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Bali and Komodo 8/26/2006 - 9/10/2006Selamat siang, apa kabar?Good afternoon, how are you? That about sums up the extent of Indonesian I picked up while we journeyed through Bali and Komodo.
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And although my language skills were sorely lacking, my journal entries flowed as we experienced the culture of Bali and the majestic diving of Komodo. Our adventure started with a long flight across the Pacific, through Taiwan and Singapore, to the island of Bali.
After being escorted to our hotel, and enjoying finally being horizontal to sleep rather than in that aircraft seat, we awoke to a beautiful Balinese sunrise over our private beach. 
Our first few days activities included touring several Hindu temples (Bali is 90% Hindu), the monkey forest in Ubud, white water rafting through rice paddies and lush tropical forest, sampling some of the best coffees in the world, mountain bike riding, and a few lazy evenings at the pool bar. 
With each new experience we learned more about the rich culture and history of Bali. And with every encounter, the friendly and generous people of Indonesia amazed us. | |
After five action filled days on land, it was time for this group of divers to get wet. So off to the airport for our 40 minute flight to the island of Sumbawa we went. Bima was our launching port, and after a short bus ride we were delivered to our home for the week, the Aqua One. 
This state of the art cruising vessel offered all the comforts a diver could want, with excellent food and some of the best service I have ever encountered! We crossed over to Komodo, and finally started our diving adventure. 
The first dive was supposed to be just a warm up dive. Hawksbill turtles, a friendly cuttlefish, unlimited visibility and more fish than I dared to count started us off on the right foot. 
As we ascended from the dive, I overheard a diver recount “Well, that made up for every [bad] dive I’ve ever done”. And that was supposed to just be the warm up! How could it get any better? 
As it turned out, it not only got better, it about knocked my socks off! Having done this trip once before, I thought I had a good idea of what to expect. But on each successive dive, the visibility was better, the water warmer, the fish life more abundant, and the critter sightings more amazing. 
Included on the list of things we saw for the first time on this trip were Bobtail Squid, Stargazers, juvenile cuttlefish, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Devil Scorpionfish, Xenon Crabs and a rare Rhinopious Scorpionfish. And that was on top of all the usual suspects; the leafy scorpionfish, pygmy seahorse, crocodile fish, cuttlefish, painted frogfish, sharks, turtles, blue spot stingrays, and the thousands of fish species. 
Add to that a new Manta feeding area with crystal clear visibility and this trip blew away our first experience! Indonesia is one of the many reasons “Been there, done that” is just not a true statement in diving! 
As I polled the group on our return flight to Colorado if the effort to get there was worth it, a resounding “YES” echoed in my ears (OK, so the language was a bit more graphic since the drinks are free on Singapore Air, but you get the idea). |
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