Nusa Lembongan
The little island of Nusa Lembongan lies off the coast of Bali, between Bali and Lombok. It takes about an hour to reach the island from Sanur Beach. Boarding the boat at Sanur can be quite nerve-wracking, as you have to hold your luggage over your head while wading out through the surf to the boat. At least, that's the way it was for us - there must be an easier way (well, there is - read on).
The island has a one village on it, and a number of small hamlets. The rest consists of rice paddies in the interior, and a strip of cheap bungalows along one beach for travellers. There are one or two losmen style places to stay within the village, too, but really if you're coming here, you're pretty much going to want to stay on the beach. Unless you're looking for something a little more up-market. In that 
case, you would stay at the Nusa Lembongan Resort - the only place resembling a hotel on the island. By staying here, you avoid the hair-raising boat embarkation in Sanur, because the resort has its own modern boat that docks at a real wharf at either end of the journey. We took a walk to the place and had a drink at their bar - it was very nice, and although I'm perfectly comfortable in a simple losmen, I'd be more than happy to enjoy a little luxury at this place on a future visit.
As in Bali, the inhabitants of Nusa Lembongan practice Hinduism. There are one or two temples on the island, but nothing of the age and grandeur as you'd find on Bali itself.
Nusa Lembongan is famous amongst surfers as having some of the most challenging and interesting waves in the area. As is common in the surfing world, specific wave locations are given names, and those at Nusa Lembongan have been given names like "lacerations" and "hospital", to name but two. In other words, this is territory for the expert surfer only. During our week-long stay at Nusa Lembongan, as non-surfers, we observed young chaps coming back from the sea with nasty looking scrapes on their legs after being tossed onto one of the dangerous coral outcrop. Unfortunately, even the slightest wound can be serious, because may types of coral are poisonous. So beware!
A major industry on the island is seaweed farming, and for that reason motor boats of a certain size/speed are banned. The seaweed is a good export earner, destined for the the cosmetics industry. The next time you apply that expensive facial cream before bedtime, consider that a component of it may well have been bobbing about along the shore of Nusa Lembongan. The farmers harvest a bit every day, and then leave the seaweed drying in colourful heaps. Though you might expect otherwise, it really doesn't smell - this is obviously a refined species of seaweed!
