Teluk Cinta (Love Bay)

Teluk Cinta means Love Bay, and it is named for its shape. It is the image most associated with the Labengki side of this trip, and it is on the front of a great many brochures.

It's also the stop where expectations most often outrun reality, so here's the straight version.

What you actually see

From the water, Teluk Cinta is a sheltered bay enclosed by steep green karst, with pale shallow water at its head. It is genuinely beautiful.

From Kimaboe Hill, the viewpoint above it, you look down over the bay, the islands beyond it and the structures along the shoreline. Also genuinely beautiful, and the reason most itineraries include the climb.

What you don't see from either of those places is a heart.

The shape only resolves when you're directly above it, which in practice means from a drone. Every heart-shaped photograph you have seen of this bay was taken from the air. Nobody says so, which is why people climb Kimaboe Hill looking for a shape that's not visible from there and come down slightly puzzled.

Knowing that in advance turns a small disappointment into a good afternoon.

Kimaboe Hill

The viewpoint sits above the bay and the climb is shorter and easier than the one at Puncak Kayangan over on the Sombori side. It is still a climb on limestone, so the same footwear logic applies: something with grip, not flip-flops.

Competitor accounts put Kimaboe roughly ten minutes by boat from the Blue Lagoon, which makes the two a natural pairing on the same run.

If you're flying a drone

This is the stop that most rewards bringing one.

Practical points:

• You need to be more or less overhead for the shape to read. Off to one side and it looks like an ordinary bay.
• Launching from the top of Kimaboe Hill gives you height for free and a better angle than launching from the boat.
• Wind funnels around karst. Be conservative about how far out you fly and keep an eye on your return battery.
• Salt spray on the way over is the enemy. The aircraft lives in a dry bag between stops.

We do not require any permit from you to fly at our sites. Indonesian national rules still apply, they change, and checking them against your own aircraft before you travel is on you. More on shooting this coastline is on flying a drone over Labengki and Sombori.

If you're not

You are not missing the trip. Swim in the bay, take the climb for the view over the islands, and accept that the aerial shot is a drone photograph rather than a place you can stand.

Practical summary

• Getting there: by boat, on the Labengki side
• Viewpoint: Kimaboe Hill, a shorter climb than Kayangan
• Footwear: grip, on limestone
• The heart shape: only visible from directly above, so drone only
• Tide dependent: no
• Pairs with: the Blue Lagoon, on the same run

Where this fits into the wider route is on the caves, lagoons and viewpoints of Sombori, and the island itself is covered on the Labengki island group.