We headed to the Lembeh Strait on the most overcast day there. We actually saw a few raindrops that day. The most efficient (and inexpensive) way to arrive at the Strait was to drive to one part of the Strait and then take a boat through the strait. Dell was with us again and we had learned a little more about him. He loved American Rock. He had a tape of Bon Jovi in the car and he decided to play it. It was a tape of acoustic versions of all their biggest hits. We had listened to the tape three times! Twice on the way to the Strait and once on the way back (we were saved from listening to it twice on the way back thank God). I knew every lyric to each song on the tape by the third round. Dell would sing about two verses and then hum the rest of each song. At least it made the trip interesting...
We arrived at Lembeh and boarded a boat whose captain was wearing a Michigan State Basketball T-Shirt. Small world, huh? The dives were definitely different than diving at Bunaken. There was no walls of coral and we saw some new species, the pygmy seahorse, which usually range from ½ to 2/3 of an inch. We also saw several frog fish. The water throughout the Strait was very rough on the surface, but it was smooth below.
We arrived back where we left off, but our driver was not there. The dock smelled of dead fish, which was tolerable for about 3 minutes. Unfortunately, our driver did not return for 45 minutes! We were the only Caucasians and I have never felt so many people staring at me in my life. I didn’t really feel scared, just out of place. The driver finally arrived and we headed back. We were stopped at a police checkpoint, where the officers were using there power to take the small amount of income from their fellow Indonesians to help appreciate their small wealth. They were checking to see if our driver had every single safety piece in the car (which included a fire extinguisher and first aid kit among other things).
I'm back to falling asleep at 9...
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Day 6: Diving with a Certification
Yesterday, Lynn had dove with a new dive person other than Tomo. His name was Dell and he would be our dive guide for the remainder of the trip. When we told him that we wanted to dive three times today, he looked at us like we were doing something odd. If I (and Lynn for that matter) had the option of taking three week vacations like the Europeans, then we wouldn’t have to squeeze all of our dives!
Nonetheless we had headed out to a new area today. On the way out to Bunaken Marine Reserve, we saw a school of dolphins. We circled around and I was able to take some pretty good pics and vids. The second dive of the day was the most interesting. We had seen many small fish, a bunch of mini snails, and I had a sea snake slither past me (I found out after the fact, that it was harmless). In between the 2nd and 3rd dives a boat connected with ours and was trying to sell us souvenirs. I actually bought a nice t-shirt that said Dive Bunaken. It was very 80s!
At dinner, our Dutch buddy had joined us again. I really wanted to hear about some of the better dives that he has done throughout the world. He went into greater detail regarding the diving in Egypt. He had talked about this attraction related to the diving in Egypt called the “Blue Hole”. The Blue Hole is a crater-like formation that is underwater. The intriguing piece of the story is that is 1) up to 300 feet deep and 2) has several horizontal passageway that many people have been known to die to being lost. This experienced diver still hadn’t ventured into the Blue Hole yet because even he wasn’t prepared to dive this spectacle. Although, he had made mention of people he had known who free dove this hole. Free diving is diving one breath and no tank. He had talked about these people descending 60 feet going horizontal through a passageway and then ascending, all on one breath!
After dinner, we had to discuss our next few days of diving and activities. While the resort was very nice and hospitable, but it was at times disorganized, as was the case of this part of the trip. For the record, they said that they did not have a copy of our itinerary detailing our day-to-day operations. They had no idea that we were supposed to go to Lembeh Strait (our destination for tomorrow). During this conversation, we had to be very persistent on this. We had paid extra to dive at Lembeh and if we did not go there we would have not received a refund. They acted like it was an inconvenience for them to do this. Then after a few minutes, they told us not to worry about and it will be all set up tomorrow morning.
The diving that we were supposed to do in Lembeh is what they call muck diving. They call it muck diving because there is a lot more sand and soot than coral. But there are many different species that we did not see in the dives around Bunaken. Paul had shown us a video of Lembeh and several other location that they put together to show divers. I was really not too excited about doing muck diving (the name it self turned me off), but when we saw the video, I had a whole different opinion and we decided to go muck diving on Wednesday.
Additionally, there was also the issue that we only dove twice instead of three times on the first day. So on top of having to do three dives tomorrow, we had one additional. On Thursday, we were supposed to do a hiking trip to a volcano, which was supposed to be an all day event. We had decided to make the hiking a half day event and dive once or twice on Thursday depending on how many we felt like doing tomorrow.
Attempting to stay up past 9 for the first night on the trip, I had drank two cups of coffee during the day. It worked, but mostly due in part to me watching the video mentioned above, which we started watching at 9.
Nonetheless we had headed out to a new area today. On the way out to Bunaken Marine Reserve, we saw a school of dolphins. We circled around and I was able to take some pretty good pics and vids. The second dive of the day was the most interesting. We had seen many small fish, a bunch of mini snails, and I had a sea snake slither past me (I found out after the fact, that it was harmless). In between the 2nd and 3rd dives a boat connected with ours and was trying to sell us souvenirs. I actually bought a nice t-shirt that said Dive Bunaken. It was very 80s!
At dinner, our Dutch buddy had joined us again. I really wanted to hear about some of the better dives that he has done throughout the world. He went into greater detail regarding the diving in Egypt. He had talked about this attraction related to the diving in Egypt called the “Blue Hole”. The Blue Hole is a crater-like formation that is underwater. The intriguing piece of the story is that is 1) up to 300 feet deep and 2) has several horizontal passageway that many people have been known to die to being lost. This experienced diver still hadn’t ventured into the Blue Hole yet because even he wasn’t prepared to dive this spectacle. Although, he had made mention of people he had known who free dove this hole. Free diving is diving one breath and no tank. He had talked about these people descending 60 feet going horizontal through a passageway and then ascending, all on one breath!
After dinner, we had to discuss our next few days of diving and activities. While the resort was very nice and hospitable, but it was at times disorganized, as was the case of this part of the trip. For the record, they said that they did not have a copy of our itinerary detailing our day-to-day operations. They had no idea that we were supposed to go to Lembeh Strait (our destination for tomorrow). During this conversation, we had to be very persistent on this. We had paid extra to dive at Lembeh and if we did not go there we would have not received a refund. They acted like it was an inconvenience for them to do this. Then after a few minutes, they told us not to worry about and it will be all set up tomorrow morning.
The diving that we were supposed to do in Lembeh is what they call muck diving. They call it muck diving because there is a lot more sand and soot than coral. But there are many different species that we did not see in the dives around Bunaken. Paul had shown us a video of Lembeh and several other location that they put together to show divers. I was really not too excited about doing muck diving (the name it self turned me off), but when we saw the video, I had a whole different opinion and we decided to go muck diving on Wednesday.
Additionally, there was also the issue that we only dove twice instead of three times on the first day. So on top of having to do three dives tomorrow, we had one additional. On Thursday, we were supposed to do a hiking trip to a volcano, which was supposed to be an all day event. We had decided to make the hiking a half day event and dive once or twice on Thursday depending on how many we felt like doing tomorrow.
Attempting to stay up past 9 for the first night on the trip, I had drank two cups of coffee during the day. It worked, but mostly due in part to me watching the video mentioned above, which we started watching at 9.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Day 5: Certification time
I headed out to the boat and Paul explained what I would have to do on each dive. I was nervous at first, not because I was unsure of myself, but I was being graded for it. The nervousness went away after I had sweat profusely during the predive check, the only piece I had a little trouble with was the emergency controlled ascent, but the second time around on that I had not problem. I had also seen some new fish today, a fish that was camouflaged in the coral and a leaf fish.
Lynn and I enjoyed dinner again with our Dutch friend. We had discussed life back in Rotterdam. He owned an IT firm that he and someone else had started in 1996. We discussed the brilliance of Microsoft and how he felt that he had the idea of search engines well before Google did. I do remember using Google when I was back in college, but I let him feel like that was his idea.
Lynn and I enjoyed dinner again with our Dutch friend. We had discussed life back in Rotterdam. He owned an IT firm that he and someone else had started in 1996. We discussed the brilliance of Microsoft and how he felt that he had the idea of search engines well before Google did. I do remember using Google when I was back in college, but I let him feel like that was his idea.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Day 4: First Day of diving
We carried all of our dive gear out to the prep area and looked for the dive shop supervisor, Etti, so we could find Paul, who was supposed to be my dive instructor. Neither of them were to be found last night. I found Etti and Paul had already made plans to do something so he would not be going out with me, but I would still be able to dive. I know my stuff, but I would still like to play by rules. I thought this was supposed to be organized before? It seemed to me that this was a surprise to them. I’ll give them the benefit of a doubt for right now.
I had wished for pancakes, and I received them for received them they would become the a regular for the breakfast buffet and in my stomach. As would the cocoa puffs, eggs (I would only eat the fried or scrambled), rice (if I was eating the eggs) and toast with peanut butter and strawberry preserves.
We met our divemaster, Tomo, and he gave us the lowdown of where we would be going. It took us about 45 minutes to get out there. I was a little nervous at first, but I was over it once I hit the water. As we decended into the water, I was amazed at what I saw. We were diving in one of the most well known coral walls in the world. At times, it will go down over 200 feet. It looked pretty deep from what I could see. And the coral was amazing. I saw so many different types of fish. It was an over stimulation of the visual senses with all the colors and types of fish/coral. The visibility was very good.
We had the Germans on our boat also. There was nice smell of BO and the periodic sound of very loud nose blowing (for this reason, they were named the Blowhards). One of men looked like Cliffie from Cheers with a much bigger stomach.
The two bad things about today: sunburn and no vegetarian on the boat. Luckily we only did two dives, so we did get back early enough. The kitchen made up something for Lynn and they head fried bananas. I decided to try a little Elvis trick and add a little peanut butter. Deeeelish!
Back in the resort, I wanted to get some good pics of the sunset. I did so. It was a very clear night. That night we also were able to meet Paul, my instructor for the next day. He is the owner’s son. He laid out tomorrow’s dives, where I would finally complete my certification.
We also met someone from Holland, (insert name). He had arrived from diving somewhere else in Indonesia. He was a very experienced diver and he had discussed some of the great diving areas. One of the areas that he had discussed was Egypt. This, in my less than worldly travels, came as a surprise to me. I would have never thought of the Red Sea as being one of the greatest diving locations in the world. As I had heard from several people since then, this is true.
I had wished for pancakes, and I received them for received them they would become the a regular for the breakfast buffet and in my stomach. As would the cocoa puffs, eggs (I would only eat the fried or scrambled), rice (if I was eating the eggs) and toast with peanut butter and strawberry preserves.
We met our divemaster, Tomo, and he gave us the lowdown of where we would be going. It took us about 45 minutes to get out there. I was a little nervous at first, but I was over it once I hit the water. As we decended into the water, I was amazed at what I saw. We were diving in one of the most well known coral walls in the world. At times, it will go down over 200 feet. It looked pretty deep from what I could see. And the coral was amazing. I saw so many different types of fish. It was an over stimulation of the visual senses with all the colors and types of fish/coral. The visibility was very good.
We had the Germans on our boat also. There was nice smell of BO and the periodic sound of very loud nose blowing (for this reason, they were named the Blowhards). One of men looked like Cliffie from Cheers with a much bigger stomach.
The two bad things about today: sunburn and no vegetarian on the boat. Luckily we only did two dives, so we did get back early enough. The kitchen made up something for Lynn and they head fried bananas. I decided to try a little Elvis trick and add a little peanut butter. Deeeelish!
Back in the resort, I wanted to get some good pics of the sunset. I did so. It was a very clear night. That night we also were able to meet Paul, my instructor for the next day. He is the owner’s son. He laid out tomorrow’s dives, where I would finally complete my certification.
We also met someone from Holland, (insert name). He had arrived from diving somewhere else in Indonesia. He was a very experienced diver and he had discussed some of the great diving areas. One of the areas that he had discussed was Egypt. This, in my less than worldly travels, came as a surprise to me. I would have never thought of the Red Sea as being one of the greatest diving locations in the world. As I had heard from several people since then, this is true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)