Anonymous - Bali - Chapter 2

Following the mountains

Using the sense of geography and following the seaside-main road and the hero’s advice – I managed to make it to the destination, ready for my first Dive! I was a bit late, but apparently this is not the peak season, so my guide was happy to take me on board. He gave me the secrets of diving – the tips to enjoy the dive and to wipe the panic out. We were ready, with the jacket and tubes – now just a 5 min drive to the beach. Most important thing to ask : “so, the package includes video, right”? “Sorry, our camera is not working today”. That was a bit heart ache. But yeah, capture the moments with eyes and heart- and let that incompleteness bring me back to ocean next time! (All below images on this chapter are similar scenes at the same dive spot from other explorers)

Tulamben beach – dive spot (courtesy- tripadvisor)

I changed my clothes to diving suit and left all my belongings in their office. The off road-drive to the beach was a fun- sitting on the blue trailer of an Ape sort of vehicle. My instructor was a french, professional diver – he travels around the world. Once he gets bored at one site, he packs his bag and goes to the next location – to explore the new sea, to explore the new world! He had a couple of friends with him and they always travel together in their ‘life of exploring’ and they share their income and expenses! Wow! For a moment, I remembered the narration of life from my Skydiving instructor last year. He had a similar life - a profession that is not bounded by the walls of offices or even by country borders – a life that is full of adventure and exploration.

He clipped the lifesaving oxygen cylinders on my back, and we were ready for the adventure! Next is fins, and then some initial trials of mouth-breaths. We had to fit the flaps from water as we cant walk with fins on beach. We had to lift the legs - one at a time - to the water surface and slide our feet into the long blue flaps - huh, a bit challenging task! After that, we tried to go down and I realized that life in water is a completely different chapter. I terribly failed to breathe through mouth in the first attempt. We went down and stayed at bottom for a minute, but I felt the world is just not existing and I couldn’t breathe, even though regulator is sitting right in my mouth and I am biting on to it. I couldn’t convince my brain that I don’t necessarily have to breathe through my nostrils. My awesome coach tried his best to pump the confidence in, but we had to go up- back to the sea surface, crossing through a layer of dirt. I was panicked by now and the coach just pointed his finger upwards to show me the enlarging circle of light to tell me we were going up.

Majestic Sea floors  (courtesy- tripadvisor)

Attempt 2:  Second trial - after first two mins in 2 m depth, I started to panic again – I knew it’s not fear and I wanted to see the ocean, without it’s surface coverings! But just felt like – a lot to do to just stay there. Managing the breathe was only one part of it – to swim around and to go up and down, there were four different tubes around me, which I had to press – each one for a different purpose. My coach held me strong and indicated – “look into my eyes”. I did! His pearly, french, super confident expert eyes said– “Trust me. I am here. Let’s go!!”. He showed me to take a deep breath and release slowly - THAT WORKED!

Following the instructor – into the hidden secrets
(Courtesy – tripadvisor)

Then we just flapped like a fish couple into the depths. First swim was till 7m – we saw astonishing blue shoal of tiny pearl fish – and a vast variety of other ocean beauties swimming around us! So much species in there, including coral reefs - just a totally different, magical world! Green, red, yellow, blue, pink, golden, all colors – you name it, it’s there in the ocean. My instructor showed his skills – to make whirlpools in the deep ocean, to play with the fish and to fool the coral reefs by moving his hands close to the sea floor to force the fly-traps to be closed quickly.

A school of large fish (light green, about 30 cm long) came on our left side and followed us for a while. Some of them came near us when we stood still – close – with their vibrating lips near our eyes and ears – as if they were talking to us! Some had small beautiful array of sharp tooth, some were like the teeth-less grandmas. I tried to touch them and the instructor warned me! Not to do so. If we touch them, they loose their mucus layer on skin and will be prone to inflammation! That’s something I had never heard before – that touching a fish will kill them! Well, new world – new rules!

The ship wreck, turning into by sea corals
(Courtesy – tripadvisor)

We swam up back to the surface and took a break before our next dive- to the ship. As we held a refreshing drink on our hands and sat down on wooden stools, the trainer explained the story behind this ‘one of the most favorite diving spots in the world’: “The next dive is to a US war ship from world war II. USS Liberty – which was hit by Japanese Torpedo and beached near Tulamben. In 1960’s the Mount Agung volcanic eruption pushed it to the ocean floor, and now it is laying on a 30m deep sand slope.” I didn't know I was at world's one of the most marvelous dive spots! The beauty of unplanned trips - they are always packed with surprises!

For a moment I felt like living in Titanic movie’s first few scenes! Diving inside the broken ship with blue – yellow – red – white – green fish playing with us and swimming with us – this is the best thing I have ever had in life! Wow! That was a true treasure – to swim through the memories of WWII! Above all, I was learning a new skill here– to breath in water and to be a fish in the miraculous infinite ocean!!

The memories – of WWII. From the shipwreck at Tulamben
 (Courtesy – tripadvisor)

 To be continued...

Anonymous - Bali - Chapter 1

The day started with a 10 am sharp eye-opening. Probably because I read “free breakfast served from 6 am to 10 am” just before I went to bed last night. The perks of being a solo traveler -I slept very well in just a small cubicle bunk bed in a hostel, somewhere, 1 hour away from Denpasar International airport.

It was already 10.30 when I got ready and one of my exciting reservations were waiting for me at 1 PM in Tulamben, which is 2 hours away from the current hostel. I was super hungry, and I asked the reception lady if she can still give me some breakfast with strong expectation for "sorry sir, kitchen is closed". However, she politely asked – “what would you like, sir?”. That’s when I realized how hospitable and welcoming Bali people are – no complaints or excuses- no wonder why it is a tourist spot. She gave me nicely toasted bread with an omelet.

Delightful morning lights from Denpasar Hostel – day 1

They had set up the hostel in a way that the sunlight gets penetrated through the green covers of thick tree leaves in front of the hostel and reached the small pool they had placed downstairs near the car park, with an attractive blue flooring that reflects magnificent colors in the morning. Across the pool, they had set up a few benches where I sat down to enjoy the breakfast– which tasted delicious with a special touch of love in it.