Nusa Penida: island of bandits
First known to Portuguese seafarers as Nusa pendita, this island has always had an unsavoury reputation. Many sailing ships have been wrecked and plundered on its coasts, and still today the place is wild and inhospitable. Lacking any ground-water, it is unsuited to tourist development, and thus an excellent place for birds. It can be explored in 1 2- or 3-day trip.
Accessible by charted outrigger (jukung) from sanur or by a regular passenger service from Kusambe, what appears to be a solid formation is in fact three islands. The nearest, lembongan, has been adopted by the surfing and pleasure-boating crowd. It could make a convenient base and is certainly worth a visit to see the peculiar man-made underground labyrinth at Jungutbatu. At low tide one can wander over to interveting Ceningan island to see the spectacle of a host of cave dwelling edible-nest swiftlets. The soup made from their mucus nests is delicacy in Hongkong and Taiwan, and the nests are harvested commercially here.