In Reply to: travel between Bali, Lombok & Gili Meno posted by Cornelia on Sunday, 26. February 2006 at 05:24 Bali Time:
I agree, go to senggigi beach and orginise a boat there. I just posted on another forum regarding snorkling. I'll do a cut and paste of the two posts I made.
post 1:
Hi, went there a few months back for three nights. Stayed in the Jayakarta, about five minutes from the main strip.
Like advise, catch a plane rather than a ferry as it saves time and hassle. We did the ferry up and took a pre booked plane back.
Our driver dropped us off at padangbai and straight away they had a 'deal' for us which included the ferry ticket and transport to our hotel. This ended up costing heaps more than the fare itself. I'd advise against this - we still talked them down 150Krp iirc. I'm sure you can buy the ticket seperately and orginise transport when you arrive on Lombok.
Your hotel will have tour operators which will try and book stuff for you at the 'cheapest' rate. Anyhow we found a boat operator out on the beach at the front of the Jayakarta. For less than half quoted by the tour operators, we caugth a boat from Sengiggi beach straight to the gilis for a whole day of snorkling.
I heard you should avoid catching a ferry from Bangsal Harbour as they will try and scam you one way or another. The tour operators will use Bangsal harbour aswell. - Not worth the hassle.
Snorkeling was amazing - the fish are so plentiful and interesting/playfull- not much more I can say. Oh yeah and I can't swim for my life. But you'll find that the salt water keeps you wickedly afloat, plus you'll have a snorkle in your mouth the hole time etc So don't be concerned.
One thing I must recommend though is Sunscreen. Me and my dad were severly burned from our 5 hours or so snorkeling. We couldn't sleep, put clothes on etc for a good three days.
On sengiggi beach and sengiggi itself, you'll have lots of hawkers chasing you trying to sell you postcards, pearls etc. They are more pushy then on Bali, but still tolerable. We found it hard to eat at restraunts as they were all over us. I think they were desperate for cash though, as it was Idul Fitri, the end of Ramadan when we were there. We bought a lot of pearls, probably $80 worth. I wouldn't buy them again cause on Bali there are a few stores that will string them for you really well. These Lombok ones were strung with fishing line etc and it wasn't the best job.
Hmm, what else. Ahh, Mataram, the capital. It those have a large shopping centre etc. Lots of kids begging for money. I ended up giving some kids the rest of my fries from Maccas. Anyhow I spotted them counting a big bundle of dosh later on...
The drivers drive like crazy, as the roads are sort of up and down with lots of turns etc. Ha funny stuff, we were cruising to Senggigi for dinner when we spotted the driver taking his hands of the wheel repeatedly, We thought what the.. Anyhow we asked him and he told us he was praying.
Lombok is mainly Muslim, and they are required to pray 5 times a day , starting at 4am etc (iirc). Still nice people though.
First impression wasn't good I must admit. When we arrived it was overcast and this put a reall downer on the whole place. It seamed as if nobody smiled etc. It was all good after a while. You do realise that your not in Australia no more..
Post 2:
Just had a look through my records regarding the snorkling.
We ended up paying 380krp($53) total for both, plus tip for the whole day. I think the dude who took us was Raji or Reggie, forgot his name now. Real good bloke though.
Snorkled the main island, then done the meno wall (saw a turtle). Had the option of going on the big island but didn't want to get out of the water as the snorkling was so much fun..Had lunch on one of the smaller islands (not included in price).
We were picked up by car from the Jayakarta and dropped of at sengiggi beach some 5 minutes away. Sorted out our gear (they wanted more dosh for hire, but we said I don't think so) and then set of on a small boat/katamaran type vessle.
Anyhow it probably took up to an hour one way. A very nice view of the coast with lots of commenatary from Raji about the various beach front hotels and their owners.
Threw up on the way back; as there is a small 15minute stretch that is a little bumpy.
I think it turned out that the actual boat hire and fuel cost just under 200k. I assume that the rest would have been split up amongst his friends / fellow workers.
For the $50 we paid for both of us, this would have been the best value thing we had done on the whole trip..