Gili Meno - R n R

A quick 25 km down the coast to where the boats go.  There are 3 small islands just off the north coast of Lombok. One is a real party island but we went to the middle one. Overloaded boat, we were last on with all our stuff. Quite a rough 30 minutes, my bike nearly fell overboard after one big wave, lucky the guy sitting next to it grabbed it.  We found a gorgeous place to stay, off season price of $30 ($100 peak rate). Quiet, good food served right on the beach. We hired a small boat, driver & 1 crew for a couple of hours the next day & they took us to 3 snorkelling spots. Quite a big reef just off shore, lots of fish to  see & highlight was  definitely watching the turtles swimming. We walked around the island, took about 1.5 hours. All about the tourists here, it is nice we are here in the off season. 2 nights there then calm crossing back & about 35 km around the coast with steep ups & downs to Sengetti.  Not what we expected, lots of over priced resorts & boutique hotels but found a little place to stay further along. Massive downpour for half an hour, you get about 10 seconds to find cover before you are drenched. Left early the next morning & tried to take the quiet rds (35 km south)to the ferry that goes to Bali.  But one section had a quarry so lots of trucks for about 15 km. The rest of the ride was great.  So just did about half of Lombok, lovely beaches, nice places to stay. Straight onto the ferry, 4.5 hours to Padangbai, a lovely little village about 60 km north east of Dempasar.