Gianyar, Regency

Lebih Beach

Lebih Beach is spread along the south corner of Lebih Village, Gianyar, about 30 km to the east of Denpasar. The beach’s name is taken from the village’s name where the beach is located. The visitor will soon be welcomed by a row of women carrying boxes. If you pass them they will open their boxes and say, “Would you like to buy a fish”? The boxes are fish storage containers. The fish are their fishermans’ husband’s catch.

“There are 150 fishermen on this beach. Just count those traditional boats over there” said one of the woman fish sellers pointing to the boats.
According to them, the fishermen will “up” (their term for sailing the ocean), starting from 4am in the morning and will “down” (touched the land), between 8 and 10 o’clock. They also said the fisherman is not in luck always, sometimes they get plenty of fish and sometimes they don’t. “Just like going to tajen (cock fighting), we get something if we are in luck, and earn nothing if unlucky. To catch no fish, and run out of fuel will complete our loss,” they said simultaneously.
Lebih Beach not just a fisherman’s village life in Bali, but ritual attractions are routinely performed at the beach. Lebih Beach is frequently functioned as a site for purification ceremonies such as neganyut (throwing human’s ashes after ngaben ceremony) and melasti (purification). If you are lucky, these interesting ceremonial activities can be watched on Lebih Beach.
In December, exactly on tilem kanem, Lebih Beach will be crowded because of the great ritual ceremony of Nangluk Merana. Nangluk Merana is a ceremony executed right on tilem sasih kanem (the dark moon on the sixth month) on the Balinese calendar. The word nangluk means prevent, and merana mean illness or disease. So, Nangluk Merana means a ceremony aimed at preventing many kinds of diseases. The Balinese believe that sasih kanem is an unfortunate sasih (month); therefore, Nangluk Merana ceremony is needed to escape from disease abuse.
On regular days, Lebih Beach is always alive with visitors. It offers beautiful sea views, and unique lesehan that is especially served with sea-fish food such as: roasted fish, fried fish, bakso (meatballs), pepes (wrapped meat), satay, and completed with tuak (alcoholic drink made from coconut palm).
There are twenty-four lesehan food corners, ten in a row sited on the western gate, the rest located on the eastern gate, all facing the sea. You can view the blue ocean, watch the pounding waves while enjoying the seafood menu at lesehan.
From here the visitor can get a glimpse of Nusa Penida Island that stretches in the distance. Lebih Beach is visited every day, not only by local people, but also by domestic and foreign tourists. (BTN/030)