Day 10: Diving in Bali

Turns out the unlimited diving package we have in Bali includes a personal, all day, dive master. Ours was named Putu, a 26 yr old Indonesian man with 1inch gauged ears, a huge squid and shipwreck tattoo among others and hardly 100 pounds on him. He was probably one of the oldest dive masters at the resort- the youngest probably 15 years old. Putu said something like their uncle owns the resort or is the dive master instructor, it was difficult to understand exactly. In general the dive resort seems like a family or multiple family business because there are definitely more employees than people staying here and they seem to know each other well and be of all ages.

The service is incredible. We didn't even have to carry our dive gear from site to site. Before we walked to the first dive- a short walk along a sea wall and past some goats- Putu told us someone would carry our bc and tanks. I imagined two spry teenage boys would do so but instead a leathery old woman with a traditional Indonesian head scarf which looks like a flat turban swung one 20lb tank on top of her head (wut) and then without a second's hesitation hoisted the second 20lb tank perpendicularly on top of the first (omg). Many of the women carry things this way on top of their heads, balanced by the coiled scarves. Even so, this was particularly impressive.

We started our morning check out dive with a wreck called the liberty that had been completely reclaimed by the reef. On this dive we saw a tiny garden eel sticking up in the sand gaping at the fishies. We also saw a turtle! I think it was a hawksbill because I was looking in the book later and it had a beaky kind of jaw and was taking bites of the coral. We saw it swim up to the surface above us, which was pretty neat. We also saw a ray. I scared him away by getting too close and while swimming away he looked like some freaky bird flapping his wings (or did I just read Jurassic park too recently).

During our surface interval Amelia and I went back to the room to try to get the camera working. We figured out why it hadn't turned on before... Turns out we had neglected to put in the batteries! Oh technology, you sly beast. We meant to take it on the second dive but had a card error and didn't get any pictures. Too bad too because we saw an octopus (Ilana's favorite). 

The dive was at a coral wall, meaning theres a naturally steep drop off making the reef almost vertical, even overhung at some points. Amelia and I have never seen so much diversity, apparent in the fish but even more so in the invertibrate organisms like sea stars (fat pink ones, bright green ones, lavender ones, and one decoratively patterned red one), sponges (especially translucent blue and purple ones), anemones (big and small hosting a cornucopia of anemone fish), and of course corals (from brain to feathery to huge fans to what looked like a modern art sculpture of a bonsai forrest in lime green).

The 3rd dive was a boat dive on an outrigger which as Putu told us is a traditional Indonesian boat. We had the camera working at this point and have some pictures from the dive. Putu took the lead on taking photos which worked well because now we have better quality pictures and some with Amelia and I in them which will make our parents happy for sure. This dive site was in a little worse condition than the first two but we still saw a spectacular array of colors. In particular, we saw a pink nudibranch, a fleshy red anemone (or not an anemone? Idk) and some sort of melon sized echinoderm that Putu and I played volleyball with in the water.

Our fourth and last dive was a night dive starting at sunset. Night dives are always a little scarier, because beyond the halo of your flashlight is an interminable abyss. Looking into the black ocean is terrifying beyond just the normal heebie geebies of night on land because of the complete lack of sound and smell, leaving a completely senseless experience. But we each had a flashlight and stuck a little closer together than we had earlier. We saw some rays that would follow our flashlights a bit. We also saw some shrimps and crabs that Putu and I played with... Amelias not so into touching things. We saw a gorgeous snail with a curved pink shell and a black and white cow spotted body as long as a hand. We also saw something that I think was a cuttlefish but its unclear. The highlight for Ilana was a tiny little octopus, maybe the size of a tablespoon that scurried along the sand and changed colors. What a cutie. We also saw a school of fish, each maybe 3ft long looking huge and black right out of the range of our flashlights. I wanted to show Amelia the dinoflagellates, little phytoplankton that live in warm climates and flouresce when agitated, for example by a fin kick but she didn't understand. For dinner we had some fresh caught tuna and beer.

After four dives and the hot Bali weather Amelia and I are struggling to stay awake until 10pm to google voice mom and dad. We have two more dives tomorrow then its off to Thailand the next day. Were making lots of lizard friends at the hotel, though no cute Australian human males like we had been told about. The stars are great too. The last things to report are that the toilet is in the shower. Thanks for reading :)

-Ilana