Back, Burnt and Bali-Belly
Net access was expensive and intermittent; so haven't been able to blog much.
But first up:
We saw MANTAS!!!! Wooohoooooooooo
This is Eugene's 120th dive trip and my 60-somethingeth one and having traipsed all over the world, we finally see them in Bali. And we see them several days in a row no less. Excellent stuff.
They are quite big; the biggest of them is about 3m - 4m(wingspan), and they are incredibly graceful! One flap and they're off... and perfectly balanced despite the swell.
The dive area is called Manta Point: and it seems they only come when the tide is high (unfortunately, that also means bad visibility because there is a huge swell and it sweeps up the sand on the bottom of the ocean )
(NB: Lots more photos on the flickr badge on the right column of the blog.)
There is one particular boulder they congregate upon - because the fishes there pick out the parasites from their gills and skin... a cleaning station in other words. They even line up for their turn.
And they can be quite curious about you too. They come up and eyeball you a bit before flapping off but trust me, its hard to catch up with a Manta even if you think they are going slow.
We went with good old Yos Marine Adventures - whom we keep going back to - and our great DM, Chong. (Ask for him if you do decide to go) Tulamben is always a good dive, even if its hours away by van. But the best diving is around Nusa Penida, an island about an hour away by speedboat. Manta Point is on the east side of the Island, and Crystal Bay is apparently where all the Mola Molas come through.
There are currents though - one dive, it was like a 4 knot drift: we have a hilarious vid of this guy clowning it up for the camera and getting swept right into the coral. On another we had to fight the currents so we wouldn't be swept away into the open ocean. All I can say is that we were super pooped at the end of it.
We had six dive days, and met a really nice chap - Phil - who can *really* hold his own when it comes to air consumption. He accuses us of having gills/not breathing underwater but he can last up to 75 minutes anyhoos. But that one dive, he had all of 10 bar left at the decom stop. Gene had a lousy 200 PSI left. (We were too involved looking at Mantas) I decided I'd hold on to Phil just in case he needed the Octopus. (I still had 50 bar) - but he's like a good luck charm - excellent dives with him; so no regrets man.
But now, its back to reality - the reality that we spent too much money (F&B at the Conrad is ridiculously expensive), the reality of a heckuavalot of laundry after a holiday, the reality that we are extremely sun burnt...
And we have come down with Bali Belly. Prob ate something fishy at this italian restuarant in Seminyak. (no, not La Luciola, which was as good as ever. Think it was the beef carpaccio at Ultimo that did us in)
Okay, will post up more photos when i have the energy... and when Gene gets down to downloading the pixes from his camera.
