Amazing place

In Bali you can get comfortable accommodation for $20 or less, and a bit more buys you a little luxury. But in Lovina, we went one step further. We lashed out and paid what we might have paid for a pretty standard Australian motel room, and look what we got!

Lata Lama is a unique resort, consisting of a collection of amazing designer hippy houses, which look like they would be more at home in Byron Bay or Mullumbimby.

Our 'Rumah Beryl' (Beryl's House) was rather magnificent. Every room, and every detail of every room, could have been at home in any of the 'Home Beautiful' type magazines, we thought. And we even had our very own nicely sized swimming pool.




It was a bit of a walk down to the beach, but that added to the charm, we soon decided.

Lovina's daily dolphin chase

One of the big attractions of Bali's Lovina is the dolphin watching cruise. Most people do it at sunrise (6 am), but there's an 8 am alternative too.

I wandered down to the beach just before six, and as expected, was soon aboard one of the outrigger fishing boats (perahu), and being motored out across the pre-dawn waters. We went a few kilometres out, and it was quiet for a while as we searched for any action.

Before long a big group of other boats was sighted though, and clearly that was where it was all happening. We roared off to join them.

Then there was an hour or so of frantic dodging, weaving, chasing, outmanoeuvring each other. And occasionally getting great close up views of the dolphins too. I actually thought the best part was just the spectacle of all the colour and movement and all the shapes and sizes of different boats and tourist groups.

There's much discussion of whether this does the dolphins any good. Locals point out that they do keep coming back every day, and I was inclined to think that they'd be pretty skilled at avoiding the boats if they wanted to, and maybe they enjoyed the daily entertainment anyway.

But then there was a story on the news in Australia today about how the dolphins in Adelaide keep getting hit and killed by speedboats there. So now I'm not so sure.

Lovina sunsets

We spent a very pleasant few days in Lovina, on Bali's north coast. It's come on a lot since I first visited many years ago, but it's still pretty quiet and relaxing compared with say, Kuta.

You can enjoy the beach, the fine food and local sights. Or you can go on a dolphin-watching boat ride. (More on that later.) The food is good and inexpensive. The sunsets are pretty good too.