Lodge at the end of the island

“The only way in is by water.” It’s a neat saying, one that paints a picture of the effort and journey involved to reach a destination that’s isolated and a little bit, well . . . a little bit special. In Lombok, that place is Belongas Bay Lodge. Set in a remote part of the Sekotong Peninsula in Lombok’s southwest corner, guests are ferried in on an aluminium dinghy from the nearby village of Buwun Mas. And while the crossing only takes a few minutes, somehow it changes you, makes you new again and puts you in the right frame of mind for a holiday on the water. But more about that later. First, a bit about where you’ll be staying the night. Belongas Bay Lodge is exclusive, though not in a monetary sense: a night here costs about the same as the worst hotel in Australia. There are only five rooms: plantation-style cottages with large verandahs designed for either couples or families. Though not directly on the waterfront, they have waterfront views and windows on all sides to let in sunlight and sea breezes.

The rooms spread out on a lush green lawn bristling with butterflies, apparently part of a former coconut plantation. Set in perfect rows, the palm trees remain, but their deadly payloads (a coconut can kill a person if it lands on their head) are regularly removed by specialist pickers. Seeing one scamper like a spider up a coconut tree is a trip. The service is basic but good enough, as is the food, Indonesian and Western staples, for this is an eco-lodge not a resort. The drawcards are not the built environment but the natural one. With the exception of this property and a dive resort down the road, Belongas Bay and its foreshore remain totally undeveloped, unblemished, untamed. Here’s nature in the raw. Backdropped by dramatic coastal mountains, edged with white sand beaches and riddled with rocky peninsulas, the bay is a natural amphitheatre sculpted by the hand of God over eons. Just staring at it from your verandah or one of the gazebos on the lawn is highly rewarding. If that’s all you do here, it’s time well spent. Yet to really understand the place, you need to go out on the water. Belongas Bay Lodge has all your standard non-motorised watercraft: surfboards, kayaks and stand-up paddle boards. They also have two motor boats. The smaller one can be privately chartered for snorkelling or surf trips. There are two surf breaks inside the bay (imagine riding a wave with mountains on either side of you), half a dozen more breaks around the mouth of the bay and 3km of pure surf on Meang Beach behind the bay’s eastern headland. The waves are not just uncrowded; they’re totally empty. The chances of getting dropped-in on are zero to none. Kayaking in Belongas is a dream and the very reason I went there in the first place. I lose count of how many green turtles I see surfacing for air while paddling across emerald-green sea and around limestone karst islets — the same kind you see in southern Thailand. I also see a giant bottlenose dolphin, maybe 3m from head to tail. Dolphins are highly social animals and normally swim in pods. Perhaps this one is so big that he can’t play nice with others. Now for the real clincher. Below the waterline lies a parallel unspoiled world: coral reefs and subaquatic faults or fissures that attract huge schools of barracuda, tuna, mobula rays and endangered hammerhead sharks during the peak diving period from July to November.

The lodge holds pole position next to some of the best diving sites in southern Lombok: the Cathedral, a giant underwater cave at a 40m depth that gets filled by pelagic fish; and the Magnet, an offshore pinnacle that plunges 80m and is a magnet for rays and hammerhead sharks. Belongas Bay Lodge isn’t just another place to stay in Lombok. It’s a gateway to the sea, and it’s the highlight of my fact-finding trip in Lombok.

+ Ian Neubauer was a guest of Belongas Bay Lodge. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication. fact file Belongas Bay Lodge is an hour’s drive from either the airport or Kuta. Rooms start at $117 per night, including breakfast. Sightseeing, snorkelling or surf trips on a private boat are only $22 per person. Dive trips start at around the $100 mark. You’ll need to book well in advance to secure a room in July or August. belongasbaylodge.com