B.Y.O.T - Bring Your Own Tanks
one of my best dive trips so far, because (1) i love bali (the surfer dudes, the arts, tourist traps, in that order) and (2) we saw the
mola mola! make that TWO mola molas.
here's picture (taken by thomas) as proof.
this guy was like 2.5m big. when our dive guide,
menyun, gave the mola mola hand signal (clenched fist with little finger and thumb sticking out like telephone call hand signal), i finned like a mad fish towards him and waited. seconds later, the mola mola appeared from the blue, then swam away. another few seconds later, the second mola mola came by to the cleaning station at
crystal bay, nusa penida, about 10m away from us. he was enjoying a good clean-out by the long-fin bannerfish who were fussing around him like maidens attending to the emperor. the first mola came back but was further away in the blue. we hovered around watching them in awe for like 15-20 mins. this was an unexpected sighting since it was not the mola mola season. usually, these deep water creatures come up to shallow waters for cleaning when the waters are colder (around
21 deg) during
August to October. our dive was in
27 deg waters. though the mola mola does not look very streamlined with a huge head, huge dorsal and pelvic fins shaped like fan's blades, he can move very very fast. when one of the divers tried to go nearer to him, he flapped his fins very slightly and zipped away.
after the mola mola sighting, it didnt matter much that the other dives were not as good as they were supposed to be. strangely, during the week we were there, the macro life was not as rich as it usually was. we put it down to the magnitude 6.2
earthquake in Java on 27 may 06. maybe all the little guys got scared and went into hiding.
generally, the dives were good. good visibility (average 15m), not too cold (26 - 29 deg), currents not too bad (no washing machine, no down currents, etc). surf was high along the way from
sanur to nusa penida (45 min by speedboat). so choppy that si-y got pretty seasick.
our dives at nusa penida on the first two days were at half price apparently because it was the launch of
baliscuba's new boat. very attractive in bright orange.
there was
free flow of ice cold soft drinks on the boat. the divemasters/boat crew were all skilled in opening the bottle caps without an opener. so to be a divemaster in bali, you have to learn how to do that.
it was very crowded at
manta point, nusa penida on our first dive day, possibly because it was saturday. we got there around 9.30am or so and there were already 7 other boats there. weather was good.
this site was a
manta ray cleaning station and it was supposed to be GUARANTEED sighting of many mantas. however, all we saw were divers. the second day was so much better. we were very late due to some admin problems. got there about 10am and there was only 1 other boat there. the moment we descended we saw the mantas. there were maybe 6 mantas (some white belly, some black) dancing around. we watched those magnificent creatures in awe. at one point, i finned close to one of them. i was alongside him for a while and when i turned my head, i saw another huge black-bellied one coming after me from the right. worried that he may mistake me for a plankton, i crouched down in fear as he glided just above me, crapping along the way. the bugger...
picture of manta by thomas.
happy divers. the dive guide, sangut, used to work in another dive shop and bonz dived with him before. he was the one who retrieved my watch when she dropped it during her previous trip! has reggae dreadlocks. the other dive guide, tom works in a bank and is a freelance divemaster during weekends.
i forgot to mention that on our first day, there was a diver in our boat who has huge moobs (aka male boobs)! this has to go on record. i wanted to take a picture but it would be too obvious and might embarrass him. not only was it big and sagging a little, the nipples were huge! yes, like a pregnant woman's. mind you, the rest of him was not fat. so guys out there with huge moobs, either keep your t-shirt on or wear a bra so you won't risk getting your topless picture posted on the www. it was a disturbing sight, mainly because his was possibly bigger than mine...
back to
sanur. the beach was flat, muddy and when the tide recedes, the water is shallow for a long way out. they had to use a makeshift boat to ferry us and our equipment back to shore.
puffer fish trapped in pool of water when tide receded.
beached boats at
sanur.
did our theory classes for
nitrox certification after the nusa penida dives. was so tired after dives i just couldnt do the dive tables. thank God for dive computers... here's bonz pretending to be a nitrox mixer.
accommodation at sanur was very nice.
baliscuba arranged for us to stay at
sindhu mertha, a boutique hotel just across the diveshop.
beautiful pool. was tempted to wash our dive gear in the pool.
breakfast was quite pathetic though. limited choice of either sticky, oily pancake with slices of unripe bananas or toast. they serve orange juice but only if you asked.
on the third day, bonz and i started on our dive safari adventure while thomas and si-y decided to explore bali over land. first stop was
secret bay. it was
3 hours by car from sanur on the northwest part of bali. along the way, you will see the beautiful mountains in west bali national park.
we were the first divers to arrive at the site. no other divers in sight! it was a very quiet bay with narry a soul. there were no diveshops around, no compressor, it was
byot (bring your own tanks).
there was a shed, basic outdoor shower facilities and concrete water tanks for rinsing gear.
according to menyun, this site used to be a lot better until some japanese diver did a beach cleanup and removed much of the trash. apparently, some of the critters never came back since. replacing the trash was
artificial reef structures. found a huge family of fat
catfish in one of those. there were more than 20 of them huddling together like sardines in a can, each was about 1 foot long. catfish soup, anyone? waters here were cold, about 26 deg, which may explain why the catfish were huddling together.
after this cold dive, we went for early lunch of very spicy
ayam betutu aka spicy kampung chicken. the shop was very near the dive site. just drive out, turn left then turn right, you got it? if not, never mind, follow the sounds of the cock's crows, because there was a chicken farm opposite the shop. throughout our lunch, we could hear him cocka-doodling pitifully while we were ravaging one of his kind.
the
ayam betutu was very good but be warned that it would bring tears to your eyes, not because of the pitiful cock's crows, but because it was very very spicy.
next stop was
pemuteran. menyun used to work at the diveshop here and he swore that there was good stuff at this site. similar to secret bay, this was a black sand site.
we were supposed to see
frogfish, mimic octopus, ghost pipefish, etc. however, for whatever reasons, we did not see any of the above! at this site, saw
clownfish eggs on a rock next to an anemone. very cute. can see two silver eyes in each egg. the father clown was very aggressive when we came near. he chomped on my finger and he did this very strange thing of stroking the eggs with his pectoral fin. there were several
floating square frames at this site which menyun had installed in the past to test open water students on buoyancy. looks like an underwater playground.
third stop was
police pier. a nondescript site. just a small road that cut through
padi fields and led directly to the beach.
no hotels/resorts, diveshops, toilets or any tourist traps. to dive here, you have to pay the locals
Rp5,000 per diver. for this sum, they would provide a pail of fresh water and also the fishermen would stop fishing and move out of the way. while we geared up, the whole village came by to watch us make our grand entry to the sea.
the road leading to a nondescript opening to the beach.
chilling out while our dive guide does all the work of rigging up our equipment. we would remind him every now and then,
'service with a smile', in case he got fed up with two of us lazy divers.
at this site, saw a school of silver fish moving very quickly like a swarm of locusts across the waters. the
mantis shrimp was even quicker, snap snapping to catch his dinner that was swimming by above him. i saw a
mimic octopus in a hole and made a hand signal - you know, with eight fingers wriggling. but menyun and bonz could not be bothered to come! i found out after the dive that they did not know that my eight fingers signal means mimic octopus. haha.
dinner after the dive was
sate gambing aka mutton satay and
sup gambing aka mutton soup. i usually dont like mutton because of its strong smell. i dont know how they cooked it but there was no bad smell! even the liver was fresh and had no bad smell. it was so good i finished the whole plate of satay and had a second bowl of soup.
sate bagus!
accomodation at pemuteran was very very nice. they even decorated the bed with frangipani/bougainvillea. such attention to details! i like!
next day, we drove down to
tulamben, about
2.5 hours away. along the way, passed by
mount agung. such a beautiful sight that i had to stop to take a picture. does this not remind you of the kindergarten graduation photo where they make you stand in front of a wall painted with a magnificent landscape?
tulamben had a
pebble beach. i figured that the tide levels variation may be pretty high because they built 1m high walls along the coast with gateways at intervals. i found the gateways interesting as they looked like the typical gateways to a balinese house/garden, with steps bound by two posts at the side. instead of stepping into a garden or house, here you step right into the sea!
before our dive, saw this big, furry caterpillar.
checking the oxygen level in our nitrox tanks for the dive.
the
USS Liberty wreck was just about 30-40m away from shore. so we could do a
beach entry to get to the dive site. quite challenging as the pebbly beach is not easy to walk on, especially with a heavy tank. thank God for menyun who held on to our tanks while we wobbled down like ducks.
marine life was rich. there was a resident
napoleon wrasse, huge
cod and miscellaneous
coral fish.
clown fish eggs were found here, too. at the sandy bed, there were many
garden eels.
after the dive, there would be
balinese women/children who help bring your equipment out of the water back to the diveshop and you must let them do it. not only because it is precarious for you to walk such a long way on the pebble beach carrying such heavy stuff but it is a means for them to make a living. they are very experienced and skilful in keeping their balance. i half suspect that they can carry two tanks plus walk on a tightrope.
relaxing after the dive. drinks by the sea.
stayed at
paradise resort, which was hardly a paradise.
yellow bedsheets, urgh!
dirty black pail in toilet.
heard that most of the other accomodation around tulamben area were also not much better. anyway we only had to stay one night there. next day, we drove to
seraya, which was very
near to tulamben. the diveshop there had a spacious and clean area for washing gear. here's menyun with kawaii-san and our driver, made (read mah-day, means no. 2 and is a common balinese name for second child). menyun has
special liking for all things japanese. haha...
dive here was good. several
nudibranchs. saw one with
'rabbit ears'. he was orange with brown spots. there were also
seahorses,
honey comb moray eel, and
cryptic frogfish. we were supposed to find the
harlequin shrimp here. sk dove here just a month before us and saw it but it was gone by the time we got there. found the
boxer crab though. under a rock.
lunch at the resort's restaurant after our dive.
couldnt remember what i had for lunch, was some western food i think and i remembered that it was tasty. oh, don't order the appetizer 'chicken noodle soup' though because that is instant noodles in msg-laden soup.
seraya was the last stop for our dive safari. ended all too quickly.
while we were degassing, did the usual tourist things like watching the
sunset at uluwatu.
there were many
fearsome monkeys there who would snatch the unsuspecting tourist's purse, cameras or spectacles. they were very skilful. one of the fat ones got bonz's glasses. pounced on her and ripped off the glasses off before we could say
LAO GAO (hokkien for old monkey)! we didnt see him coming.
had to pay
Rp10,000 for the locals to give the
Lao Gao fruits in exchange for the spectacles. daylight robbery. both the monkey and the fruit suppliers.
scared girls.
si lao gao.....
uluwatu temple in sunset.
after the harrowing temple visit, we went to
jimbaran for seafood dinner. ambience was great, but food was just so-so.
the following day, we transfered to
kuta and signed up for a 1-day surfing course. only taught us how to catch the surf, not the wave. have to go back to bali again to take part 2 of the course... and find the harlequin shrimp.
Notes:
Diveshop:
Bali ScubaRating: 6 bubbles out of 10.
arrangements for dive safari were good. however, what disturbed me was that their idea of washing our dive gear was to dip the entire dive bag containing dive gear into the water tank, then put the dive gear (still in the dive bag) aside in a pile on the floor. the following day, the wetsuit and bc had that stale water smell....
Dive guide: Menyun (certified nitrox mixer)
Rating: 7 bubbles out of 10.
was very hardworking in looking for critters and at the same time very respectful of marine life. is familiar with all the good food places!
