High times at Lembongan's Hai Tide

When Pande Ardika was growing up in Bali, he'd ride his bike to the beach near his village and sit on the sand looking out to Nusa Lembongan, the island across the Badung Strait. It was so beautiful, he thought, it must be where gods and goddesses lived. He hoped one day he'd get the chance to visit.

Some decades later, Pande is a regular visitor to Lembongan in his role as deputy general manager and director of sales for Bali Hai Cruises, which operates cruises to the island from Bali's Benoa Harbour.

The company also owns the Hai Tide Beach Resort, on Lembongan's east coast, which is where we're sitting today, in the shade of the beach bar, drinks at our elbows, looking across the strait in the other direction, back towards the main island of Bali.

So I ask Pande about the first time he came to Lembongan. Was it as beautiful as he'd imagined?

"Oh yes," he says, breaking into a broad smile. And looking around at the clean white-sand beach and the blue waters of the bay, I don't doubt it's the truth.

Bali Hai will celebrate its 25th anniversary in February, and Pande has been with the company almost since the beginning, having started out as a waiter on board the boat. "I was skinny and very handsome then," he jokes.

Founded by Perth-based Dick Chandler, a former Qantas executive, and his business partner in 1990, the company now lays claim to being Indonesia's biggest marine tourism operator. Day cruises have been at the heart of the business since those early days, and it also offers sailing trips and evening cruises. On day cruises to Lembongan, guests can choose to either take part in the activities offered on the Bali Hai pontoon, a short distance offshore, or be dropped on the island at the Bali Hai Beach Club, attached to the resort.

I arrive in Lembongan mid-morning aboard Bali Hai II, accompanied by Pande and general manager Andrew Sutherland, an Englishman who has been with the company for about five years, having initially started as a dive instructor. The crossing takes about an hour, giving the other day cruisers time to enjoy their morning tea, soak up the sun on the top deck, watch the snorkelling demonstration or - in the case of a local group out for a day of corporate team building - commandeer the band playing on the rear deck for a spot of spontaneous karaoke. Guests can also cruise on Aristocat, a sailing catamaran, or the high-speed Ocean Rafting boat.

Near Lembongan, some guests remain at the pontoon, where activities range from the serene (snorkelling, watching fish through the viewing window) to the more adventurous (diving, parasailing). The rest of us transfer to smaller boats for the final few minutes' journey to the island.

The resort is on the beachfront at Mushroom Bay, a short sweep of sand curving around to rocky headlands, fringed by a scattering of small restaurants and places to stay on one side and the clear, gradational blue of the ocean on the other, boats moored in the shallows. It feels a world away from the main tourist beaches of Bali. No one is trying to sell cold drinks or cheap jewellery, and there's no rubbish, no rows of sun loungers, no crowds of sunburnt tourists. In contrast with Bali's volcanic black sands, there is pristine white sand underfoot.

"The really nice thing about the resort is you can do as little or as much as you like," resort manager Josh Holtman, originally from South Dakota, tells me. And indeed, later on, I observe a pair of day visitors - two Australian women, perhaps in their fifties - doing just that. One is heading off for a banana boat ride in the bay, and is contemplating parasailing. "I want to do all the adventurous stuff before I relax," she tells her friend. The other is content to lounge by the pool before wandering over to check out the barbecue lunch put on for the day cruisers.

Day guests get full use of the main pool and the beach, but there are facilities reserved for resort guests. Josh shows me the smaller private pool, which was built almost a year ago to provide a private area for resort guests, should they want it.

The guest accommodation is in individual thatched structures inspired by traditional lumbungs, set in meticulously tended tropical gardens filled with palms and frangipani trees. Most of the 17 lumbungs sleep two (although there are four set up for families), and eight of them have an absolute beachfront location, so close to the water that, seated on my balcony, I can see the special mix of joy and terror on the faces of the people enjoying banana boat rides in the bay.

Inside, they're comfortable and beachy - big beds with good linen and mosquito nets, air-conditioning and a ceiling fan, a safe and a kettle, and a bathroom at the rear that's open to the sky. Underneath is an open-air day bed for lounging and reading. Set back from the beach there's also a two- bedroom villa, which is under renovation during my visit.

After settling in, I reconvene with Josh, Pande and Andrew at Hai Bar & Grill, the resort's bar and restaurant. Seated under the thatched canopy overlooking the beach, where the corporate group is providing some inadvertent entertainment with team-bonding games, I have one of those "on holiday" moments - like a giant mental exhale, when you finally stop thinking about home and the work you've left behind, and feel entirely in the moment, and in the vacation mood.

Hai Bar & Grill is relatively new and, in Josh's estimation, "the food is fantastic". I meet the executive chef, Agus Setiawan, the following day - he's Balinese but has lived and worked around the world, including a stint in Dubai and some years spent in Perth, working at M on the Point in Mandurah and living in Meadow Springs.

Agus's menu is eclectic, everything from beef fillet, seafood and salady things to burgers, pizza and pasta. I try what might be his signature dish, nasi goreng with the fried rice wrapped in a thin omelette in place of the usual topping of a fried egg. It's very tasty, as is everything I eat during my stay.

That afternoon and the following morning are spent enjoying some of the resort's more active options. I go for a snorkel off the pontoon, and try parasailing - not nearly as terrifying as I'd imagined, thankfully.

The next morning I wake early and head down to the beach - deserted except for two local boys playing - to watch the play of dawn light on the Badung Strait, the rising sun casting tints of purple and blue across the water's mirrored surface and the distinctive, distant shape of Mt Agung, Bali's highest peak. After a very good breakfast, it's back out to the pontoon, where instructor Wendy patiently guides me through an introductory dive, a memorable glimpse into the underwater world which draws divers here from around the globe.

After lunch, we head out for a quick look around the island. Lembongan is only about 8sqkm in size, so it's easy to explore, and guests can hire scooters or join a village tour. Driving through the neighbouring village, we pass a few little shops, a couple of local warungs, a scattering of houses and temples, and a fair bit of rubbish by the sides of the road, but little traffic except for locals and a few tourists on scooters.

There's some construction going on, and Josh tells me the temples are rebuilt frequently to keep up with changes in fashion. Black volcanic stone is currently in vogue, he says. "It's a 'keeping up with the Joneses' kind of thing."

Beyond the village and the local cemetery, where the charred remains of funeral pyres are visible by the side of the road, we pause at Panorama Point. Here we can see a cluster of rooftops in the island's other, larger tourism area, called Jungut Batu, but beyond that it's all palm trees, as far as I can see. Were we to keep going, we'd see the mangroves that form part of the island's ecosystem, and the seaweed farms off the coast. We'd pass through Lembongan Village, where most of the locals live, and by quiet beaches, and more temples. And eventually we'd come to the suspension bridge which links Lembongan to Nusa Cenigan, which is even smaller and quieter again.

But for now it's back to the main island of Bali. I join Andrew and Pande on the boat as Nusa Lembongan recedes into the distance, the lumbungs and the restaurant and the beach becoming smaller and smaller until they're indistinct against the backdrop of greenery. From a distance, as up close, it's a beautiful sight.

• fact file *

·Day cruises to Lembongan with Bali Hai are $130, with various other options also available. balihaicruises.com.

·Packages at Hai Tide Beach Resort start from $170. The Hai Bar & Grill is open daily from 7am-10pm. haitidebeachresort.com.

Gemma Nisbet was a guest of Bali Hai Cruises and Garuda Indonesia.