Beach, Yoga, and Diving (Mar. 4, 5, 2015)

Mar. 4, 2015

Today was a bit of a lazy day. I got up slowly, slept in until 8 am or so, had the included omelette breakfast, and walked to the hostel down the street to use the WiFi. It was nice to sit up in their bamboo loft and just do my thing, drinking Es Teh Manis, which is iced tea with sugar. I stayed there, talked to Julia and did my blog. The WiFi was ok for a long while, then just quit. 

After that, I came back to the hostel, and got my drawing stuff, swimsuit and towel together, to go down to the beach for a while. A Belgian girl named Elizabeth came along with me and we just sat there for a couple of hours, reading, drawing and swimming. It was really pleasant.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for a bowl of soup and so that she could use the warung's WiFi. She had a lot to do, so I left her there, and came back to the hostel on my own. I did a bit of laundry, then headed off to yoga at that wonderful center I showed you yesterday. It was another really nice class, though a bit different than yesterday, with a different instructor. This class was much more strength focused and there were a lot of Downward Dog, and similar poses. It was good though, and I felt relaxed and happy when I left there. 

When I came back to the hostel, I showered, and then settled in to watch a movie with Elizabeth, before repacking my bags and going to bed. I am going diving tomorrow with my favourite Lombok Dive Shop, and then I will hitch a ride back to Senggigi with them afterward. I will stay in the On The Way Hostel again, and meet up with my friend Abel, who owns the travel and tour company. He is the one who is setting up the boat tour to the other islands, east of here. It sounds really great and includes everything. I think I will ask him to help me book one dive in Flores, where they drop me off, because this is supposed to be the best place in Indonesia for diving. I would like to see for myself.

Then I will stay overnight for one or maybe two nights, and fly back from Flores, to Denpasar, which works well because that’s where the motorbike is parked. It should be great.

I hope to go for dinner with Abel tomorrow night, but if not, I will text the Dutch retired psychotherapist Dive Master I met. She invited me to visit her if I came back to Senggigi. So we’ll see what works out. Abel said that he might be able to take Friday off of work and take me on a little sight seeing tour of Lombok. That would be awesome, but I told him that I would understand if he weren’t able to get the time off. Hopefully it will work out. 

Well, that’s it for now. More news after diving tomorrow.

Mar. 5, 2015

Today was the most beautiful diving! I don’t have photos, but I will describe for you what I saw. I got up early and had the included pancake with bananas, breakfast. I also had some Kopi White, which is an instant coffee with cream and sugar included, that is quite good. I usually buy some packets to take with me, so that if there is no coffee available wherever I am staying, I only have to hunt out boiled water which is pretty easy.

Then I made my way down to the beach where the Lombok Dive Shop said they would meet me. Again, I was the only diver, and went with Umpuk, that 35 year experienced diver, as well as Corry, the Dutch retired psychotherapist Dive Master, and another Dutch guy who lives here part of the year, and is her friend. He’s been diving for over 40 years as well. It was great. The first dive we saw a huge Napolean Fish, which is a brightly coloured fish that usually comes in a small version. Well, eagle eyed Umpuk, tapped on his tank to get my attention, and pointed out the largest one I have ever seen. It was about 50 kilograms and just massive. It was actually kind of weird to see a fish of this type, at that size. Very beautiful, but unexpected. The colours on him were vibrant and true. A glorious piece by Mother Nature to behold. We had a 63 minute dive to a maximum depth of 20 meters. The visibility was over 20 meters and the water temp was 28 degrees. I had 100 bar left when I came up.

The whole dive was just so relaxing and quiet. Everyone in the group could dive well and were moving through the water taking in all the lovely details. We saw many other things, including a Moray Eel, a purple shrimp, and two octopi changing colours to blend into the rocks. It was amazing and there was something to see at every moment. Sometimes when you dive, you can swim for a while and not see much, but this dive, there was something everywhere you looked. Huge schools of Treveley Fish, by the hundreds, as well as other schools of bright Sweet Lips and many more.

I went down for my first dive, with a bit of a sore neck from either carrying a heavy bag on Gili Meno, doing yoga, or sleeping funny, and came up with not a pain, worry or stress anywhere on my body or in my mind. 

We had lunch on Gili Trawangan at Warung Dewi, which I love. It served as our Surface Interval as well as our lunch time. I ate with the Dutch man and Corry. Then we had an Es Cappucino which is an Iced Coffee with milk. They blend it up with ice and it’s fantastic. We got back onto the boat and took off to our second dive site. This one was an old ship wreck which I love because it becomes home to many fish, and marine life.

As we descended, Umpuk tapped his tank and indicated the sign for shark, and pointed to a low lying rock that was jutting out. I dropped down almost to the bottom and looked under the rock. There was a perfect White Tipped Shark, about one meter long, swimming around under the rock. Her gills were perfect, and her skin smooth and clean without blemishes. I guess she was pretty young, as her size would indicate, but she was so close and the visibility so good, that you could see every lovely detail on her body. Every muscle moved without effort as she’d swim, and finally she came out from under the rock, and swam around us looking at us and sizing us up. It wasn’t scary, but you feel such respect for the creature when you’re in their domain. It was an incredible thing to see and we all stayed there and watched this shark for about 5 minutes before it hid under the rock again. What a gift. I sure wish Reza had been there with his high power camera. Even the Go Pro that someone had with them couldn’t really catch the shark as the lighting under the rock was so poor. 

We also saw Scorpion Fish, Lion Fish, and many others down there. The dive lasted for 62 minutes and I still had 110 bar left after we came up. There was a bit of a current but I felt so relaxed today, I just didn’t use up much air. What a great dive, with so much to see. I’m really happy that I kept calling the Lombok Dive place, as I’ve gotten great dives and wonderful service from them.

After we were finished our second dive, they gave me a lift back to Senggigi which includes about a half hour to 45 minute car ride, back to the dive shop/hostel which is right across the street. Really fantastic.

Tonight, I just hung out at the hostel as it was raining like crazy. Abel wasn't feeling good so he didn't want to go out, which was fine. I did go over to see him and will join a Countryside Tour tomorrow. He may come if he feels better too. It includes a trek to the waterfall here, a visit to a local market where you buy food to use in a cooking class before lunch. Lunch is included as are all the ticket costs, driver and car. I think we also go to some temples and Terrace Rice Field plus the traditional market. I am scheduled to leave on the boat tour, Saturday afternoon from Senggigi. There won't be any WiFi on the boat for four days, so you won't get a blog for a while. I'll still write them, just won't be able to email them until I hit Flores. 

Anyway, that’s it for now. Love to you all.