We checked out the village of Padangbai last year and decided to spend a couple of days here on this visit. One of the attractions was the proximity of Blue Lagoon and good snorkelling, and the village was quite attractive with all the small boats as well as the large interisland ferrys. We had chanced upon a leaflet about a new "sustainable village" on the top of the hill above the Blue Lagoon beach called Bloo Lagoon Resort, the villas were privately owned but they could be rented; we were in luck and were able to book a three bedroom bungalow. This is a new endeavour and they were still in the process of building a restaurant which should be stunning when it is completed. You can see details about this resort on their website. The pool was designed as a 'walk in' pool which was very natural and wonderful to use; our villa was spacious especially as it was all open sided. One down side is that it is on the top of a steep hill, some units have great views, but ours looked out over the harbour and the view was mostly hidden by trees which made the interior of the villa quite dark, and throughout the night we heard the sound of the ships coming into port - but no worry this was quite interesting. We spent most of our time at the pool or on the wonderful Blue Lagoon beach. There are two warungs at the beach where you can buy wonderful fresh fruit drinks and quite good food.
We also rented loungers and had a lot of fun watching people struggling with their snorkelling gear and endeavouring to get into the sea through the very wild surf and strong undertow. It was hilarious watching people who had obviously never been snorkelling and did not know about going backwards into the sea while wearing flippers, and were thrown back time and time again. We were laughing so much that it hurt and when it was my turn to go in I felt that I had better not make a fool of myself and was in luck as I waited until the sea had calmed before entering the water and when I returned after a wonderful snorkel in the bay I managed to catch a wave and ended up on the beach like a stranded whale, my dignity relatively intact as I was helped to my feet by my son in law. Most of the visitors arrive at the beach by boat, but it was great to spend the day at this lovely spot. We enjoyed our stay here and had several meals at a great little cafe in the village where they served some traditional middle european dishes for a change.
Our next stop is Candi Dasa and Aquaria.