Bali and Sanur

Bali

Well after incredible diving tour of Borneo and Sulawesi I thought I’d get to dive off Bali but plane air conditioning got the better of me and I ended up with some crazy sinus infection. I really have become susceptible to air con issues. This has been on going since I left South Korea for Mongolia so many months ago.

I asked my taxi driver to take me to cheap hotel, guest house, or home stay he took me to a place for 500,000 Rupiah. Once again I laughed and got back in the taxi and headed down the main road for a proper guest house or homestay. I don’t need a pool, there’s an ocean, I don’t need much; a clean bed and a bathroom would be nice even if it’s down the hall. The taxi driver dropped me off across the street from a Starbucks and pointed down an alley and said, KeKe’s. I didn’t even get that far. There was a place called Kirana home stay and laundry. I thought about it, when was the last time I did laundry. I’m embarrassed to say but I’ve soaked most everything in salt water or brackish fresh water, I thought that would do but not really, my clothes dance by themselves at night. I pulled in and asked how much for no air-con room and she said 200,000 with breakfast included. Sold. Jl. Danau Tamblingan No. 100 Gg. Keke No. 2 Sanur. Ph. # 0361 286261. Email: kirana096@yahoo.com. What more could I ask for, great room, great breakfast, and around the corner from the beach.

I have been lying low and enjoying Sanur area south of Denpasar on the beach. The Hyatt is closed for a year or two due to renovations, upgrades, new management and new owners. I had dinner at the Hyatt in 1989 while traveling with a girl friend. I was biking the islands with a dear friend and she was either ahead or behind us by van. My dad showed up and of course fell in love with the girl and I got the cold shoulder for the evening, I understood why. We had biked Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, and Flores. We were on our return and heading to Java when we ran into my father. That was pretty neat being on the opposite side of the world and rather randomly crossing paths.

Wind surfers love this time of year because the trade winds have arrived and blow pretty steady giving the boys and girls some time to play and get air born. I’ve been able to keep up on the World Cup Football and I found an Australian Sports Bar, Barb’s Sports Bar Live, boasting the ‘Coldest Beer’. I checked Barb’s right and she’s a sweet lady with good friends.

Aussie football is on and when I lived in Australia I watched a lot of it, even went to a few matches. The company is good and met up with some fishermen and woman from Australia that were good fun. They’re getting ready to go back soon and gear up for the coming season.

I jumped in the water at the beach the first day to see what was what and I dove straight into a sea snake. Lucky for me their mouths are small and can only really kill you if you get bit on the ear lobe or maybe between the fingers. That was a short swim.

I’m on my way back to Thailand for a little R & R and more diving. I’m looking forward to it.

www.davidcdagley.com

Dive Sulawesi

Dive Sulawesi

It was my second day of diving on the island of Bunaken off the coast of Manado, Sulawesi. Seriously, the diving has been just getting better and better and I haven’t been disappointed. When I was warned that prices could get a little high around these dive areas I thought it was still going to be worth diving there even if only once. It turns out that the bigger resort sites on the islands have a tendency to block many of the cheaper homestay websites. Just get close to the islands and suddenly the cheaper ones appear mostly by word of mouth, the best travel guide on the planet. And I’m talking ALL islands over here.

Our first dive was around 0830. The boys loaded up the boat with tanks, tea, coffee, water and bananas and we headed for a cliff where the current was cruising and we jumped in and drifted at 30 meters at approximately 1- 2 knots watching fish above, turtles besides us, and the flash of shark and fish below. I didn’t take an underwater camera this day because I just wanted to see and stay under water as long as I could with no distractions. For some reasons namely buoyancy and current, I made the right choice. My Slovenian acquaintance, Urška Kljun, took her camera and I barrowed a few under water photos from her so you could see what we drifted past. Most of my photos are above the water line this day.

Turtles were everywhere sleeping on the rock cliff that ran down into the dark blue. At 30 meters we basically crossed our legs and went for an hour drift in one direction. At the end of the wall the current changed and appeared to be coming from the other direction and we had to lay low to a sandy bottom area for about 5 minutes and then that current took us back the way we came but we ascended 10 meters and saw an assortment of other fish and coral, the most I’ve ever seen in my short diving hobby. Tap on the picture cause there's a critter in there.

I have to give a shout out to Daniel’s and Immanuel Divers. (Tel. 0431- 813143.) 3 nights accommodation and 4 dives cost 2,360,000. (Divide by 12,000 to equal USD, approximately $200.00 USD). One of the divers has dove something like 17,000 dives in the area, that’s like 20 years of diving with lots of dives per week. The bungalows are great with big bathrooms and balconies for chilling. Prices were totally reasonable at 200,000 Rupiah/ 18 USD night including 3 meals and tea, coffee and water 24/7. Dives including all gear cost 480,000 Rupiah/50 USD. And there is a public ferry that goes both ways for 50,000 Rupiah, so don’t get suckered into the 200,000 Rupiah boat taxi service one-way.

The second dive of the day was even better than the first and was basically right in front of Daniel’s Homestay. There were a lot of excited snorkelers in the area when we jumped in and they watched us as we descended off the wall.

Everybody has different breathing habits under water and so our group of four had a tendency to change and those with more air would continue on with a guide while those that chewed through their air would go up and take their safety stop and surface a little earlier than the rest. The boat would come over and get them out of the water and then begin their drift after us still under water. Some incredible diving had by all.

The night divers came back jazzed at the recognition of what was active during the day and what was active at night were totally different, another universe. More fish, more fans, more colors, etc.

Off to Bali before the European/ Aussie rush and find a friend who just got married, Mr. Anderson. I don’t know what pill he took, so this could be a reality sequel to Matrix and the diving and surfing should be awesome.

www.davidcdagley.com