The resort is built around a small, horseshoe-shaped inlet surround by small islands. The top picture is the west side of the inlet, and the first water villa you see is #6, where I reside (a close-up shot on next day’s blog). The bottom picture shows the east side of the inlet, with more water villas directly ahead, and the building that houses the dive center, and behind it (not visible), the overwater walkway (which is mostly how we get around the resort) out to the jetty, where we arrived and where we board the dive-boats.
Another two dive day. Woke up to an alarm (!) so I could go on the 8:30 dive to Birthday Cake. Toast and coffee at early breakfast, then out to the boat. Current too strong, so we went to Boo East. A one hour dive from 55 – 80 feet under. Visibility okay, about 50 feet, but around the corners at either end, the current was pretty strong. We ended up kind of going back and forth along a wall until we got close to the current, then turn around. It was so interesting that I could be at 55 feet, fighting a strong current, or sink down to about 75, and virtually none. The divemaster found a ghost pipefish, shark, several nudibranchs and of course, the usual fishies, corals and gorgonians (every time they say that, I think of the gorgonites from the movie Small Soldiers). At one point, Herry (my guardian angel divemaster) pulled me along because I couldn’t kick fast enough. Here he is on the trip out:
On the boat and back in time for second breakfast (omelet with shitake and edam) at 10:30. Finally got the chance to lay out in the sun (it’s been cloudy and rainy) for a bit before second dive briefing in the dive hut at 11:30.
Out to Boo West, with little current and it’s a spectacular dive. Vis still only moderate at about 50 feet, but we sight a shark, a walking shark, nudibranchs, starfish, baby clownfish, and when we rise back up to about 35 feet, the sun comes out, the reef is teeming with schools of gray-with-blue-fin, black-with-yellow-tails, red-with-white-dots and a plethora of rainbow-colored fish. Soft corals in white, purple, black and the occasional bright yellow. Mmmmm, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!We head back – it’s a whole 7 minutes until we’re at the dock and watching the dingy pull up:
Don’t you just love the color of that water?
Back okay, but rather achy. A lot of knee to chest stretches while under – going to try and ameliorate with a 45 minute back massage in the open-air hut that sits at the point at 5 pm today. Oh boy! Hanging out for the afternoon – zipping through great books, spending quiet time and chatting with the community. Speaking with Andy (owner) at lunch about the oil-drilling survey ship that was plowing through the waters a few weeks back – setting off sonar charges for a 5-mile length. Evidently they warn divers and fishermen to be at least 7 miles away because being underwater could blow your eardrums, but they don’t give a rat’s ass about the marine life. This process is illegal in other countries, so they go places where it’s not. When Andy and his wife went out to the survey boat to ask what’s going on and how can you be doing this?, they were greeted by the head of the Indonesian navy. Soooo, sad, but true. Long-term energy needs trump the pristine reef eco-system. Plus ca change, plus ca reste. N’importe ou dans le monde…
A toute a l’heure, mon petit choux…