Nusa Lembongan

So, on the morning of the 8th, we relaxed in the hotel after a nice breakfast.  Jackie (Jakarta) and Julianne (Yogyakarta) were meeting us in the hotel lobby after arriving that morning.  We walked around a bit, looking for and atm/money changer and a store to buy some necessities.  Then it was back to the hotel to grab our bags for our adventure.

On our walk, we saw this Hindu offering.
I didn't know gods liked fresh breath.

All of us about to embark on our grand excursion into paradise.

We took a "fast boat" over to the island of Nusa Lembongan.  It took about 45 minutes of hitting waves, and an occasional spraying of saltwater.  A little later, we found out that the slow boats take an hour.  Big difference, huh?  Well, now we know.  

Jackie enjoying the ride.

Noreen enjoying the sun.

Our first relaxing sit at Mainski, the place we stayed on the island.
Julianne looking fabulous.

After settling into our rooms, Julianne and I ran over to World Diving so I could talk to John and Sue about finishing my Open Water Certification.  Lucky me, they had one other person who just needed to do their dives, just like me, so I could start the next day.  They were a bit busy, but Julianne found out she'd be able to dive too.  Yippie!  After that, we all walked around for a bit.  Here's some of what we saw.

This woman was just so smiley!

There were gorgeous mini temples and shrines EVERYWHERE.
Kinda made you think about how everything looked 100 years ago
back when the island was unspoiled.

Lots of them are wrapped in cloth.  Checkered ones are very popular.

Just a gorgeous door inside a house structure/compound.

The view into one of these compounds.

Beautiful temple.

 After our walk, it was time to enjoy a nice dinner.  Our hotel was right on the ocean, and to find other places to eat, all we had to do was walk up and down the beach.  The food was usually awesome, and pretty cheap.  Lobster was only 6 dollars!

Good Lord, was this tasty.

The next couple of days were full of fun, that kind of just blends together in my memory.  On Sept 9th I headed out to the dive center.  Because John had no idea about our skills (Peter, an English guy, and I finished our class together) he decided to start us off in their pool.  After taking about   a half hour to get my 5mm full body wet suit on (talk about a humbling experience-they are not really made for super curvy girls), we were ready to go.  Good times.  John was happy, and we were set to go out into the water.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  No ocean for us that day.  Instead it was decided that we'd head out the next morning, bright and early.

The other girls had gone snorkeling that afternoon.  John let me bring my wetsuit back to the hotel, so that I could put it on with shampoo the next morning.  Score!  Michaela, Noreen, Jackie and I rented bikes and rode around the island a bit.  We went down some suspect roads trying to find the mangrove trees.  We got to see some more of the island, and were hailed on the road by passersby.  A couple of us even got smacked on the ass as we rode by a 10 year old boy.  Weird, to say the least.

Part of our ride.

Jackie on the steps of a temple.

Another temple with green statue dudes.

That night, I was super happy.  There were a bunch of Aussies at our resort to surf, so the bar was packed, and joy of joys, THEY HAVE A POOL TABLE!  I got to play a couple of games, and impressed some people with my skills.  Good times.  I also taught Julianne how to play Egyptian Rat Screw.  Table slaps galore.

On the 10th, I was finally in the ocean.  We went to the house reef, and the Mangrove.  Huzzah!  2 open dives under my belt, and 2 more to go.

John and Peter.  One of the Wayans is standing in between.

Mitch and another John.  He was working on his cert too,
but was a day ahead of Peter and myself.

After my first day of diving.  Look at that smile!

That afternoon, I got back early enough to go with the girls on their second snorkeling adventure.   Julianne has an underwater camera, so as soon as I get some copies of her pictures, I'll post them here.  We traveled in the current down the coast of another island right nest to Nusa Lembongan.  It was beautiful.  Then we headed to the Mangrove.  The current was fast, and for the most part, we floated along separately.  The tide was coming out, and some parts were pretty low visibility.  It was very neat to feel the differences in temperature in the water.  Plus, some parts were so shallow with the coral, that you felt right next to everything.

Then it was back to shower, and out for happy hour drinks.

Noreen, counting how many Pina Colatas she's had so far.

Gorgeous sunset.

Ditto.

The next morning, Peter and I went out with Mitch instead of John.  John had stitches on his hand, which were reacting badly with the sea water.  Julianne came with.  She has a brand new underwater casing for her gorgeous camera.  She took just the casing down, to make sure it didn't leak.  Pity, as the conditions were perfect for her to take some macro photos.  The conditions weren't the best for tests.  There was a lot of surge and current at times.  These 2 dives were not nearly as enjoyable as the day before.  Peter and I passed everything though.   Yippie.  I was now a certified diver, and free to go out with the group the next 2 days just for fun.

That afternoon, Noreen, Jackie and Michaela rented motor bikes and braved the ride around the island to Mushroom beach and Dream beach.  Julianne and I decided that it was just a little too late to meet up with them, so we decided to save that adventure for another day.  See Noreen's blog on my list to hear about their adventures.  That night, was our last as a group for a little while.  Noreen, Jackie and Michaela were off to Ubud on the main island the next morning.  Julianne and I would stay on Nusa Lembongan and dive more, and then head to Ubud on the 14th, but (insert shedding of tear here) we would miss Jackie heading back to Jakarta that day.

The next morning, Julianne and I were out early again.  This time was my first totally enjoyable dive.  I was super scared, but our dive guide, Wayan, was very nice and patient.  I held my own, and didn't run out of air before everyone else.  The boat we were on was huge, and the group was large.  Peter and I were dive buddies, so it wasn't that stressful.  I did get kicked in the face by someone while we were doing our 5 meter 3 minute stop.  At least my mask didn't come off.  This day started me not feeling well as I surfaced though.  For at least 10 minutes after coming up to the surface, I thought I was going to puke.  After the second dive, and back on land, I actually did.  Not fun.  Also seems that maybe my wet suit has latex in it. I started getting a rash on the sides of my stomach.  Yup, I'm allergic to latex (now before you get all these ideas in your head about that...I'm not THAT allergic to latex).  After 4 days in a row of wearing it though, my skin was starting to suffer.  Yuck!

This is the life.

Julianne and I, all smiles aboard the big boat.

The gang gearing up.  Huh, no one else needs to put on
their wet suit with shampoo in the shower....go figure.

Relaxing after the second dive.

 When we got back, we decided to try and head to Dream Beach.  Julianne was a little nervous about driving a bike (much deserved), so she worked it out that she could ride on the back with an islander, and I would ride my own.  This was perfect.  We didn't waste time getting lost (we didn't have much time to spare).  We arrived at Dream beach, and ate dinner there.  We met the owner, who turned out to be Noreen's rescuer from the day before.  He was ALL about Julianne.  The resort was beautiful, and the food delish.

Julianne at Dream Beach.

We walked down this stairway, thinking we'd get to the beach, but it just abruptly ended
in a cliff about 25 feet above the beach. Good photo op though.

My version of the same photo.

Western view of the infinity pool and the edge of the beach.

Eastern view.  The pool was actually 3 different levels.  Very awesome.

A picture of the bungalows at Dream Beach.  Very cool.
They even have a huge one that's a hostel style dorm.
The bathrooms are Bali style showers...outdoors!

More views of the bungalows, and a cool looking statue dude.

My seriously tasty Bali style grilled fish.  Plus, the veggies were some of the
best I've ever had in my life.  Yum yum.

Dessert.  Crepe type Bali "cake". 

Julianne and I taking my dessert garnish for our hair.
Young naked swimmers in the background.

Aww, so purty.

Julianne and the owner.  He whispered sweet nothings into her ear right
before this picture was taken.

From there, our guide took us to Mushroom beach.  It was also a cute little resort.  Now it was getting dark though.  It was interesting to ride in the dark, but I was proud of myself for not crashing.  Plus, renting the motorcycle was actually cheaper than renting the push bike from the other day.  Who knew?

Julianne about to head off to Mushroom Beach.

Mushroom beach at dusk.

Julianne appreciating the view.

When we got back, we just relaxed.  I hung out in the now empty bar (the Aussies had all left by this time) and talked to the staff and the owner.  I drank some awesome Bali alcohol called Arak.  Drink of choice?  An Arak attack.

The next morning, we had our last 2 dives.  We went in a smaller group, and went to Manta Point and Crystal Bay.  A long gorgeous boat ride, and good diving.  I didn't see any mantas, but I did see some pretty cool things.  Picts from Julianne to come soon.  The highlight for me was a cuttlefish.  No good pict, but it was big, and just floats, looking like an alien.  After everyone else floated away, I lingered for a moment, and was rewarded with it changing colors right before my eyes.  Surreal.  I also made friends/enemies with a clown fish.  After hovering/floating over a group of them hanging out in an anemone, one followed me, and kept swimming right in front of my mask.  It was so cool.  Then we saw a shrimp.  It was huge, and looked more like a lobster to me.

Heading to the surface, I again felt sick.  One of the other girls on the boat, Alexa, said I looked white as a sheet.  Another girl gave me some seasickness meds, which I took after a doctor who was on the boat happened to say it was OK.    Alexa gave me some mint gum, which really did the trick.

Alexa and Jenska.

The future cover jacket photo for Julianne's
 book on underwater photography.

My savior, the doctor.

The last dive was also great.  We didn't see any Mola Mola, which are these HUGE fish, and the reason that we had come to the island in the first place.  I did however, dive deeper than I have so far, down to 19 meters (don't tell PADI...I'm only supposed to go to 18).  Upon surfacing, Alexa plopped a piece of gum in my mouth while I was still in the water, and I was just fine.  That's a little trick I know now.  It will never be absent from my dive bag.  Julianne even suggested I put one in a plastic baggie in my BCD, so I can chew it as soon as I reach the surface.  We relaxed on the boatride back, and all was good in the world.

One of the Wayans, Julianne and I back at the dive center.

John and Julianne looking at a book to identify a crab she got a great picture of.

After dinner that night, Julianne and I relaxed in the bar together, and made some surfer friends who are also teachers, working in Jakarta.   We all decided that it would be fun to go night snorkeling.  Julianne and I grabbed our underwater flashlights, and we were set.  Not much to see, but I got my first view of luminescent plankton.  After shining the light for a bit in the water, you could turn it off, move your hand about, and see little light green specks everywhere.  It was like swimming with stars.  It was just such a magical thing to see.

The next morning, Julianne and I packed up and headed by boat back to Bali mainland.  But that's the next blog entry.....