Well organised trip run by lovely people! The tour guide (Junaidi) was fantastic! He was clearly very experienced (22 years he said) and knowledgeable. On the two-hour drive to the port, he gave us an introduction into the marriage tradition of Lombok using his own personal experience. It nicely led to our first stop at a village where we tried some hand-weaving, rice pancakes, and traditional clothing. I liked that he was attentive at the right times. He fended off monkeys while we were having lunch and he was always helping us on and off the boat. At one point, my wife wanted to go back to a previous snorkelling spot and this was openly received and accepted by the tour guide and boat crew. It was nice touch which we greatly appreciated. At no point did we feel bored (or exhausted) with Junaidi. He picked the right times to talk to and check in with us. Speaking of the lunch, it was a feast. There was more than enough for me and my wife, and it was the best Indonesian food we had had whilst being on Lombok. Though we were a bit unlucky with the weather (not as sunny as we would have liked), it was still a great experience to go to Pink Beach. The sand was super soft and fine, but the weather meant that we could not see as much pink as we would have liked. The diver who led us around the water He knew the right spots to take us to see a wide variety of fish which included the cast of Finding Nemo 😅. We were surprised with the quantity and diversity of fish we saw. On a quick stop at Gili Pasir (which would soon be submerged by the high tide), the diver kindly offered to take photos and videos. Throughout the whole trip, he approached everything with a big smile! With no activity did we feel rushed. We took our time with snorkelling and eating lunch which made the day even more enjoyable. My wife and I had a wonderful time and we would recommend this tour.

On the journey to start my snorkelling trip my guide stopped at a village where the women weave cloth and have a co-operatve to sell what they make. This wàs not on the itinery at all and although interesting I had not paid to do this and felt awkward when I did not want to buy anything. We were there almost an hour. Where we collected the boat was incredibly dirty with rubbish everywhere and no organised/specific embarking/disembarking place. After a journey of at least 2hrs i I was surprised there were no decent toilet facilities. There was only one toilet that was extremely basic, dirty and i had to pay an extortionate tourist fee to use it. . The information about the excursion listed plenty of snorkeling. In reality it was just two stops and not for very long. The rest of the excursion was to stop on a beach for a photograph. Along with boats of other tourists doing the same. Again the information implied bountiful fish, beautiful coral, unspoilt nature etc. The coral was mostly dead or broken, had very little colour and we only swam in open water which was choppy with a strong current making it hard to swim and difficult to see the fish. My snorkeling guide was not interested to show me where to swim or what to look at. The other stops we made were just beaches for a photo with lots of other non swimming tourists. The coast was very arid - again the information on the website was not accurate. For lunch I was taken to a dirty beach with several eating places. I was given food the guide had brought and I sat on my own as the Viatour team went elsewhere. After lunch we went to another beach for a rest stop. This beach was very quiet but no good for swimming. I was not told after this it would be another beach stop for a photograph and that was the end of the excursion. When I realised there was no more snorkelling planned i asked the guide if we could find somewhere instead of stopping on another tourist busy beach but the captain wanted to finish and get back to shore. I used ViaTour as it had been recommended on a couple of YouTube videos i watched. But all in all i was very disappointedand and dissatisfied and concluded it was alot of money badly spent. Will not be booking another ViaTour excursion in the future.

Das Riff zum schnorcheln ist super! Selten ein so großes intaktes Riff gesehen. Die Strände waren toll, Essen super lecker, Crew top. Der einzig negative Punkt: die Fahrt zum Hafen war zu lang. Der Ausflug hat 11,5 Std gedauert und wir haben 6 Stunden alleine im Auto gesessen. Nur zu empfehlen wenn man im Süden von Lombok Urlaub macht

Junaidi and his team (2 other gentleman which I’m so sorry I couldn’t remember their names), they were excellent in making sure we comfortable at the same time enjoying ourselves during the whole trip. As my wife wasn’t a great swimmer, the boat captain jumped in and joined us snorkelling and he actually went the extra mile to tow my wife around pulling on her life jacket throughout the entire snorkelling trip. Lunch was also amazing. The other gentleman was also helping us take beautiful pictures throughout the entire trip. Overall, this private tour, was an amazing experience and is definitely worth the recommend. Thumbs up to Bale Laut for this memorable experience!