We arrived here from Ubud via private car and decided to incorporate a sightseeing tour along the way to save cost as well as time. Below you will find the three places we stopped en route.

Virgin Beach – 15,000 IDR per adult (kids were free) was the entry fee to park for the day. This beautiful narrow white sand beach ran along the crystal clear waters of the ocean. Opposite the water were several restaurants set up with beach loungers and shade umbrellas. Should you purchase food or drinks from any of these establishments then the chairs and umbrellas along with toilets and showers are free of charge. It was a true slice of paradise. The waters were warm, the girls ran around and built sand castles and Tyson and I swam in the warm pristine water.

Next stop was the Taman Ujung water palace. This was a short drive from the beach. This cost was 75,000 IDR per adult and the kids were free. Inside were free clean bathrooms, which is always a bonus when touring with little ones. This water palace is a beautiful park next to the ocean with extravagant fish pond that surrounds the old Karangasem Empire heritage building which was used by the Karangasem’s King for meetings or day relaxing. The highlights for the girls were skipping from one stepping stone to the next as they were surrounded by water, as well as feeding the fish. For us, it was the amazing architecture and views beyond.

This was followed by Lahangan Sweet which boasts an epic viewpoint for Mt Agung and the entirety of Bali. It was a long and windy drive up to almost the top of the mountain. We encountered an issue though. It had just freshly rained so the 500 metre walk in was a no go. The mud was the caking kind, where each step grows a layer on your flip flop. So we turned around and were offered a 4-wheel drive option for and extra cost. Once we had a glance at the 4-wheeled tires we made the call that it was too risky to go that route plus the clouds were so low lying that there was really not much of a view. So we took a few pictures near the entrance and called it off as we turned back and headed directly to our destination of Amed.

We stayed at the Bali Dive Resort as we wanted to SCUBA dive. Because Tyson and I have to dive on alternate days with the girls we chose this hotel because it was right on the ocean as well as had a pool.

Once we chatted with the dive shop we decided we would all go together while Tyson did his dives and I would snorkel with the girls. His dives were right from shore so this worked out great. As you walk in the water over the rounded black lava rocks you are welcomed with clear visibility and swarms of colourful tiny fish swimming without order. Tyson’s first dive was in a place called “The Wall” as the name implies there is a sheer vertical wall that drops down into the darkness. Tyson’s second dive was the USAT Liberty shipwreck. This is an old U.S. cargo ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese back in the early 40’s. It came to rest on the coast of Bali and has been slowly turning into a well established reef for all kind of marine life, both mobile and not. The last 80 years has basically transformed the iron ship into something nearly unrecognizable. The Liberty also lies close enough to both the shore and the surface that I was able to snorkel out to it with both girls. Bexley was having a bit of an off day and was feeling uncertain in the water. We swam out a ways and she was wanting to go back to shore. So Lidija and I took her back to shore where she sat and watched us snorkel around. We were only about 15 metres off shore and I was able to keep my eye on her making sure she was okay. Once Lidija and I saw some of the shipwreck we met back up with Bexley on shore and soon after Tyson surfaced from his dive.

We stayed in Amed for 4 nights in total. We had a lot of rain which made for some nice down time for us. The pool was a huge bonus as you can always swim in the rain here because it’s warm. Our hotel had a great restaurant and there were also lots of places to eat as well as a mini market to get bottled water and anything else you desire. It also had an ATM in it.

I did go for a jog each and every early morning. Some mornings it was raining and others it wasn’t. A couple of the days I had to watch out for the local dogs. Morning time they were rather possessive of their territory so I found myself needing to walk past them rather than run or they would bark and chase me.

Our time in Amed came to an end so we reserved a speed boat off to Gili Trawangan for the following day.