Welcome to Lovina.
Where
you from? Where you stay? You want dolphin
carving? Maybe take two. Good
price. Cheap for you. Maybe you buy later? Maybe buy tomorrow? Maybe buy next
week? How long you stay? What’s your name?
Randy and I began the New Year on the North Coast of Bali in
the mellow town of Lovina. We booked into a hotel room, half a block
from the beach for $5/night including breakfast. On our short walk to the black sand beach we
were approached by a throng of local people desperately offering their laundry
services, massages, simple shell jewelry and wood carvings. The lack of tourism was painful to witness in rainy Lovina.
We spent one day on a shoddy snorkel tour to the most Northwestern
point of the Balinese coast, Pulau Menjangan. I snorkeled for a record time of
20 minutes and even saw a small octopus in the murky water before it rained the
rest of the day. The man who sold us our snorkel tour told us we were very lucky to book with him and he
would even throw in a Sunrise Dolphin Tour the next morning.
Late that same night there was a knock at our door and the Captain
of our dolphin cruise stood on our dimly lit porch. He told us that if the
waves were too big in the morning we wouldn’t be able to see dolphins and one
of his friend’s boats went down just today. Assuming this was the end of our "free" tour - I
was surprised at quarter to six, when our Captain reappeared to
take us to sea.
There were a few other sleepy-eyed tourists on the black
beach that morning, waiting while the skippers prepared their simple vessels for the
waves. Randy and I climbed aboard the
small private boat with our Captain. Shortly after we disembarked, the engine puttered to a complete stop. Our boat turned parallel to the waves which
began immediately crashing into the boat, leaving us waist deep in water. The other boatmen swam into the choppy
water and rescued our boat - guiding us soaked and grateful back to shore. Needless to say, the only dolphin
I saw on Bali was the dolphin carving I purchased from an artist.
On our last day in Lovina, Randy rented a scooter (for
$3/day) and we drove out of town to the local hot springs. There were
no welcome drinks or extra towels but lucky for us, these beautiful hot springs only cost
$3000 Rupiah (or about 30 US cents).
