What a great night’s sleep last night . . . even had to put on a blanket! Over the bridge and through the pond to breakfast . . .

But not before a coffee on the settees where last night we watched the sunset!

emJay can finally get wi-fi so she checks in with colleagues at home.

We have a French chef here so the scrambled eggs were yummy and creamy. French style! With fresh squeezed  papaya and watermelon juice.

Soon we would head out on our next adventure in the Safari boat!

Since the tide was still low, the seaweed farmers were busy at work. This island’s income was exclusively seaweed farming prior to the recent arrival of tourism.

Only several years ago this is how predominate the seaweed farms were around the coast . . .

. . . but tourism is a lot more lucrative. Most of the seaweed farming has been moved to areas around the island not so involved with tourism.

Baskets of harvested seaweed are brought to shore. The seaweed is grown on a 45 day cycle, and planted rotationally, so there is a continual daily harvest.

Sample seaweed, final harvested product! One of it’s derivatives, agar, is used in making beer, jelly, Jell-O, cosmetics and it prevents ice crystals from forming in ice cream!!!

I struggle to be graceful while boarding  the boat.

Off we go over the shallow waters of the seaweed plots.

Over on the northeastern end of our island are more farms, backed by a large mangrove forest.

Looks like the Wisconsin Dells developers have arrived at remote Nusa Penida! A floating resort complete with . . .

. . . a water slide!!!

Our driver, Mr. Watan, helps me with my flippers.

The happy snorkelers. We swam in two locations, Toya Pakeh Wall at the base of the limestone bluffs that make up Nusa Penida. TNC worked here on marine conservation in our first years working in Indonesia. Then we went to Mangrove Point off Nusa Lembongan. It was amazing to see the diversity of coral and incredibly colorful fish. In clear beautiful waters.

Tourists get a closer look at seaweed farming by  the mangrove forest.

The mangrove forest at low tide. Their feet are in the water . . . their heads are in the sun.

There is a small community  of seaweed farmers at the end of the spit of land where the mangrove forest begins. We had a quiet cruise through the edge of the mangrove swamp. Mr. Watan worked hard to produce a bird for emJay, and finally we saw a small sandpiper with a longer tail, kind of a pointed fan shape. Wish Scott and Cary were here for an ID.

Big thumbs up for an incredible tour chock-full of nature.

A gentle goddess seduced us into taking a dip in the tranquil pool . . .

All of our hearty exercise made us feel deserving of some Bintang and French crepes, poolside! Emmeter cheese, Norwegian smoked salmon, scallion and peppers. YUM!

With just a ‘little bit’ of room in our tummies, left we decided to have a ‘little dessert’. Now crepes can be either savory or sweet, so Rick decided to stick with the crepe theme and had a Crepe Helene. Poached pear, pralines, chocolate sauce, caramel, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Good thing we went snorkeling today!!!

. . . and I enjoyed the Homemade caramel and chocolate ice cream. Two boules! No more – no less!

After all the activity, I needed a massage to work out all the knots, and headed over to our spa.

One hour latter, with all those muscles SOOOOO relaxed , I had to be  wheel borrowed back to our villa. Note the sunburn from the morning of snorkeling!

We noticed that in our courtyard, the god of vacation, had received a little offering of the monetary kind from a former visitor . . .

. . . $1000RP or about 8 cents USD!! There is a 12-20% service charge and 15% tax added to every service you are provided so it is customary to just round the bill up to the next Rupiah to leave a little extra.

After a little more relaxing we headed to the beach for a little more resting, a martini . . . and to watch the sunset

Soon it was time to eat at our own resort restaurant run by Chef  Clement Fouquere. After placing our order the amuse bouche  soon arrived. A lovely little grilled shrimp floating in a sauce and topped with fried onion straws. YUMMY . . .  but  only one mouthful!!!

I chose the 10 hour slow cooked marinated Pucha pork belly, caramelized, with a cauliflower puree,  on a base of pickle and onion chutney and balsamic vinegar reduction sauce. It was fall off the bone tender, although there was no bone . . .

. . . and Rick chose the The Crab, a mix of Lombok crab, avocado, green apple and green curry sauce.

We ordered a nice bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and after another glass our Main Courses arrived. Rick had the scallops in a coriander coulee with home made gnocchi and a clam sauce served with crispy Parmesan crisps . . .

. . . while I had the  Fisherman’s dish that included mahi-mahi and clams with coconut milk and lime zest. YUM!!!!

I was too full for dessert so Rick had to go it alone and had NO trouble taking care of the ‘It’s All About Chocolate’ cake and ice cream. He didn’t even share!

The night was beautiful  and we sat out on the beach loungers for another glass of wine, enjoying the evening breeze and watching the lights of Bali across the ocean strait.

NOTE TO DIANA: Remember, we start Weight Watchers right after the New Year!!!!

Todays posting written by guest journalist, emJay!