The short walk down to the water

A canvas lodge is a few steps from the shore. What the pebble shore looks like in the morning, and what is happening on it.

The canvas lodges are a few steps from the shore. The shore is dark, coarse pebble, not sand. Most mornings the boats are out or landing when you get there.

What do you walk past?

The lodges sit in the garden behind Saga. The sea is in front of Saga and the pool, so from your lodge you hear it rather than see it. You end up on the pebbles by the water.

What is the shore like?

Dark pebbles, coarse and round underfoot, and loud when a wave pulls back through them. There is no soft sand here. That is a trade, and it is part of why the shore still works for a living. The pebbles hold the heat, so by the middle of the morning sandals are easier than bare feet.

What is happening on the shore?

Jukung, small wooden outriggers, go out most mornings and land on the shore. Saga buys what it needs from them. There are no loungers in rows and no beach bar. This is a fishing village first, and none of it is arranged for guests. Watch if you like, keep clear of a boat being pushed, and ask before you photograph anyone.

Can you swim here?

Swimming is generally safe. The team watches conditions every day, and if that changes they will tell you before you go in. Take care as you step in, the way you would on any pebble shore. If you dive and want to rinse your kit, use the showers by the pool and ask the team to help.

What should you take down?

Sandals and water. Your lodge has beach towels, so take one down with you.

It is a working shore, a few steps from where you sleep, and you hear it all night. See the lodges or read the plain facts before you book.

VELA Tianyar is eleven canvas lodges behind Saga, our restaurant, on the pebble shore at Tianyar Barat, north-east Bali.