Islands – Maldo Travels

San Andres – Buggy Rental

Jean Maldonado — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 20:00:00 +0000

When we arrived in San Andres, we mainly got around the island via public transport or taxi. In the first couple of days on the island, we noticed several buggies on the streets and also rental spots. We enquired about the buggy in one of the rental spots near Centro and decided to hire one for one of the days we had free. The rental came to 200,000 COP¹ for 1 full day with a full tank.

We picked up the buggy at around 11 AM and headed down to the southern tip of the island. It took us about 45 minutes to drive down the coastline enjoying the great beach views along the way. We stopped at El Hoyo Soplador which is one of the main tourist spots in San Andres. At this place, the parking is free, but the locals ask you to buy a drink or food from the restaurant bar. We ordered one of the local cocktails called Coco Loco which was served in a coconut. There was a long queue when we got there to take a picture at the place. This tourist spot is a natural phenomenon of a blowhole in the rocky ground. When the waves come crashing into the cove, you’ll get a gust of wind and water sprayed out of the blowhole. We waited in the queue for about 10-15 minutes to get a picture/video.

Next, we continued driving along the coastline in a loop around the island. After about 20 minutes, we arrived at a viewpoint on the west side of the island. At this viewpoint, there is the tourist letter sign of I Love San Andres Island. There aren’t as many people at this viewpoint compared to the other letter sign of San Andres in Centro, so it’s easier to get a picture here. After getting a picture we continued driving up the coastline to get to Centro on the north side of the island. It took us about 30 minutes and it was now around 1.30 PM so we went for lunch in Centro.

After lunch, we stopped by the main tourist letters of I Love San Andres in Centro. We then looped back around the island making stops at remote beaches along the way. Most of the west side is quite rocky and mainly used for Scuba diving. The south and east side have untouched sandy beaches with clear water. Since these beaches are more remote, they don’t have crowds like the beaches at Centro and were great to relax in. We finished our loop back to Centro at around 6 PM to drop off the buggy.

San Andres – Semi Submarine

Jean Maldonado — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 20:00:00 +0000

We booked this tour for the afternoon with Ecodivers Tours following our Scuba Experience Tour in the morning. The minibus that picked us up from the dive center dropped us off in Centro and we headed to the tour agency’s office. From here, one of the reps walked us over to the pier where the semi-submarine boat was located. It was a large boat which was anchored in deeper water, so we first got on a smaller boat which took us to the semi-submarine. The semi-submarine had lots of seating space for about 50 people and lots of shade. We set out at around 3 PM and headed in the direction of Haynes Cay for about 30 minutes.

The boat slowed down near a shallow zone where there was lots of sea life and we were invited to go down to the hull. The hull was full of windows so you could see all the marine life swimming around. The guide pointed out the different species and gave us information on them. Another guide dove into the water to lure fish toward the boat. This part of the tour lasted for about 20 minutes before we headed to another zone for swimming. The boat anchored in and we were free to go for a swim. The current was very strong so not many people got in, but it was a refreshing swim to cool down from the sun. At around 4.30 PM we began making our way back to the pier and finished the tour at 5 PM. It was a quick boat ride into the sea and a good way to explore the sea life without getting wet.

San Andres – Scuba Diving

Jean Maldonado — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

We had originally planned to do one of the 3-day certification courses, but we ended up backing out because the place we planned to do the course was very unorganized. Also, we went during Covid and they didn’t seem to have adequate cleaning protocols. We didn’t plan on doing scuba diving there again, but whilst in Centro, one of the tour reps convinced us to go with another dive center. We were booked in for a morning half-day Scuba Experience session and we were picked up from our hotel at around 10 AM. After making a couple of other stops, we got to the dive center Sea Pride on the western side of the island at around 10.30 AM. We registered and went to the seating area to wait for other groups to arrive. Once everyone had arrived, one of the instructors began their presentation and demonstrated how to use the equipment. They gave clear instructions on what our role was once in the water and that we would have 1 instructor between 2 people who would operate the equipment.

At around 11.30 AM they started handing out the equipment and made sure the fit was OK for us and that it was all in working order. After everyone had their gear on, we were taken out to the shore to dive into the water. The entry point for us was from a rocky shoreline, and we had to drop into the water on our backs. An instructor checks your equipment one last time before you drop in, and there’s another instructor in the water waiting for you as well. The tank is the heaviest part, but once you drop in, you float right to the top. The instructor then tells you to lie flat and breathe through the regulator. They then turn you to face down into the water for you to get used to breathing through the regulator. Once everyone from your group is in the water and familiar with the regulator, the instructors signal us to swim further into the sea. They adjust the buoyancy as we keep progressing so all we had to do was breathe through the regulator and signal that we were OK. My group set out at around 11.55 AM and the scenery was amazing. We got to see corals, lots of different fish species, and an eel. In all that time in the water, I didn’t notice how deep we had gotten until we were signaled to go back. I managed to get some great shots with my GoPro, but the instructor also took pictures of us which were much better.

Overall it was a great experience that convinced me to take the certification exam on another holiday. The instructors were great and knowledgeable, but sometimes they took a while to adjust my buoyancy which meant that sometimes I was too close to the corals or the seabed. The experience in the water lasted about 30 minutes and we were out of the water by 12.30 PM. We then went back into the dive center to return our gear and get changed. The minivan then arrived at around 1 PM to pick us up. One of the stops it was making was at Centro which was convenient for us since we had another semi-submarine tour scheduled in the afternoon.

San Andres – Caribbean Paradise

Jean Maldonado — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 20:00:00 +0000

At the departure airport, everyone has to purchase a Tourist Card which costs 25 USD² and can be paid in USD or COP³. you must make sure to keep the Tourist Card throughout your stay and present it at the San Andres customs when leaving the island. We arrived at the San Andres Airport at around 4 PM. The airport is quite small so we got through customs quickly. Upon exiting the airport, several taxis are waiting to pick up passengers. Our hotel was located in San Luis on the east side of the island which was a little far away from Centro where the main strip is. We decided to first walk to the main strip to see if we could get a tour for the following day.

The main strip is a short 20-minute walk from the airport, and you can first walk to the beach and walk alongside the sea which is a beautiful walk. Once we got to the main strip, we found a couple of tour agencies and bought an Islands Tour for the next day. We then took a taxi to our hotel which cost us 25,000 COP. We stayed at San Luis Place by Dorado which had a private beach. A perk of the hotel we stayed at is that we also had access to the private beaches and facilities of the other hotels By Dorado. That evening we headed to one of them in the San Luis area Hotel Reina del Mar which had a bar and restaurant.

We spent a week in San Andres which is great for both relaxing and going on tours to explore the island. Many of the hotels have private beaches and we found time every day to chill at the private beaches and pools of the hotels By Dorado. There are also lots of tours and activities available and we headed out on the Islands Tour, a Scuba Diving Experience, a Semi-Submarine tour, rented a golf cart to tour the island, and went to a Boat Party. Overall, it’s a great island destination to experience Caribbean beaches with lots of activities.

Nusa Penida – Scenic Island Beaches

Jean Maldonado — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 23:14:50 +0000

We booked this tour in Kuta for 800,000 IDR³. The tour bus picked us up from our hotel at around 7.30 AM and it’s a 30-minute drive to Sanur Beach. We’re given our boat tickets here and have 15 minutes to walk around the beach. It’s quite empty in these early hours but some of the stalls are open if you want to grab snacks or drinks. The ride on the speedboat to Nusa Penida takes 1 hour and we arrive at around 9.15 AM. We get off on the north side of the island at Toyapakeh. There are several guides here picking people up so you have to wave your receipt for yours to spot you. We then get on another tour bus and head to Kelingking Beach. The island is quite mountainous and we drive through the winding roads of the mainland to reach the south-west side of the island. It takes about 50 minutes reaching our first destination at 10.15 AM. We arrive at the cliffside which has an amazing view of the beach and the peninsula reaching out into the sea. We only have about 15 minutes here to take pictures so we can’t head on the trail down to the beach.

Our next stop is a 30-minute drive away to Angel’s Billabong arriving at 11 AM. This is a natural infinity pool that looks over the sea. However, it was closed off so you cant swim in it and can just take pictures from around it. It is very busy here and we stayed for about 10 minutes to get some pictures. We then headed to Broken Beach which was a 5-minute walk away. This destination is a cove where an arch in the cliffs lets water flow in to form a pool. We get around 30-minutes to walk around the perimeter before heading back to the tour bus.

At around noon, we continue to our last destination at Crystal Bay stopping for lunch at a tourist restaurant. We’re done with lunch by 1.15 PM and reach Crystal Bay at 1.30 PM. This is a popular sandy beach lined with beach chairs, umbrellas, and bars/restaurants. We’re given snorkeling gear and the guide says we don’t have to swim too far to see some sea life. We head into the water and is very shallow for about 20 meters. There are corals and rocks in the shallow water so it would be best to head out with water shoes. It’s a great snorkeling spot where you’ll get to see plenty of corals, fish, and other animals swimming around. We had about 2 and a half hours at Crystal Bay and we spent most of our time snorkeling. We then also grabbed some ice-cold beers and sat on some benches in the shade enjoying the view.

At around 4 PM, we headed back to the harbor which was a 30-minute drive away. We got on the boat and were back at Sanur Beach by 5.30 PM. Our pick up was late and arrived at around 5.50 PM. This was rush hour time and after dropping off other tour groups at their hotels, we reached our hotel at around 6.30 PM.

Gili Islands – A Remote Paradise

Jean Maldonado — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 22:01:37 +0000

Coming from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived at Bali International Airport at around 10 PM. Getting through customs was fairly straightforward and when exiting, there were several tour sales reps around. We found an ATM at the airport to get cash out and then we got a Grab⁴ to our hotel in Kuta. We didn’t have boat tickets yet for the Gili Islands so we asked our driver who gave us a Whatsapp number for a sales rep. There was no more space on the boats departing from the nearby port at Serangan, but the rep said there was a boat leaving from Padang Bai to Gili Trawangan at 10 AM. This harbor was about an hour’s drive away and the sales rep said he could offer us return tickets plus transportation for 1,600,000 IDR⁵ for both of us. It was quite pricy but it was similar to what we found online for just boat tickets. The car picked us up at around 8.30 AM the following day to take us to Padang Bai. There was a lot of traffic getting out of Kuta but we made it to the harbor in time for the boat. The pier at the harbor was very busy with lots of people waiting to get on their boats. We’re all given stickers to help the staff determine who goes on which boat. As you board the boat, they take your luggage to secure onto the boat. You then head down to sit in the lower deck. The boat travels quite quickly and about 20 minutes in, the captain announces that people can head to the upper deck. Beer is also available to buy on the boat. It’s quite a long journey and we arrived at Gili Trawangan at 12.30 PM.

The Island

We stayed on the largest of the Gili islands, Gili Trawangan, which is also known as Gili T. The main strip on the east side of the island is filled with tour agencies, restaurants, hotels, and bars. There are also lots of certified scuba diving agencies, many of which also offer accommodation. This part of the island is very lively and great to relax in during the day. It has beautiful sandy beaches with crystal clear blue waters. In the evening, you can catch the sunset whilst having a drink or some dinner with a view of the sea. At night, the bars have live music and there are 2 or 3 clubs on the strip. The atmosphere is great with people dancing on the beach outside the club. There is also a night food market that does some great barbecues and fresh seafood. The west side of the island is less busy and has some resort hotels. It’s a great spot to catch the sunset and it’s a short 25-minute walk from the east side. You can also rent bikes if you’d like to explore more of the island.

Snorkeling

We booked this tour for 100,000 IDR each and the boat left the pier at 1.30 PM. The first snorkeling stop is at the shore of Gili Meno. There are some corals here and lots of colorful fishes. The main attraction is some statues on the seabed where lots of fish swim around. The water is clear, calm, and quite shallow which makes it great for snorkeling. We spend about 30 minutes here before heading to Turtle Point. The waters here are much deeper and fewer fishes are swimming around. The highlight here is that you are pretty much guaranteed to spot turtles swimming or resting on the seabed. We made 2 stops at different parts of the Turtle Point and got to see lots of turtles. We stayed in the area for about an hour and 15 minutes before heading to Gili Air for some food. We’re taken to a restaurant inland and then have some time to walk around the island. This is the smallest island and much quieter than Gili T, but it also has similar sandy beaches with crystal clear blue waters. After a short walk, we then headed to the boat and back to Gili T.

Lombok – Waterfall Tour

Jean Maldonado — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 23:21:27 +0000

After several beach days on Gili T, I looked into some adventurous tours. We found a private tour to visit some waterfalls in Lombok on a day trip for 400,000 IDR¹ each. The speedboat left from the beach at 8.30 AM and it was a short 20-minute sail to the Lombok harbor on the northwest side of the island. At the harbor, we waved our tour ticket and someone came over to take us to our transportation. It took about 1 hour 30 minutes to reach the starting point of the trail to the waterfalls. The driver said he’ll be waiting there and we headed out with a guide who was waiting for us there.

First, we head to the Tiu Kelep waterfall which takes about 50 minutes to reach. On the way, we go past Sendang Gile waterfall and the guide says we’ll stop here on the way back. The trail starts by following the canal and is partly paved. When we reach a stream, the trail becomes a little more tricky and at some points, you have to climb over boulders and fallen tree trunks. There weren’t many people on the trail and when we arrived, there were only about a dozen people there. It’s a 2-platform waterfall where the lower waterfall is wide and the upper waterfall is narrow and tall. There are several photo spots around. You can also try and get closer to the waterfall but you get wet by a mist created from the water splashing down.

We spent about 20 minutes at Tiu Kelep waterfall before getting back on the trail to the Sedang Gile waterfall. It took about 20 minutes to reach the waterfall and there’s a rest area with benches. This waterfall is taller but you can also get close to it and have a shower beneath it. We also spent about 20 minutes here before heading back to the car. At the starting point of the trail, there’s a restaurant where we had some lunch. At around 2.15 PM we then begin the journey back to the harbor to catch our boat back to Gili T. We got there at around 3.45 PM and in the main pier, we asked where the next boat to Gili T leaves from. They pointed us to the beach area and we saw some people gathered around there waiting. The boat came at 4 PM and got back to Gili T by 4.20 PM.

Ko Phi Phi – Island Boat Tour

Jean Maldonado — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 22:55:54 +0000

On the main island Phi Phi Don, there are private and group boat options to explore the smaller Phi Phi islands. We got an afternoon snorkeling tour with a group boat for 1200 THB⁵ each. The meeting point was at Loh Dalum beach on the north bay at 1.30 PM. There were about 10 of us in the group and once everyone arrived, we were given life jackets and set out to Monkey Beach on Phi Phi Don. We visited this beach earlier when we went kayaking in the morning. Visiting on the boat tour in the afternoon was quite different since the beach was very busy now with several tour boats anchored at the beach. It was a quick stop here for pictures and some snorkeling. There are a couple of fishes here but not that many. The next stop was then Long Beach on the south side of Phi Phi Don. The ship anchored in by the cliffside in an area called Shark Point. One of the guides said there was a chance to see some sharks hence the name of the site. We didn’t manage to see any but there were many fishes and some corals, so it was still a good snorkeling location.

We then left Phi Phi Don and headed further south to Phi Phi Leh arriving at the north side of the island at around 3 PM. The boat sailed around the perimeter of the island passing by Monkey Bay and a quick stop at Viking Cave where the guide tells us of the paintings found in the walls of what appear to be Viking ships. The guide also gives some info on how locals get edible swiftlet bird nests from here to sell. It is believed the bird nests have some health benefits and is considered a delicacy. We then continue sailing via Pi Leh Lagoon and then anchoring in at Loh Samah Bay for some more snorkeling. This was also a good snorkeling spot with corals and several different fish species.

Next, we continue to Maya Bay, the famous beach featured in the movie ‘The Beach’ starring Leonardo Di Caprio. The beach was closed off due to damage caused by tourism so we could only sail past it from a distance. This was the last location on Phi Phi Leh and we set off to Bamboo Island for the sunset. On the way, we made a brief stop at Nui Beach to take pictures. We arrived at Bamboo Island at around 4.20 PM and were told we could wander around the island and pointed to good snorkeling locations.

It’s a very small island and a great place to relax at the beach and swim in its refreshing waters. We stayed here until 6.30 PM when the sun started to set. We then got to see the rest of the sunset from the middle of the sea. The colors of the sky and silhouettes of the islands were beautiful. Once the sun had fully set, we headed to the south bay on Phi Phi Don for a swim with fluorescent plankton. When you jump in the water and splash around, the plankton light up. The plankton is tiny and I couldn’t capture it on a GoPro, but it was good fun. We were then dropped off at the pier and we headed to the hotel to change into some dry clothes before heading out for some dinner.

Ko Phi Phi – The Beaches by Kayak

Jean Maldonado — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 16:33:00 +0000

In the morning, we got to Loh Dalum Beach at 8.40 AM and found a kayak rental place offering their services. We got a 2 person kayak with snorkeling gear for 3 hours which cost 200 THB¹ each. Our first stop was Monkey Beach which took us about 30 minutes to get to. The beach was empty in these early hours. We left our kayak on the beach and went for a stroll. When we got back, we found a monkey at our kayak who was going through a hidden compartment that we didn’t even know about. We left our water on the kayak which the monkey stole and drank. Once the monkey left, we picked up our kayak and headed to Nui Beach.

This was a longer journey than our first leg and more tiring which took us about 40 minutes. On the way, we went past the cliffside of Phi Phi Don and some large rocks in the middle of the sea. Nui Beach small but it’s a very scenic beach. In the background, you can see several large rocks including one which looks like a camel. Other than some locals prepping a boat, we were the only ones here. The water here is quite shallow which makes it great for snorkeling to get up close to the sealife. We stayed here for about 30 minutes before continuing onto Loh Lana Bay.

It took us about 20 minutes to reach the shore of Loh Lana Bay. Once again, we were the only ones here. This beach was the biggest of all 3 that we visited and its waters were also quite shallow. We didn’t stay here for too long since we had to get back to return the kayak. So after taking some pictures, we headed back to Loh Dalum Beach. It took us about 40 minutes to row back, taking breaks in between.

Ko Phi Phi – A Paradise Island

Jean Maldonado — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 21:57:00 +0000

In Patong, we bought tickets for a ferry to Ko Phi Phi departing at 11 AM with transportation to the Rassada Pier for 400 THB¹ each. We were picked up at 10 AM and it took about 40 minutes to get to the pier. We presented our ticket at the entrance and were given a colored sticker and directed to a seating area to wait for our boat. There are several stalls inside the pier to buy food and drinks. Our ferry arrived and upon boarding, we handed our backpacks to the staff to secure onto the deck. We then head into the lower deck to grab a seat. It took about 2 hours to reach Ko Phi Phi and the captain lets you go to the upper deck to take pictures throughout the journey. Once at the pier, we got off the ferry and picked up our backpacks which had been unloaded. We then headed to the pier exit and it was quite hectic there as the staff is collecting the 20 THB island entrance fee from all visitors. We then went looking for our hotel which proved a little tricky since it wasn’t on Google Maps. Once we located it, we checked in and then went to explore the island.

The island is very small with most of the restaurants, hotels, and tour agencies near the pier. After wandering around the streets for a bit, we headed to Loh Dalum Beach on the north bay of the island. We walked along the shore to the right side and found a trail that goes inland to the viewpoints. The uphill trail isn’t that easy to follow and goes through the jungle with many mosquitos flying around. After about 40 minutes, we arrived at the first viewpoint looking out to Phak Nam Bay from a boulder high up in the mountain. We then walked for another 10 minutes and arrived at Viewpoint 3 which cost 20 THB for access to the deck. There’s a restaurant here where you can get some food and drink whilst enjoying the view.

We then continued walking down another 20 minutes to Viewpoint 2 which cost 30 THB for access to the viewing area. It’s a beautiful view of the island from here and there were already quite a lot of people by 5.15 PM when we got there. Since we managed to get a good spot, we decided to stay here for the sunset. We played some cards while we waited and the viewpoint started to get very busy at around 5.30 PM. The sunset started at around 6.30 PM and we stayed until around 7 PM. The colors of the sky were beautiful, one of my favorite sunset spots of all my travels. On the way back, we used our phone’s flashlight to head back, but the trail did have some lights along the path and was easy to follow. It took about 15 minutes to get back to the town and we went to a restaurant to get some food before heading back to the hotel.