Nusa Lembongan - where to stay?

[adventureswithwill]

Thanks so much for all your replies! This has narrowed done my search to two options: Two fish divers at Nusa Lembongan or Penida Dive resort at Nusa Penida.
Adventureswithwill, your description of Nusa Penida sounds amazing. I really like places like this that are not touristic yet, and I care very little about things like a hot shower. Would you recommend going to the turtle rehabilitation center? Are there any other things you'd recommend on the island? Any beautiful hikes for instance?

I never went to the turtle rehabilitation center as I've been to a few before (and we saw plenty diving) - but I'm sure they are happy to have visitors and the volunteers that worked there would often come to Nusa Penida Dive Resort for food/drinks so you can ask them or ask the people running the resort and they can help you. There is also a bird sanctuary you can go to as well.

I would recommend hiring a moped and going to Karangsari Cave, I really enjoyed going there as it was nice to explore the island a bit more - you can also go to a lookout point which looks out to one of the dive sites. When there are Manta Rays there you can see them from the lookout, we saw 5-6 just doing their thing for 45 minutes or so before we left (could have stayed longer but were getting hungry). You can ask at the dive resort about doing this trip, they will take you for a fee or they can also just give you directions (we got horribly lost to the manta lookout point, but we just kept asking locals and eventually got there - which was part of the fun).

There are plenty of hiking options as well and you can camp overnight without any problems (again, Nusa Penida is much bigger than Nusa Lembongan and far less developed) although we didn't do any of these because we are lazy.

I know Nusa Lembongan has a lot of topside activities as well, for example surfing. I'm sure Nusa Lembongan is beautiful and I plan to do my DMT there, so don't let me sway you too much towards Nusa Penida as I haven't compared the two yet! I just know for meeting locals it was a fantastic experience and one I wouldn't trade for the world.

 

[pughio83]

It looks great. Do you know if they offer more than two dives a day?

Yes you can do 3-4 dives a day if u include a night dive but mostly 3 dives a day is what most do.

---------- Post added May 30th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ----------

It looks great. Do you know if they offer more than two dives a day?

Yes 3-4 dives a day is possible if you include night dive. But most do 3 dives! I found the afternoon dives were productive for molas!

 

[ClairevL]

Adventureswithwill, Thanks so much for all the information about NP. It sounds amazing. Just one more questions before I make the booking: did you go to the Penida Dive resort? And could you tell anything about safety consciousness there? Do they have VHF, oxygen and life jackets on the boat?
Thanks!!