Diving Again

On April 17, 2016July 26, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Bali, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Got up early today, checked out of the hotel in Ubud and drove back to Sanur. I had booked diving on Nusa Lembogan, an island nearby. Our instructions were to drive to the parking lot of a big resort and then someone would meet us there and we would take a fast boat to the island. That’s almost as vague as the directions I’ve gotten in Thailand for getting a bus. Ok, it works out in Thailand, it will work out here. We had a bit of trouble at the gate to the resort. They kept asking where I was going and I kept telling them the name of the resort and they asked again. It was really annoying. Finally, they got to the point that they wanted to charge me to park there. Fine. Why didn’t you just say so 5 minutes ago? The parking lot was big and had lots of vans, busses, cars and motorbikes coming and going. This was obviously the place people parked to get the boats. We were early so instead of waiting for someone to come find us we followed the throng of people down a tiny alley barely big enough for two people to pass each other. It put us on the beach board walk I liked so much when I was in Sanur last week. There were a bunch of boat companies. We found the one that was on my email and checked in. They had our reservation and gave us wristbands to get on the boat. When we got to the island there was a guy waiting with my name on a sheet of paper. See, it all worked out, even though it seemed quite vague to begin with.

Diving was good. We went to the same two dive spots I did before. I wasn’t thrilled about that, but they were still good. Carly had trouble on the first dive, Crystal Bay, so it took a while to start the dive. She got it all the equipment bugs worked out and we were able to do the dive. But because it took a while we didn’t do the wall and the point I had done before. So, it was a new dive in a way. I got to see crabs and cuttle fish amongst other things. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen cuttle fish before so that was great. The next dive was Manta Point. We saw so many manta. I couldn’t even count. On the boat, I had told the dive master I saw 3 octopus when I did this dive a couple weeks ago. We joked that he needed to find 4 and he said he’d find more. After watching the manta for half the dive we set out to see other things. We were almost done with the dive when the dive master pointed off in the distance. I knew it had to be an octopus, but I couldn’t see him. They are masterful at camouflage. We swam closer and then I saw him. We watched him change colors and move from one spot to the next. They the dive master looked at me and held up one finger to count one octopus. We didn’t see any others.

I sat down with the dive shop manager after diving and we talked about the dive master program. I got a similar story as the last one. It’s not impossible to make a living as a dive master, but it will be difficult, especially in Asia. I’d have to be an instructor to make any money and even then, it won’t be much. It’s a lifestyle decision, not a monetary decision. And if I want to make a career of it, it will be difficult. I don’t want to make a career of it so I more or less have to decide if I want to do it for a year or so just to do it. The decision isn’t made yet, but it’s not a slam dunk decision either.

We stayed at bungalows next to the dive shop. The island is pretty small so there wasn’t a ton to do that night, but they did have an outdoor movie theatre. The movie is free, you just buy food and drink. So we had dinner there and sat on big bean bag chairs and watched The Beach. I hadn’t seen a movie since I left Colorado. I loved the theatre idea.

I am not a videographer and I’m using my phone and I’m on a boat so the videos are not great, but you’ll get the idea.

20160417_092255 — Fast Boat and a lot of people

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20160417_160718 — Looking at Bali off in the distance

20160417_182628 — Bali off in the distance

More Pictures

On April 12, 2016July 26, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Bali, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Here are some more pictures and videos I could get the slow internet to upload at the Villas. The video with the rocks is mostly for the sound

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Muck Diving

On April 8, 2016July 26, 2016 By rrainefioreIn Bali, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today I went diving. I had almost private diving again. There was another guy diving and since we were different experience levels, they gave us two dive guides so that I could do deeper and longer dives. Wow, I’ve never had a dive company do that before. It was shore diving. They drove us 20 minutes to the next town. The shore operation was fascinating. It was a 5 minute walk from the parking lot down a trail to a rock “beach”. There were quite a few other divers. There were porters that brought all the stuff down. Woman would carry bags or bins of gear down to the beach on their heads. I saw some carrying tanks on their heads as well. Then there were guys that rode motorbikes down while carrying 4 tanks and weight belts. I’ve seen a lot of things on motorbikes, but four heavy tanks of air balanced in front of them was just nuts. Then, the whole process would reverse itself as they brought stuff back up to the parking lot.

Getting in the water was tricky as there was no sand, just rock and the rock moves as the water and your feet connect with them. The rocks are all black and when you swam out to the sandy part, it was all black. I’ve never dove blank sand before. It looked so alien. Because it’s so rocky, there is very little coral as it’s difficult for coral to attach to rock. There is a wreck not far off shore which is full of coral and fish life. The ship was the USAT Liberty which was a cargo ship that was torpedoed in 1942. They were able to beach it on Bali and get the cargo off. It stayed beached until 1963 when the tremors from a volcanic eruption caused it to slide into the water and sink. This area is known for what is called muck diving. Not a ton of big fish, but lots of tiny things hidden in the rocks, sand and the little bit of coral that has managed to grow. There is a small royal blue fish about 1 to 2 inches long that I’ve seen on almost every dive everywhere around the world. My favourite part was seeing schools of these swimming above the black sand. The black background made the blue so sharp it looked like the fish were glowing with blue light. I’m not a huge fan of wrecks, but this one was pretty cool. The amount of coral and fish life was amazing, probably because there isn’t much else around. The wreck was very large too. Saw another sea turtle. The second dive was like Easter egg hunting – swimming from one tiny bit of coral reef to the next looking for tiny creatures. My dive guide was good at finding them. He found an itty bitty sea horse about a quarter inch big.

After diving I ventured into town. I think ‘town’ might be a big word for where I’m staying. I think it was small enough that I actually walked the length of two towns. There is basically one street and that is all. It is lined with guest houses and homestays, restaurants, and dive shops. It’s mostly still a fishing village. I got a massage. They use oil so now I’m just hot, sweaty, covered in oil and sand. Everything is sticking to me. I had dinner at a different place and wanted to stay out and check out the place with live music, but I couldn’t stand the oil anymore and I love the place I’m staying so the thought of a shower and then camping out in my wonderful bed won over live music.

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20160408_101402 — Oh, this is a good idea

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The Plan

On April 7, 2016July 26, 2016 By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

My experience with making a plan is that 90% of the time nothing goes according to the plan. Still, we make plans. Today was no different. The first beach I chose was supposed to have the blackest sand on this side of Bali according to the guide book. I got there and it was a construction zone. Machines were moving large boulders around. The tide was in so there was no beach. I could tell that if there had been a beach, it would have had very black sand. So, back into the POS to find the next beach. I got to see rice fields on the way to and from the beach so, check! – Picture of rice fields. Now, one of the side roads I was going to take later to see rice fields didn’t need to happen. The next beach was supposed to have a ton of mica in the sand so it’s extra glittery. I like glitter. There was a parking lot and some Bali restaurants and not much else. Since the tide was still in, the water came up to the wall. I could tell from the parking lot, that, yes, this would be a glittery beach, but not right now. I tried to order lunch, but all they had was fish. How do you have fish, but not shrimp? Then again, Google Translator could be lying. It does that often. I gave up and decided to eat lunch at the next beach. The next beach was not part of the plan, but I was determined to get a beach. No, not a beach. It was a harbor for a very large ferry and more dive operations than I’ve ever seen in one location. I did find a restaurant for lunch though. So, that’s the end of the beach portion of the plan and we are 0 for 3.

At many points of the day I am sweating so hard that I think water is pouring out of my face. I didn’t think a face could sweat that much. I grew up in Florida, but I don’t remember heat and humidity like this.

I decided to head to the place I’m staying tonight. The road goes more inland. There is a water temple on the way which is the next part of the plan. Google Maps decides to not work so we are going by signs and the map in the guide book. It shouldn’t be an issue to get to Amed without google maps, but the water temple is probably a loss and hopefully the resort is easy to find when I get to Amed.

I’ve finally figured out what the white stripes on the road mean. If you see a white stripe on the road, there is a driving lane to the left of the stripe, a driving lane to the right of the stripe and a driving lane straddling the stripe. At some point the road narrowed and buildings lined both sides of the road so there was no way to pull over, stop and check the map. The road wound up and down with huge curves. Often, the buildings would go away on one side of the road revealing stunning views. I couldn’t take pictures of any of it because there was no where to stop and I need both my hands to drive. The signs did not lead me astray though. I only missed one turn – the one to the water temple.

I saw an area with about 20 cars parked so I assumed that might be the temple. I had to drive quite a distance before I found a place I could turn around. I wasn’t going to miss everything on the plan though so I went back and it was the parking for the water temple! Actually, it wasn’t a temple, but a water palace. Taman Tirta Gangga was built in 1948 and has two swimming ponds, and a bunch of other ponds with fountains and koi in them. My favorite had stepping stones at water level so it felt like you were walking on water. They led different paths through the water like a labyrinth. As I headed back to my car there was a guy with snakes you could pay to pose with for pictures. He also had a bat and tiny owls. OWLS. My distaste of animal tourism out the window. Hell yea, I’ll pay you to hold a tiny owl and get my picture taken.

After that I headed to Amed by way of sign instead of electronic map. The road got smaller and smaller until it was slightly larger than one lane. Yet from the signs advertising guesthouses and scuba diving, I knew I was on the right path. I almost missed the sign that pointed to the place where I’m staying, but managed to hit the brakes and turn at the last second. I parked near the entrance and a guy asked if I was Kim.

This is no five star resort, but I’m in love with it. The dive shop is at the same place as the hotel so I was able to check in and I don’t have far to go tomorrow morning. There are a row of rooms on either side of a courtyard. Almost the entire courtyard is taken up by a pool. There’s a restaurant and a short distance from the restaurant and the pool is a black sand beach. You can see huge mountains when you are in the ocean. Each room has a covered deck looking out to the ocean and the decks all have bean bag chairs on them. My room is large, very yellow and has a bed built into the middle of the room. I can hear the ocean from my room. I stayed here for dinner because I’ve had enough venturing out for today and because I love this place. The food was great and I got to catch up on yesterday and today’s blogs.

I checked in with Mom. My brother is there again. They were getting ready to go to the funeral of my cousin’s son. The funeral for my Mom’s husband is Saturday. I wish I could be there. I’ve been struggling with feeling like I should go back and feeling very strongly that it isn’t the right decision. There’s a huge part of me that doesn’t want to go back to Sam Ngao and teach. That part is telling me to move back to the US. To stay in Sam Ngao would be the more difficult choice. I don’t feel that it’s the right time to go back to the US. I’m stuck again in the place of what “should” I do. I’m thinking of the future instead of being here. I’m feeling like I need to have a plan, make a decision, control the situation. But, I know that this is all part of the learning. The truth is that I don’t know the right answer, I don’t have to make a decision now and if I control the situation, it will not turn out happy for me. So, as uncomfortable as it is for me, I wait. I wait for life to unfold and happen the way it should.

I also had the thought on the dive boat yesterday that I would love to be on a boat and diving every day. Then I had the thought that I don’t have the money to get my dive master certification and it would be a hard life financially. I see that I took something wonderful that I was enjoying and in my head made it impossible to have that as my life. Instead, my life will be teaching in Sam Ngao, moving to Wisconsin which I have no desire to do, or some unknown other thing that is also ok, but I don’t love it. So, the belief that there’s not enough for me is still in operation at a very subtle level. I can never really have what I want. This has been one of my core issues. I want to love my life. I want to love my work and have it be enough financially. I want to put an end to drama and the need for there to always be some hurdle to get over. And it’s tied to doing and planning. And it’s tied to what’s going on with Mom. And it’s tied to the dissolving of the ego. So for now, I have no plan and I don’t know what I’m going to do in a couple weeks when vacation is over. I have no idea how I’m going to get that job I love or what that job is. I’m just watching what comes up and noticing it.

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Diving Bali

On April 6, 2016July 26, 2016 By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I got up early, had breakfast at my hotel. They have a cute open air kitchen and made me a fried egg and toast. I love this little hotel. The dive shop picked me up, thank god. I need a day off from driving that horrible vehicle on tiny roads.

A lot of buildings here look like temples with ornate stone entrances, but they are just homes or businesses. In fact, I’m not even sure what a temple looks like at this point. The dive shop was the same. I large stone wall with a grand entrance. Inside was a stone pool that looked like a temple in it’s own right. It’s so hot here, maybe it should be a temple. There were a lot of people and it had a wonderful feel to it. It looked like a higher end dive shop. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but I’m thinking of getting my dive master certification and working as a dive guide as a possibility after teaching. I chose 3 dive companies based on their dive master internship programs. This one is off to a good start.

I had requested to dive Nusa Penida which is an island nearby. So, they put me on a boat with 8 dive interns, their instructors and my dive guide. So, basically, it was private diving with a boat full of other people. It was neat to watch the dive intern class too. I read later on line that my dive guide, Wayan, has over 10,000 dives in Bali. Holy crap. I have 156.

I did my back roll into the warm water and felt at home immediately. After adjusting my gear and telling Wayan I was ready, I looked down at the sandy bottom with a reef off to our right. As we decended, I felt like I was in an aquarium. It was clear and there were tons of fish. The coral wasn’t the brightly colored coral I remember seeing other places, but it was alive and moving in the current. Most of it looked like long shag carpet. There were others that looked like gardens of giant cabbage. We hit a mean thermocline. It went from summer to winter in an instant. This was hopeful as the Mola (Sun Fish) are found in these conditions. It’s not Mola season, but still possible to see them. They are huge getting up to 14′ tall and 10′ long. We went to the point of the reef and held on against the current (current another good sign) and waited. No Mola today. Still, this dive was great and I’m relieved that not all the reefs of the world are dead.

The second dive was Manta point. We got to see a manta ray, many sting rays and 3 different octopus. The Mantas are huge and beautiful to watch, but 3 octopus in one dive during the day? That was the highlight for me. Just watching them change colors over and over is fascinating. The third dive was wonderful too. It was a drift dive, meaning that the current is strong enough that you get in, go for a ride past all the coral and then the boat picks you up farther down the reef. At first there was no current. Near the end of the dive, it kicked in. It’s kinda fun just whizzing by and I find it very relaxing. The highlight of this dive was a large turtle. We grabbed on to some reef and watched him chow down on something for almost 5 minutes.

So, for those of you who don’t know Scott’s turtle story, you get to hear it now. One time Scott and I went diving at a small resort in Belize. We were the only ones staying at the hotel and the only ones diving all week. The first dive, the dive master said we might get to see a turtle. Not only did we see one, it came up to Scott and swam around above him in his bubbles. We saw a turtle on every dive that week. Every one we saw interacted with Scott or his bubbles. One came straight for Scott. He dropped to his knees in the sand to avoid touching it and spread his arms out wide. It was almost wider than Scott’s outstretched arms. From that point forward we joked that Scott was the King Turtle. It must be his bald head and big nose – they thought he was a turtle. A few years later when I was researching the memorial tattoo I wanted to get in honor of Scott, I knew it would be a sea turtle. I wanted the symbol of a turtle, not an actual picture of a turtle so I googled Seat Turtle Symbol. What I got was Seat Turtle Symbolism. In a couple different cultures, the sea turtle is the communication link between this world and the next. I remember being stunned. I figured that turtle had been telling Scott to get ready because his time in this world was almost up. I took a bunch of images to my tattoo artist, but didn’t tell him the story or even that it was a memorial tattoo. A couple days later he had his design. While he showed me the design he showed me how he had symbolized past, present and future, the sun, sky, water and earth and gave him a third eye to see beyond this world. Again, stunned. Of course, I cried and shared the story with him and he cried.

My mother’s husband, David, died yesterday morning. I wonder if the sea turtle was bringing me a message from David. In reality, I don’t see an actual direct link between the turtle and death, but I’d like to think it was David saying goodbye.

After diving I ventured out to the beach walk. It’s a sidewalk that runs along the beach for quite a distance in Sanur. It has hotels, restaurants, and shops along it. I saw people doing Falun Dafa on the beach and was reading the information they had posted because I had never heard of it. It’s a Chinese “Traditional Self Cultivation Practice to improve Mind and Body”. A a lady asked if I’d like to try it. Sure. We sat cross legged and she showed me some hand positions that we would hold for ” a minute or so each. I closed my eyes and listened to the waves and the people walking by. My favorite was the sound of the bicycle bells as people rode by. They sounded like little chimes. It would have been relaxing except for the fact that my foot fell asleep and I couldn’t walk for a minute or two after we were done. It was fun to experience and I’m glad I tried it. I went looking for the night market and got sidetracked by a pedicure and ear candling. The pedicure wasn’t maiming like the ones in Thailand – Yay! I got to see my first religious parade. I read in the travel book that it is common to see a parade of people all dressed up carrying offerings to a local temple. They were all dressed in white playing drums and gongs. I found the night market and then decided I’d rather eat dinner at one of the beach side places I saw so I did that.

Then I went back to the cute little hotel and made a plan for tomorrow. I’m going to drive east and stop at a couple beaches along the way, then see some rice fields, go to a water temple, and then arrive later in the day in Amed at my next accommodation. Hey, Sharon, Look – I have a plan…..

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	eaglegenuinec87d1476… on Going Home
	delicately4f6d967f14 on Going Home
	delicately4f6d967f14 on Icebergs
	delicately4f6d967f14 on ATV Tour
	eaglegenuinec87d1476… on Kluane

Rraine Drops

Tag: DiveBali