After making a hasty retreat from the
Perhentian Islands following Tracy's little immigration faux pas,
we were now in Kuala Lumpur. We took refuge in Rhona's house and
were being treated like royalty by Ian and Nigel and had no idea
where to go next. So, it was on the internet to do a mail shot
of our diving resumes to all the dive shops in the surrounding
countries. After about three days of silence we received a message
from Blue Coral Divers in Lombok, Indonesia, saying, "my
boss need instructor, you come now." After a couple of brief
e-mails back and forth to find out a little more about the job
and the dive shop we book flights to Bali and bid our farewells
and thanks to Rhona, Nigel and Ian (promising t return for Rhonas
wedding in a few months time) and off we go to Indonesia.
We land in Denpasar in Bali to a rather
terse greeting from immigration officials as we only had one-way
tickets, but, after much discussion and not a bribe in sight,
they reluctantly give us a 60 visa. Next we take a mini bus taxi
to a small town called Padang Bai where we spend our first night
in Indonesia. We celebrate with fish and Bintang Beer for Supper.
The following day we catch the ferry to the island of Lombok and
another mini bus taxi finally deposits us at the door of Blue
Coral Divers in Sengigi. Then we had to wait to meet the owner
"Akok" to turn up! There shops (3 in all) looked fairly
well equipped and well run but we were not to be based in Sengigi
- we were going to the more remote island of Gili Meno, one of
the three Gili Islands.
That night was a sleepless one. Not because
of excitement, but because we were being eaten alive by
mosquitoes.
Early next morning, along with the local dive crew and a handful
of customers we set sail to Gili Meno. It was a great boat ride
to the tiny island, and we almost became hopeful that this was
actually going to work out. We alighted the boat to discover that
the dive shop was little more than a bamboo shack just off the
beach. Tracy set about the task of turning the shack into a proper
dive shop and Terry, as ever, decides it's more important to go
diving... And was not disappointed!. Tracy gets shown the
bungalow
we are to stay in and tries to set up home as well as shop until
Terry convinces her to do the afternoon dive. Much to our amazement,
after the second dive is over, the boats returned to Lombok with
all the crew except one to look after the shop, and so we are
left to fend for ourselves on this very quite island, with hardly
another tourist in sight... What bliss!
After a few days we settled in nicely
. We ate our meals at Ya Ya's Warung (basically a shack on the
beach where food is cooked on an open fire and generally there
is no electricity, but some of the best food in the world) morning,
noon and night. Tracy becomes known as Teacher, not only because
of the diving but because she helps teach some of the locals to
speak English. Terry is known by Jimmy at Ya Ya's as "the
Englishman and his tea".
We had an idyllic stay for 6 weeks but
as visa's are such a pain to renew, we decided it was time to
move on again, so, after a very tearful farewell, it was back
to Lombok, then Padang Bai in Bali for a night. The next morning
we were lucky enough to get a lift from an English couple in their
hire car. They leave us in a place called Tulumben where we stay
for a couple of days and dive the wreck there. We spend a few
nights in Kuta in Bali, surrounded by drunken Aussies, then we
head overland by coach, ferry and train to Jakarta before eventually
flying out to Penang in Malaysia on our way back to Thailand.
Top
GILI MENO
MANTA POINT
As with all the dives around the Gili Islands, they are all within
a 20 minute boat ride in one of the local outrigger style boats,
skippered by a local boatman. Our favourite was a guy called Lookman,
who was always waiting near to us no matter how strong the current
and how scattered the divers!
Manta point differs to most sites in the Gili Islands, in that
the site slopes off into the depths rather than a quick drop off.
Surf and surge can be a problem at the beginning of the dive in
the shallows, but once you get further down the reef things get
easier. Terry's first dive here was with a guy called Jacob and
as luck would have it a Manta cruised by as they were just starting
their descent down the slope. They were also treated to a couple
of White Tip Sharks and a turtle. The depth of the site ranges
form 30m up to 5m and current can vary in direction and strength,
so the best thing to do is to just go with it and surface as shallow
as possible without getting into the surge. Top
CORAL FAN GARDEN
One of Tracy's favourite sites to take students on their final
dive. You can go deep on this dive but all the best stuff is around
12-18m. There are Giant Clams, funnel sponges and of course Gorgonian
Fan corals. The marine life around the Gili's is amazing. We saw
nearly every type of Trigger Fish possible here. Plus Unicorn
fish, Turtles and on one dive with Tracy's students, Binh and
Steve, we bumped into a "herd" of thirty plus Bumphead
Parrotfish which was a fairly intimidating experience as these
hapless creatures, some around a meter long, just don't seem to
have a care in the world as they bash into everything as they
munch their way through the coral! The currents along Coral Fan
Garden can get exceedingly strong so this can make for a pretty
fun drift dive as you just let the current whip you past the stunning
scenery. Top
MENO WALL/SLOPE
This was our most popular dive site due to the fact it was only
10 minutes away by outrigger from the shop. Also it was the preferred
afternoon dive by the boat crews as it was so close, meaning they
could knock off early for their crossing back to Lombok - which
suited us fine as it meant we had most of the afternoon to ourselves.
Also this site was excellent for night dives as there is so much
life on it.
A usual dive started off in the shallows giving people time to
get adjusted, because as soon as you drop over the wall there
is no turning back! The current (ranging from strong to very strong)
instantly takes you with it. It's best to stick around 16m on
this dive as that is where all the life is. The wall is encrusted
in hard and soft corals and thorny oysters. It is also home to
a school of Harlequin Sweet lips, quite a few Clown Trigger Fish
and a multitude of turtles gently grazing on the coral, who didn't
seem at all effected by the currents. On a good day with a strong
current, you can make it around the corner of the island where
the current subsides leaving you in the shallows of Meno Wall
to lazily use your air up. Top
AIR
WALL
Situated directly opposite the Dive shop at Gili Meno is the Island
of Gili Air and the aptly named dive site Air Wall. As usual you
take a quick boat journey then start the dive in the shallows
and drop off onto a wall. This one really starts off as a slope
but soon turns into a wall. Once Terry just started straight off
on the wall with a single diver. They dropped straight down at
30m onto a rather large white tip reef shark! Another time, Tracy
was conducting an Advanced Course with the help of her 2 Divemaster
trainees, Corinne and Raf, plus Terry who just tagged along for
the ride! As soon as we got down we realised the current was strong
as the usual "sand dunes" in the channel (they really
do look like a wind swept desert) were peaking, like wind was
blowing the sand off a high dune. We hit the bottom at 30m and
just went with the flow for 20 mins. God only knows how fast the
current was but once we surface we had travelled a very long way
off the reef - but it was well worth it! Normally the dive bottoms
our around 20m with a drift along the wall, covered in yellow
soft coral and a plethora of puffer fish. Finish the dive on the
edge of the reef shelf amongst a couple of coral outcrops covered
in glassfish. Sometimes the current will actually take you back
along the top of the reef in the opposite direction to which it
brought you! Top
SHARK POINT
Another dive site located off Gili Trawangan.
It is the most dramatic of the Gili’s as it goes from a 5m
plateaux and drops off with a wall going straight down to 60m.
If you keep this wall on your right you will come up to about
18m where there are a series of gullies and sand bottoms running
parallel to the shore where you are guaranteed to find white tip
reef sharks sleeping in the sand. The most sharks we saw on one
dive was five and that was exceptional. Normally you get one or
two. Unfortunately the coral in the shallows around the Gili’s
has been severely damaged by dynamite fishing. Luckily, the corals
on the walls has not taken to much punishment by the explosives
and is still very much alive. Top
TULAMBEN DROP OFF
This site is hardly compared
to the wreck, but it's still best to dive it in the morning as
the visibility is better and you are virtually guaranteed not
to see another diver. The reef itself is an old lava flow from
Mount Agung and is at the opposite end of the bay from the wreck.
The dive starts off on a steep sand slope. As you continue down
and to the right, the slope turns into reef with a spectacular
drop off to 60m. We dropped down to 40ish metres, where we were
greeted by massive funnel sponges, black coral bushes and gorgonian
fans, not to mention a vivid array of marine life. Continuing
on, the wall reverts back into sand slope; it was here that we
turned and followed the reef back. Then slowly ascending to 5m,
where it is possible to while away a safety stop for much, much
longer than 3 minutes, as even here there is so much to see and
you never know what you are going to find when you are just bimbling
around in the shallows. Top
LIBERTY SHIPWRECK
Located just 30m offshore from the village
of Tulumben in Bali, on a sloping seabed at depth ranging from
32m up to 4m. This 120m long American built WW2 "Liberty"
cargo ship finally slid into and under the sea in 1963 during
the eruption of the nearby volcano, Mount Agung, from where it
had originally been beached to save it's cargo after it was torpedoed
by the Japanese just off Lombok in WW2.
The wreck itself is pretty well broken up, but the main cargo
hold is semi intact making some nice swim throughs. Also there
is still an anti-aircraft gun on the bow section and some davits
lying on the seabed. The main attraction is the marine life as
the wreck is totally encrusted in anemones, gorgonian fans and
coral plus there is a wealth of fish including a shoal of big
eye trevally, and virtually every fish you care to point out from
a Marine Guide to Asia!. It really is alive. The only down side
is that it's also alive with divers (probably hundreds a day).
Most of the divers arrive around 10.00am onwards as most of them
come from the large resorts, such as Kuta, which is a good 3 hours
journey away. The best way to dive the wreck is to stay in
Tulumben
itself, either at one of the bigger hotels, or one of the smaller
'losmen'. We opted for a reasonably priced losmen, which also
hired out tanks and weights. This way you can hit the water and
have the wreck to yourself before the hoards descend. Top
We dived the wreck four times in all over 2 days following the
same routine both days. Firstly get up around 7am and have your
gear carried to the site for you by the local women (it's compulsory,
and a small charge is obligatory - God knows how they manage to
carry the gear bare foot across the large volcanic pebbles that
make up the beach). Kit up and enter the water. This can be a
bit difficult if there's a bit of surf, but quite a laugh! Our
first dive was deep, down to 32m and a search around the bow section,
then back up through the cargo hold and up to the surface. Safety
stops can be done on the stern as this rises up to 4m. Luckily
we hired 15 litre tanks and we managed to do two dives off one
tank, with an hour surface interval on the beach. Second dive,
back into the cargo hold at around 18m for a look around then
up around the boilers and back onto the stern and out. Next thing
to do is go back to your room, shower, clean your gear, and enjoy
breakfast as you watch the hundreds of divers turning up, knowing
you've just had the whole site and the millions of fish that inhabit
the place, to yourself. It is a lovely dive site and possible
the worlds easiest and accessible wreck. Top
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