Exploring The Beaches On Penida Island
Just a 30 minute speedboat ride southeast of the Bali mainland lies Nusa Penida (Penida Island). It’s located right next to it’s tiny neighbor Nusa Lembongan. Nusa Penida has a surface area of approximately 202 square kilometres and part of the Malay Archipelago. In the past month and a half I have made three weekend trips to Nusa Penida, the first was a personal reconnaissance mission and the other two were scuba diving trips.
For an island that size, Penida is laden with hidden treasures. Pre-pandemic it was a tourism mecca for divers and influencers. In three trips I still haven’t seen everything it has to offer. Now, during the pandemic it receives virtually no tourists. Virtually all the ‘tourist'-service’ businesses are closed or operating based on request. During all my trips I was one of a mere handful of foreigners visiting the island, always the only ‘bule’ (non Indonesian national) on the boat. If you are a lover of secret paradise beaches and epic lookouts, Penida offers some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. In fact, you’re just not going to see many beaches in Bali that come even close to what’s next door on Penida. So let’s start with my favorite beaches on the island. A words of warning though, the two most stunning beach spots on Penida come at a steep price (literally) … the perk of having breathtaking cliff views above a beach means that in many of these spots you have to endure quite a climb to get down and enjoy the water.
Kelingking Beach
Kelingking, the world famous ‘Dinosaur Claw’ or ‘Pinkie’ as it translated to english, is a headland lookout point, housing below a secluded white sand beach with tourquoise waters. It’s one of the most famous images of ‘Bali’ circulated around the world by tourist agencies, except it’s not in Bali, it’s on Penida Island. Nice marketing strategy though. I can’t blame them, it’s perhaps the most epic view on the island. The climb down Kelingking beach starts at the top of the spine of the headland innocently enough with large awkward and steep concrete steps. As you go down about halfway the steps stop and the descent has to be made by carefully navigating a mostly vertical cliffside with makeshift wooden rails fixed onto the side of the cliff for stability. It’s a gnarly climb, especially for those with little physical endurance. It’s also not recommended if you suffer from vertigo (like me). If you choose to climb all the way down remember that you will have to pull yourself back up the wall. Leave unnecessary bags in your car or ask one of the Warung (cafe) owners to hold on to your stuff for a small fee. I made the mistake of climbing down with a heavy backpack and my motorbike helmet in tow. Once you get down you will be rewarded with unbelievable paradise of a beach. Remember Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘The Beach’? It was filmed on Maya Bay, a national park in Thailand off the coast of Koh Phi Phi. I made a trip there in 2015. Kelingking Beach reminded me of Maya Bay. Just no words. Virtually untouched paradise.
A local traveler took this photo of me on my way down.
Kelingking Beach Paradise
It was too dangerous to swim that morning, the break was a washing machine, so I rolled around in the sand and strolled up and down my very own private beach. I must have spent two hours down there and as I was about to leave I met two Italian women who had just climbed down the cliffside. One of them offered to take a few photos of me and we started chatting. She turned out to be the designer of House of Mua Mua, Ludovica Virga whose collaborators include the late Karl Lagerfeld and Madonna. A few minutes into our conversation Ludovica invited me to join them on her private boat but we ran into an issue. The boat charter didn’t allow passengers without a Covid-19 Rapid Test on board. I hadn’t been tested so I took a pass on the boat. I didn’t mind, I was pleased with the brief company of my new companions, bid the ladies goodbye and started back up the cliff alone with my heavy backpack and my bike helmet. It was half past noon and the sun was out full force. It must have been close to 40 degrees. As I made my way up the vertical cliffside, I started overheating and feeling faint to the point that I could not longer pull my weight up the rocks. This caused me to panic. My childhood fear of heights kicked in. There I was, stuck on a cliffside a third of the way up with no one to help me and with every passing minute I was getting closer and closer to having a sun stroke. My vertigo was getting out of control. I stopped and knelt down against the rocks. “Focus, you can do it. One step after the other, don’t look down”. I started talking to myself out loud. Acting as my own cheerleader I talked my way through the next 100 meters. One step, One more, good job. You can do it. I felt a force pushing me up that was stronger than my fear and my heat exhaustion. Once I made it to the chunky concrete steps I started crawling, my heart pounding inside my chest. When I finally made it out I never turned back, I crawled straight into one of the cliffside warungs (cafes), collapsed on the concrete floor and ordered a cold coconut with a straw on my last breath. When the bemused cafe owner brought the coconut he placed it next to my head and stuck the straw in my mouth, for which I was ever grateful. “Why you climb with your backpack? Next time leave here”. Why the hell DID I climb with my backpack? As I sucked on the straw and the cold coconut water trickled down my parched throat I let my eyes roll into the back of my head.
Never again. Oh, but it was SO worth it.
Kelingking during sunset
The other side of Kelingking Headland
Diamond Beach
You wouldn’t believe it, but after I climbed down and back up Kelingking and drank my coconut, my body was so pumped full of adrenaline from the climb I decided to drive all the way across the island to go to Diamond Beach. Alas, I never made it. My GPS threw me off course and I got lost in the wild for a good 2.5hrs, venturing into a myriad of other interesting places. When I did finally make it to Diamond Beach on my next trip to Nusa Penida I realised that it was best that I never made it the last time because I was in for yet another gnarly descent, although on a scale of 0 to Kelingking this was about a solid 6.0 . The steps eventually turned quite steep and windy but were quite manageable. Although to a person with vertigo it was still brutal, especially with no rails in place and a purse hung over one shoulder. I climbed down to Diamond Beach in the company of Lou, a friend I had met for a scuba trip that morning. When we finally made it down to Diamond Beach I changed into a bikini and threw myself into the surf. My God, this place was beautiful.
Diamond Beach in all its glory
One of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen
After splashing around in the surf I got out of the water and felt my stomach cramp up. My stomach never hurts… so it was highly unusual. Shortly after the pain set in I realised that I forgot to tell the cafe staff where we ate not to add MSG to my food. MSG is a taste enhancer powder that’s used widely across Asia and is known to have a slew of adverse health side effects. have a sensitivity to MSG so there it was, the cause of my discomfort. I could imagine that crap burning holes in my stomach lining and winged. Looking around for a distraction, I quickly found a new purpose to keep my mind away from the stabbing pain. This paradise beach we were on was littered in plastic bottles. My heart sank. Against the backdrop of impossibly beautiful nature, the destructive human footprint was ever present. I picked up a couple bottles thinking I would take them up with me when we left, but I couldn’t stop at a few. I crawled around the entire beach and picked up every plastic bottle I could find. As I was cleaning the beach from plastic my stomach cramps subsided. When it was time to go I wrapped all the plastic bottle into my sarong and slung them behind my back. I dreaded going up those steep and windy limestone steps again. Step after step I climbed the side of the cliff with my bag on one side and the sarong full of plastic on the other, scraping my knees against the rock, trying to stay as close as possible to the cliff without looking down. Lou cheered me on. There was on particular turn that I had a hard time on and as I looked up at Lou, who was meters ahead of me with panic stricken eyes she shouted. “You know what Graham would say?!” “He’d be like. That’s my baby right there! Being a badass eco warrior and dragging all that plastic up the mountain from the beach.”, she paused. “He’d be so fucking proud of you”. Tears squirted out of both my eyes and I started laughing. It was possibly the sweetest and most encouraging thing anyone could’ve said. I was caught completely off guard. It gave me the resolve to scramble up that cliff and get the trash to its destination.
Unfortunately, while I managed to get the plastic off the beach, Nusa Penida’s only system of dealing with trash is to burn it. I had to dump the plastic into a fire pit. Burning plastic releases toxic gases into the atmosphere (dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls BCPs, furans and mercury. This poses a great threat to the environment and human health. As much as I would have liked to believe that getting all that plastic trash off the beach helped, it now created a very serious, albeit invisible problem. But tragically, there is no other way to get rid of plastic on these islands. This is why it’s so imperative that the use of plastic in all its forms has to be stopped and replaced with a sustainable material. The change begins with all of us and our habits. Buy a reusable water bottle and carry it with you. Use glass instead of plastic. Being in one of the most breathtaking places on the planet and seeing Nestle bottles laying on the beach and floating in the water is heartbreaking.
Diamond Beach at sunset
Some of the plastic bottles I gathered and removed from Diamond Beach
Crystal Bay
Crystal Bay is by far not one of the most scenic beaches on Nusa Penida, but it’s a great spot to watch sunsets, as it’s facing west and it’s the jump off spot for snorkel tours. Crystal Bay looks better from the water, but it’s still a beautiful place to grab a coconut or a beer and relax. It’s also one of the easier beaches to swim as there are no big breaks or crazy currents close to shore. One of my favorite parts about Crystal Bay is the ride there. It’s quite close to the Toyapakeh Harbour, just a 20-30 minute ride through the jungle on well paved roads all the way through. It’s a great beach to hang out with your family and kids. It may not be as epic as the other two, but there are no hazards, you can just sit or lay back and relax.
Crystal Bay Beach
Where to Stay
Nusa Penida offers all kinds of accomodation. You can stay in a simple Inn or go all out and rent a luxurious villa. For the purposes of my trip, which was to rent a motorbike and explore the island, snorkel, hike, climb and dive, I went basic but nice. In my head, there is no point of renting a luxury property if you’re only going to come home to crash after a long day of adventures. I usually save the five star hotels and stunning villas for when I plan to spend most of my time on the property I’m renting. By the way, both the Mola Mola Express Harbor and Toyapakeh have private scooter rentals. I recommend renting a Yamaha NMax, it’s more stable. If you end up going to all teh places I did you’ll be offroading and you’ll appreciate a little more stability and power. An Nmax should run you about 100,000-120,000 IDR a day, maximum. If you rent for a few days try to negotiate a lower price.
Sweet Home Penida / Warung NG (250 IDR or $18 / Night) / IG: @ngsweethome
The first time I came to Nusa Penida I hadn’t booked anything. I didn’t end up choosing where to stay, the island chose for me. As the sun was setting on my day of adventures and I was driving through the jungle in the middle of the island my battery was running low and I stopped by a nice looking local restaurant to charge my phone. They made delicious food and the owner showed me the property beside the restaurant where they had built four brand new beautiful bungalow cottages with a beautiful pool view, so I stayed there that night and came back for two more nights bringing friends along during my second trip. The suites were built just as the world plunged into the pandemic so no one had stayed in them yet. Each bungalow had brand new furnishings, crisp white bedding, a private balcony, television, A/C, wifi, coffee, and basic essentials. Your stay includes breakfast which is lovingly cooked by the owner’s wife. For less than $20 it was an absolute steal. I couldn’t believe my luck.
Tentacles Bali (225 IDR or $16 USD / Night) / IG @tentaclebali
On my third trip I stayed at Tentacles at the suggestion of my diving instructor because I wanted something a stone throw away from the boat that would take us to our diving sites in the morning. Tentacles, located right across the road from the beach was a little more basic than NG Sweet Home, but offered a lovely spacious clean stay with a semi private balcony and a hammock, overlooking the garden and a pool. The food was simple, but the location was prime. Right next to the dive centers and the local beach bars. For $16 USD a night it was ridiculous steal.
Coming up in a few days on TheFearlessNomad.com …. my scuba adventures off the coast of Nusa Penida.
In Partnership with Tropical Nomad Coworking Space