini at Naughty Nuri’s, in Ubud (Photo by Geoff) |
Alma and Pat having the same problem with Nuri’s famous martinis (Photo by Geoff) |
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Bill and Sally check out Mosaic cooking school’s kitchen (Photo by Geoff) |
Sally, Bill, Pat, Geoff, Alma at the excellent Lemac Restaurant, Ubud (Photo by Geoff) |
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Bill, Sally and Geoff at breakfast before boarding a boat that took us to wonderful snorkeling reefs off Pemuteran, in northwest Bali (Photo by Geoff) |
Sunrise at Taman Sari Amertha, Pemuteran, Bali (Photo by Geoff—Bill doesn’t get up that early) |
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