In Reply to: Bali Hai or Quicksilver posted by nomad on Thursday, 13. January 2005 at 22:40 Bali Time:
Went on the Quicksilver tour in june 04 . We were very impressed, the price for the 1 day trip was about 2/3 the price of the bali hai trip and included transfers,lunch,snorkelling,village tour,and water slides. They have a modern huge catamaran and their barge is moored off nusa penida. Lunch was all you can eat freshly cooked smorgasbord including huge fresh prawns, heaps of hot indonesian and chinese dishes as well as fresh salads and fruit. It was one of the best meals we had in bali but unfortunately wife and son number two were feeling a touch queesy after the trip out. I reccomend seasick tabs a couple of hours prior if susceptible.
Also do the village tour early in the day(we went on the last trip of the day and they were rushing us to get back to the barge) It is the highlight of the trip, take plenty of 1000 rp notes to buy shells off the kids on the beach.They are setup as you walk up the beach and have obviously been told not to pester the tourists as we were not swamped or harassed instead every kid just give us the biggest smile they could muster so we got sucked in immediately lol.
There is a welcoming coconut, a mock cockfight(no spurs),weaving demonstration, these are some of the best hand woven blankets available in bali and very cheap however there is no hard sell put on you here, then a quick walk around the village and then back to the barge.
I have never been on a bali hai tour but our quicksilver trip was one of the highlights of our bali trip and a must do when we go again in september,
Hope this has helped