Menjangan Island

[Jonnie 0]

Menjangan Island

 

Menjangan Island is a small uninhabited coral island about 40 minutes by boat off the far north-western tip of Bali. At this tip, Bali almost touches the southern end of Indonesia’s main island of Java. When diving and staying in this area, a string of several huge volcanoes stretching along the Javanese coastline are clearly visible off in the distance and form quite an impressive sight. The dramatic and “primitive†beauty of the mountainous topography of this area cannot be over emphasized.

 

This was my first trip to this area and I stayed at and dived with Mimpi Menjangan Resort. As noted earlier, it is about 3 hours from the Denpasar/Kuta area. It is not a dedicated “divers†resort but a semi-luxury boutique resort that also has a dive operation. The resort is located in a large and pristine park-like setting along a quiet and calm mangrove lined cove. This resort is really something special and I will take a little time to describe it thoroughly. First, the setting: It is a low-rise resort of Balinese influenced design consisting of standard rooms and deluxe private villas set in a large expanse of manicured park-like grounds, which gently slope down to a pretty mangrove lined cove. Looking out on the cove, the volcanoes of Java are off in the distance. There is a small sandy beach in front of the resort. There is a very relaxed feeling to the resort. It is particularly enchanting during dusk, when the sun is setting behind the sea and volcanoes, or when stargazing at nite.

 

The rooms and facilities at Mimpi Menjangan Resort are superb. I stayed in a standard room and it was spacious, clean, and comfortable. It had aircon, in-room safe, and multiple electrical outlets. The bathrooms are an outdoor open air design. There is also a front porch sitting area. There are also high-walled private villas (but I didn’t go inside one). In relation to the spacious grounds, there are not a lot of rooms (maybe 50-60 in total) so it all feels very spacious. The restaurant is located on the beach down by the cove shoreline. It is an attractive open-air design and is the perfect place for a pre-dive morning coffee or dining in the evening. The food is a tasty mix of continental European and Indonesian/Balinese dishes. There is also a full bar. My only compliant (lazy me) is that the rooms and restaurant are located at opposite ends of the resort and it is a little bit of a walk from one to the other. However, a room service menu is available.

 

The resort has two large outdoor swimming pools and a really special feature – natural thermal mineral springs. One pool is centrally located in the park-like grounds and offers views of the surrounding resort, while the other is located adjacent to the shoreline and offers views of the beach and mangrove cove. The thermal spring water is piped into several soaking pools spread around the resort. Believe me, after a day’s diving, there is nothing better than a dip in a hot mineral bath to sooth the muscles and relax the mind. [WARNING: BEFORE USING THE HOTSPRINGS, ALLOW A MINIMUM INTERVAL OF 1-HOUR FROM YOUR LAST DIVE. FOR MULTIPLE DIVE DAYS, THE MINIMUM INTERVAL SHOULD BE AT LEAST 1½ - 2 HOURS.]

 

The dive facilities are not fancy but functional and adequate to the task at hand, i.e., diving at Menjangan Island. There are spacious rinse tanks and all your gear is washed by the resort staff and securely stored for the nite. There are about 10 dives sites at Menjangan Island and the resort’s dive program offers up to 3 dives per day. Their website offers various diving packages and you can book the one that matches your diving style. The sites are about 30-50 minutes by covered outrigger boat from the resort. A boxed lunch is provided. The dive leaders are professional and know the sites well. They were excited to point out the best each had to offer and keen to find what I wanted to see and photograph. All gear is handled by the staff so all you have to do is hop in the boat and enjoy the ride.

 

The resort also has a dedicated massage and spa studio. Though I didn’t use its services, I noted that a full range of massage and aromatherapy treatments were available. The resort also has a full range of half-day and full-day sightseeing trips around the island. These cover the gamut from trekking, rafting, and bird-watching in the mountains to visits to ancient Hindu temples and Balinese cultural performances.

 

I found my stay at Mimpi Menjangan Resort to be thoroughly relaxing and way too short. The range of facilities and the comfortable setting makes it particularly well suited to couples where one is a non-diver. The diving partner need not feel guilty leaving his partner behind, knowing that a range of topside activities are available to keep them busy. The serenity of the resort also makes it an ideal romantic honeymoon location for newly married divers.

 

Menjangan Island Divesites

 

Eel Garden

 

This is one of the best sites I have dived in SE Asia! The underwater topography at this site is stunning. It combines a wall, encrusted with hard and soft corals and deep open-water off to one side, and a sandy plateau over the top of the wall scattered with coral bommies . It’s almost like getting two divesites for the price of one…a deep open-water drift wall dive and an easy sandy bottom dive.

 

The Eel Garden is certainly an appropriate name for this site. The sandy topside of the wall had the largest field of garden eels I have ever seen – there were eels as far as the eye could see in all directions. There was come current along the wall making for a pleasant drift and while getting “over†the wall and onto the sandy plateau. The visibility was very good at 25-30 meters and with the clear skies filled made for 2 beautiful light-filled dives.

 

The wall is covered in reef-fish and looking away into the deep open water many pelegics were seen, including a Black-tip reef shark, several turtles, barracuda, tuna and blue and yellow-fin trevelly. The wall is also has many gorgonian sea fans and my DM took me over to one and pointed out 5 pygmy seahorses on it! As there were many such sea fans along this wall, I would assume that several would host such seahorse stables. Mantis shrimp, and many varieties of angelfish and butterfly fish also swim about the wall.

 

The sandy topside of the wall presents a totally different experience – bright and airy. The marine life found here is varied and stunning. The highlight had to be a coral bommie filled with swarms of juvenile fish and THREE Leaf Scorpionfish (yellow, green, and white) AND two ornate ghost pipefish in the center. A Black-spot snake eel and Cockatoo wasp fish were observed on the sandy bottom. This area also had the most trigger-fish I have ever observed at a single site – both Titan and Yellow-margin varieties. There must have been several dozen swimming around in groups of 4-5 and also singly at their nests. They were generally non-aggressive…I was only challenged once and only because I insisted on getting close for a photo-op. There were also squid and a Pharaoh cuttlefish scampering about some staghorn coral.

 

POS I

 

This site appears to be sort-of an extension of the sandy plain of Eel Garden. Again, the triggerfish were present. This area was also covered in large fields of healthy hard lettuce coral and large sponges. Additional snake-eels were seen, along with several turtles. Many varieties of tropical reef fish were around in abundance. The highlight of this site was surely the DM pointing out my first Mandarin fish sighting. Many commensal shrimps were seen in amongst the anemones, including several beautiful specimens from the translucent Periclimenes family.

[Rocha 0]

Thanks for the detailed report Jonnie! Great for someone who is undecided about where to go in Indonesia. It makes me want to go back there.

 

Luiz