We woke up and had a day of beach hopping planned. We asked at reception for a taxi and ordered our dodgy mouth coating breakfast. The lady didn't speak much english and so called her 'boss'. A man turned up and we tried to explain we wanted a taxi to Tulamben for today and then had a leaflet for a driver that we wanted him to book us for the next day. It all got a bit confusing with the language barrier but eventually I think we got it across and the man led his to his car, a souped up Toyota with stickers up the side. He is not a taxi driver! The he said he was going to get his friend to pick us up so he needed to come and see us so he would know who to pick up. While waiting for his friend (everyone in Bali is everyone's friend!) he told us Tulamben was not very good for the beach or snorkelling, just for diving. He suggested some other locations and we agreed as the Balinese seemed to just want you to have a good time but we were a little sceptical. His friend turned up in another souped up Toyota and he said he would take us to a beach where you can snorkel to see a Japanese ship wreck and then to Lipa beach. We then wanted to be left their until after dinner and wanted picking up again. After agreeing a price 'how much will you pay me' we were of on another strange adventure. He stopped off for us to hire snorkelling equipment and we were offered the standard sarong!
We went to the Japanese shipwreck and after struggling to get over the rocks got to the marker, only to find.......nothing! The water was so cloudy you could only just make out the outline. We decided to go to the next beach, although getting out of the water was an experience with an incline of stones that moved with every step! Sarah very classily crawled in to the shore!!
The driver took us to Lipa beach, he was really friendly and found everything we said very funny. He loved Sarah and carried her bag everywhere. I had a very sore eye and the joke came that I was 'crying' and he loved joining in on the joke.
He dropped us off at Lipa beach and here is where communication broke down. We assumed we were being dropped pff, as agreed earlier, to be picked up at 8. However, the driver thought we were going to be here a while and then he was going to take us somewhere else. After being hounded for a sun bed we settled on the sand and spent the day sun bathing, reading and snorkelling. The coral was amazing and we saw some beautiful fish! We walked up the beach and sat and had lunch, daily game of Yani and had some more r&r time. We then noticed our driver 'why you so long' poor man had been waiting for us (with his Friends!) and we explained the mix up. We decided we should just go back to the hotel to our usual burger restaurant on the beach. On our way back, the hotel 'boss' caught up with us and asked what time we would want to be driven tomorrow but after the mix up today we lied and said we had booked with another company as we had a leaflet and wanted to book through a legitimate company.
We're glad we did go back to the burger restaurant because we met the hotel owner, Robyn, from Sydney who moved to Amed with her baby in the hope for a more simpler life. She was lovely. We headed back to our room for cards, research hour and reading hour.