Sharks (March 1, 2015)

Mar. 1, 2015

Wow, how did it become March already? It’s speeding by now, and I plan to make the most of it…..lol. I am so happy still and really love what I’m doing. Let me begin by finishing what I did last night, after I sent out the blog. I knew the WiFi would get sketchy and it did, so I’m glad that I sent it out when I did.

I met up with Joanna at around 4 pm. We took the bikes and went to Pearl Resort, which is a lovely beachside resort that has a very funky building on the beach, made by a bamboo architect. 

Bamboo Pearl Resort

View from where we sat

Sangria by the ocean

View looking out to ocean

Joanna and me at Pearl 

There are really nice bean bag chairs and tables that you can lounge on, and have something to eat and/or drink. We had a sangria, and Joanna had some munchies. I wasn’t that hungry, so just enjoyed the view, swimming, and chatting. Also, the sun was setting, though it was a bit cloudy. Still, it was incredible as the sky turned an amazing colour of blue as it got darker. 

I watched some young boys in boats, having a great time and embracing the fantastic country they live in. Although I’m sure they lack many things, they were having so much fun and taking in what they do have available to them. It was really nice to watch them interact, deal with the boat so effectively, and just basically enjoy each other’s company. Four, and three great friends that probably grew up together. 

Four friends in a boat

Three friends in a boat 

After a long while of chatting and having some sangria, we departed, went to the market to get take out, and went to our respective places, to eat and chill out. It was a nice end to a wonderful day.

Today, I woke up early, got my stuff ready, and went to meet the boat from Lombok Dive Shop, that I went diving with before. They said that if I wanted to dive again, they would pick me up and take me. They are on the mainland, so they get a lot less customers than all the dive shops here do. They offered me the same price, which was less than the shops here, but the best part is, that I get to dive with one Dive Master. Today, I got to dive with Umpuk, an Indonesian guy who had been diving for 35 years. He had eyes like an eagle under the water for spotting marine life. It was incredible!

On the boat, I met a woman a little older than me, from Holland. She was also a Dive Master, and retired psychotherapist. She was really interesting and I got her number to visit her when I finish with the islands, and go back to Lombok. She lives here for 6 months of the year, with her husband, and then in Holland for the remaining months. She invited me to come to her house for a visit before I leave to go back to Bali. I definitely will, as she was very cool and super interesting. She was leading some divers that hadn’t been diving too long, so I didn’t go with her, which I was happy about. Umpuk and I stayed down for 62 minutes each dive, and could have done more, I’m sure, but had to come up because there were others on the boat that weren’t down that long, and waiting for us. I was really happy with both our dives as he pointed out so many cool things.

The first dive was at Turtle Heaven, Gili Meno Island. There was a fairly strong current down there, but not so strong that we couldn’t stay down. I did use more air than usual, but not enough that it made me need to come up early. I still had 50 bar left, after 62 minutes, but that’s not much, for me. Anyway, we had great visibility of at least 20 meters, and the temperature was about 30, so perfect. We saw an octopus, and a Cuttle Fish which turns a funny colour and emits some kind of liquid that looks like smoke, when it’s scared. They are so interesting to see and watch change colour. They look like they are wearing a skirt that twirls around like a million feet at the bottom of their body. Almost like a propellor. They are most intriguing. I saw the biggest Lion Fish I have ever seen and because it was so large, it’s lacy fins were so incredible to watch. They are very poisonous and dangerous if you touch their spines, but so incredibly beautiful at the same time. Seeing one of this size really emphasized the artistic flare that Mother Nature used, when making them. There were also a couple of others with this one, perhaps a mother and baby?

We saw a big Box Fish, a baby Box Fish and a Scorpion Fish which I’m not so sure I’ve seen before. All were lovely and moved so gracefully. The Scorpion Fish also has spines and if stung by one of these, you can die. It looks like a rock and is very difficult to spot. Umpuk, though, had no trouble picking it out and kept pointing to it. I couldn’t see it until we were right on top of it. This was the case with many of the things he pointed out today. Boy, he is super experienced and a pleasure to dive with.

The second dive was at Sunset Point, Gili Trawangan. The sun had hidden behind the clouds so the visibility was a bit less, but still probably at least 15 meters. The water temperature was about 27 degrees and there was no current at all. We stayed down for 62 minutes, and when we came up, I still had 100 bar left because we really didn’t have to work against anything. It was awesome. Both dives were about 20 meters deep, but totally different because of the current on the first one.

Our boat captain

View from the boat

Me after first dive

On this dive, we saw three White Tipped Sharks which were amazing. There were two small ones, about half a meter or so, and one larger one that was about one meter in length or a little longer. It was my first time spotting sharks, and they were breathtaking. They are so smooth and contoured and swim so effortlessly. Absolutely lovely to watch and a gift to have seen. We saw some other things on that dive as well, but the sharks were the highlight. The coral at this site was really spectacular too. It was such a bright blue on the tips of the off white coral, that it looked electric or fluorescent. There was also this bright orange vegetation that looked like the texture of pine trees but soft at the same time. They were so bright as well, and aside from orange ones, there were also electric green ones. Quite bold against an otherwise plain palette. A great dive to say the least.

When I returned, I showered, did some laundry and walked down to the spot I was yesterday with Joanna, to watch the sunset. I sat on some rocks just down from the Pearl Resort so that I didn’t have to pay. It was great and I watched some Indonesians snorkelling and catching little fish with fishing line, only, and a hook. It was incredible to watch them pull up these fish with no rod. 

Beautiful clouds

Before the sun got low

Cloudy sunset

Sunset

Moon above my head

On the way back, I stopped at the market, got Nasi Campur, Take Out, and came back to write and relax after eating. 

A fantastic day overall. Tomorrow I will take my snorkel and mask, plus my drawing stuff and swimming suit with me. I am going to catch the local boat at 9 am, from the harbour here, and go over to the tiniest island, Gili Meno, for the day. Apparently it is really small, too small to bother staying there. So, I thought that I would go over for a day trip and do some snorkelling, drawing and chilling out. The local boat returns around 4 pm and you can get something to eat over there, so that’s good. I am looking forward to seeing Gili Meno and chilling out.

More from the turtle, tomorrow.