Poinciana did not begin as a resort project.
When Nyoman first came to Tejakula, she was not thinking about creating a hotel or retreat centre. At first, she simply wanted a place where she could eventually retire, settle down and live peacefully by the sea.
She was not searching for anything in particular when she arrived. The land did not look promising. It was empty, overgrown, with dogs wandering around and cactus everywhere.
“Oh my God, what are we going to do with this?”
Something changed after spending the night in simple bamboo huts.
Nyoman remembers lying there listening to the sea and feeling something shift. From the bed, the view was beautiful. The sea felt calm and peaceful. That night, the land began to feel different.
“This is it.”
Poinciana started from that feeling.
For Nyoman, the sea has always had a special meaning. She describes it as sacred and calming. That connection is still present: quiet mornings by the water, slow days in the garden, a pace that is hard to find elsewhere.
Poinciana is not a place built around constant activity. It is a place where the sea, the space and the quiet do much of the work.
The hardest part in the early years was not the land itself. It was becoming part of the local community in the right way. For Nyoman, it mattered that everything was done the right way, so Poinciana could become part of village life — not sit apart from it.
That relationship with the local community remains central to the character of the resort. Poinciana was not built as an isolated property. It grew alongside the people and place around it.
From the beginning, Nyoman wanted guests to feel the same peace and calm that she feels whenever she is at Poinciana. For some guests, that feeling is why they come back.
“I wanted guests to experience the same peace and calm that I feel whenever I’m at Poinciana.”
“Yes, I’m back home.”
When Nyoman looks at Poinciana today, she is proud of what was created from very little, through hard work and the support of friends and family. But what matters most to her is not only what has been built — it is what should never be lost.
“I never want Poinciana to lose its Balinese soul and character.”
That is still the heart of the place: a quiet seaside retreat in Tejakula, shaped by the sea, the local community, patience and Nyoman’s own sense of what this place should be.