Scuba Diving Tulamben (Jan. 31, 2015)

Wow, what a day! I went diving today and it was really fantastic. I organized the diving with the Centre that Reza freelances for. It was a good deal as it’s low time and they don’t have many customers these days. I arranged to do three dives, two during the day at an old ship wreck, and one at night, in the same place. 

We got up early as the driver came to pick us up at around 8:00 am this morning. Another person joined us, who was also a Dive Master from Uzbekistan looking for a job in Bali. He arrive three days ago, and was happy to accompany us on the dives. His name is Kanan, and he and Reza had a lot of conversations about diving on the two hour drive up to Tulamben, where we did the dives. He was a really good diver and nice guy.

The scenery on the way up here was fantastic. See for yourselves…..lol.

On drive to dive sight

Same

Rice paddies

Rice paddies

Me

Very expensive coffee that
comes 'through' this animal

Once there, we got our diving equipment on and went into the water from the shore. I have never entered this way before, so it was a new experience for me. You put on all your equipment, then walk into the water from the shore. It was easy and not a problem. I have exited from the shore before, so it was just the reverse.

Diving sight restaurant

Reza and me ready to go

All three dives were at the same site, but were all really different and super interesting. The first dive had fantastic visibility and there were so many lovely fish to see, so clearly. I saw Lionfish, Parrot fish, Titan Trigger fish (which scare me….lol) and lots of others. Diving beside a 120 meter long sunken ship is incredible and provides so many places for the beautiful marine life to thrive. It was great to be under the water again. I really love it, and find it even better every time I dive. I suppose it might also be due to the fact that each time I dive, I get a bit better with my skills, buoyancy and breathing. It makes it even more enjoyable when these skills improve. The two guys I was with were so good, and found lots of interesting things for me to take a look at. 

Ready for diving

Dive buddies

We were down for 63 minutes at a maximum depth of 25.5 meters. It was fantastic. When we were done, we walked back onto shore and had the included lunch that was offered. It was a rice and chicken/fish dish that was simple but tasty.

After we remained on the surface for the required amount of time, we suited up and went down for our second dive. This dive was even better than the first one. This time we went onto and into the wreck to see what we could see. Reza found a plastic bottle that another diver left down there, full of bread pieces. He started pulling out the bread when we were inside a shaft within the wreck. Hundreds of fish swarmed him to eat this bread and it was amazing. Some of the fish are so large, that I couldn’t really believe I was face to face with them. It was such a privilege to be present for such an experience. We examined the reef area that had so many wonderful coral and plant life on it. Then we saw a large, old turtle hanging out by the wreck. He was gorgeous and very large. It’s the first time I have ever seen a Green Sea Turtle so I was thrilled. We also saw a huge Barracuda and a Blue Spotted Stingray. All of these were incredible. We were down for 54 minutes at a maximum depth of 27 meters. What a fantastic dive.

Waiting for sun to fully set

Night ocean

Getting ready for night dive

Just before night dive

Then we came back onto shore and waited for it to be dark, so we could do the Night Dive.

This dive was fantastic. We saw so many interesting fish. I wish I could show you, but don’t yet have an underwater camera. We saw a giant grouper fish, about 15 kgs that was following us for quite a long time. Suddenly, I was shining my light on a lovely white Angel Fish, and gulp, Mr. Grouper came along and swallowed her up. Just like that. I was a bit shocked, but what does one expect? It was really quite cool, but surprised me. We saw so many other beautiful marine life as well. We saw these really large orange, spiky Star Fish that weren’t there during the day. Reza said that he had never before seen these in the area, so that was cool. We saw Cleaner Shrimp, a Red Crab, and two giant (about 7 kgs each) Napolean Fish. I’ve seen them lots of times before, but they were tiny, bright and pretty. These guys were huge bright and gorgeous. The size of the fish in Bali are way larger than I’ve ever seen before. Quite the fantastic diving here so far. I arranged with the Dive Center to go on Feb. 13th to Manta Point with Reza, on a trip they have going out. As the name suggests, this is a site that has many Manta Rays. That will be great. I think we were down for the night dive for about 63 minutes, at a maximum depth of 25.5 meters. 

We finished diving around 8:00 pm, got our stuff together and headed back to Denpasar. The traffic was crazy, so it took us about 3 hours to return. The poor driver was distraught at one point because as he was passing another vehicle, a cat ran out in front of him and he ran over it. Rachel, stop reading…..lol. Anyway, he pulled over to check, but we couldn’t find it as it was rainy and dark with lots of traffic. In Bali, it is apparently really bad to hit a cat, but if you hit a dog, it’s ok. I am not sure why, but this is what Reza explained to me, and Kanan. Anyway, the poor driver felt bad. I’m just glad that he didn’t lose control of the van while trying to avoid the cat. Poor kitty, though.

When we returned, we were all really tired but happy. We went for some barbecued chicken with rice, and chicken livers and gizzards on a stick. They were delicious. Then home and to bed. It was such a great day. I love diving here and am so lucky to have a local view of Bali. It is pretty hard to get around here as there is no public transportation to speak of, and if you don’t have a motorbike, and know your way around, it’s really tough to visit many places.