Friday, December 19, 2014

Kuta, Bali



Breakfast the last two days has been nasi kuning - yellow rice cooked in coconut with all the toppings.  The woman was on the street only a few moments, until she was all sold out!  It cost 56 cents! and was delicious!  It's egg, long beans, soy nuts, chicken, peppers, hot sauce and noodles-


I came here to get my advanced open water and voila!


Day 3 I went to Tulamben and Day 4 to the island of Nusa Penida to Manta Point and Crystal Bay for a total of 5 dives-

At Tulamben, I did wreck and natural navigation dives.  These are beach dives on black volcanic rock.  The wreck is the USS Lierty which is 130 meters long.  It's an armed cargo ship that the Japanese hit with a torpedo during WWII.  in 1963 a volcano erupted and pushed it in to the water.  This is basically what I saw-

(Thanks to wexas.com)

The second dive was at Coral Gardens, Tulamben.  Visibility was 5-10 meters and I went down 20 meters for 45 minutes.  I had to use a compass to navigate a square pattern as well as navigate a straight line back and forth with the compass.

It was a 2 hour drive there and a 3 hour drive back due to traffic.  The scenery is nice-





Day 4 was to Nusa Penida on this boat-


I did my deep dive at Manta Point to 28 meters.  This is what I saw-


(thanks to Henri Lindpere, whom I dove with yesterday)

A manta is a large eagle ray that can be 7 meters wide.  It has triangular pectoral fins which allow it to lift itself.   It also has horn-shaped cephalic fins protruding from its head.  Its mouth faces forward and it's a filter feeder, eating lots of zooplankton that it swallows as it swims.  It looked like a big UFO!

En route to the next dive site-



The second part of the day was at Crystal Bay where there is a very, I mean VERY strong drift dive.  I was too busy trying to stay horizontal (without success) and keep my eye on my instructor to see much, but the bottom was absolutely covered in coral and other plants - so colorful and soooo many fish!  I'd love to dive there again!

The last four days have been long and tiring.  I'm ready for a couple days of rest!



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