Belongas Bay, Southern Lombok

Its a diving trip  with Kapal Selam and DiveZone as the dive operator.  Short trip, only 4 days [6 dives], but soooo enjoyable! Thanks to Thea, who arranged this trip.

Friday, 11 Mar
I was almost not able to fly. Out of the blue I got stomach cramp while on the way to the airport. Took light breakfast and medicine on the lounge but my body could not take anything. Spent most of time at the restroom until boarding time announced. Dragged myself to the plane. Took another medicine again, drink lots of water then slept all the way to Lombok. Lucky me, the medicine worked, feel much better when I met Thea, Hengky and Otti at Mataram airport. They flew from Denpasar and arrived one hour earlier. Then we went lunch at Irama Taliwang (recommended), while waiting for Anton, other participants from Surabaya. Really tempted to eat Ayam Taliwang (super duper spicy chicken), famous local food. But since my stomach not fully recover yet, I ate the non spicy food.  Anton joined us later and after he finished his quick lunch, we drove to Belongas Bay.

Belongas is located in the southern part of Lombok. 2 hours drive from Mataram. Its an amazing place, I fall in love at the first time. When we arrived, the transfer boat already waited for us. Our lodge located on the other side of the bay. It was so secluded. No mobile phone signal, no TV. Only 4 Ipads :-)

our transfer boat

Belongas Bay Lodge  is a nice place and so green! If the shower has more power, it will be perfect! oh and the cook.

Gear up for tomorrow. Check into the room. Tea and coffee. Chit chat on the bale bengong. Then Thea and myself did a little walked on the beach.

walked till the end of the beach

Saturday, 12 Mar
Diving time! Thea was sick :-( Maybe because of food poisoning or masuk angin, not sure which one. She skipped the dives. Eve joined us this morning. She based in Lombok.

The dive sites were not like Gili Trawangan, Gili Air or Gili Meno on the north part of Lombok. We took boat about 15 - 20minutes to the open sea where most of dive sites located. Due to strong current, they said its only for experienced divers with minimum log 100 dives.

First dive: the Magnet. Looked for the hammerhead eventhough it wasn't the season yet.
Results: 2 White tip sharks :-) So happy to see sharks during the dive! Knowing that Indonesia is the biggest country who export shark fins! Not what am proud of :-(

Back to the lodge for breakfast - plain nasi goreng. Wished they had kerupuk!

Second dive: Catedral
Nice dive site!! Really nice! Lots of schooling and the fishes were supersize! Bigger than the average.
Viz was not that good, strong current!
Back to the lodge for lunch, then napping.

Third dive scheduled at 3pm. Rain cats and dogs. Dive rescheduled to 3:30pm then 4pm then headache came, skipped the dive. I need aspirin.

Sunday, 13 Mar
Weather was lovely!
We went to Magnet again on the first dive, start earlier than yesterday. Still no hammerhead but strong current and surge. We saw SUPERSIZE sea snake! Golden and brown color. At first I thought it was moray eel. Dive with the surge, been swung up and down, and the sea snake around me, dont ask how I fell. Am cool but I lied ^^

Back for breakfast, had plain mie goreng.

Second dive we went to the Blue Hole. Its a cave! Another strong surge at the entry point. Hengky and Pi'i, our dive guide, gave signs to turn around. Dive away from the cave and we saw boulder and boulder, remind me of Weh in Aceh. Not much fish though. Then I saw the weed hang on the wall swung up and down. Oh NO!! But now I was more calm and a bit enjoyed it ^^ Then the wall became more prettier and more fishes. Its remind me of one of the dive site in Misool, but blue hole doesn't have colorful soft corals.  In front of the channel, we saw school of glass fish and school of surgeon fish. Pi'i our guide, showed a sign of turtle but we couldn't see anything. The glass fishes blocked our sight. Until the baby turtle swam closer to us, aha there you are! Blue Hole is a  pretty dive site, pretty landscape!

Back for lunch. Eve managed to buy some fish from fisherman on the way back. Nice lunch and dinner!


Clean up the jukung, we bought their fishes for lunch and dinner

Third dive we dove at Gili Sarang. Another lovely site, full of colorful soft coral. Remind me of Misool again. Beautiful. But viz was not that good. Lots of macro here. The anemone shrimp also SUPERSIZE. And another baby shark under the coral table. Wished I bring my underwater housing :-(

Monday, 14 Mar
Our last day at Belongas. It was pouring the whole night and morning. Rain stopped at breakfast time.
We had american breakfast this time [better than mie goreng]. Then packed our diving gear, our wet diving gear. Time to back to the real world. Adios Belongas, I will come back!

Morning at the bay

The sunset 

Morning after the rain. Our last day on Belongas

Other face of Belongas