Dragons, Dolphins and Nice Australians?! Pt. 2

18:12 Paul
The next day, I was off on my live-aboard in Komodo National Park - supposedly the best diving in Indonesia! I checked out, waited half an hour for a banana pancake breakfast (apparently insufficient time!) and head down the dive shop hungry! Here I met 'Willy', the Dive Master and two of the other divers. We made our way to the boat, met the crew and were off - next stop 'Tatawa Besar', we had to pick up two more divers en route who were staying on an island resort in the park. Once at our destination, we made our first dive amongst docile and inquisitive turtles, amazing corals and my first Lion Fish. Post lunch, we made dive number two at 'Crystal Rock', less spectacular corals greeted us but I spied a lone reef shark (second of my career), a beautiful Eagle Ray and a host of sizeable fish. The final dive of the day was my first night dive. We moored the boat in a secluded cove and waited for night-fall.


Sunset and the live-aboard
'Lawa Dartat Bay' offered more impressive sights above the waves. Whilst the whole experience of diving in the dark was bizarrely exhilarating, crustaceans and sea slugs aren't my cup of tea! Before we exited the water, we all switched off our torches to marvel at the bioluminescent plankton — it was like something from a Disney movie. For those who don't know, bioluminescence is the ability in some organisms to produce light, in certain plankton, disturbing the water around them causes them to emit their light. It's magical as swathes of tiny stars dance around you. The day drew to a close and I opted to sleep on deck, complete error! A hideous nights sleep ensued...

Sunrise, a burping, farting captain and a clumsy crew ensured I was up bright and early for our first dive of the day 'Castle Rock' — my first negative entry. We plunged into the water to be greeted by a mass of seething fish, thousands strong, glinting in the sunlight as they frantically tried to move out of our way. As the six of us descended, the fish circled us seemingly trapping us within a glistening cone until almost instantly we broke through to the bottom of the school where we were greeted by seventeen circling sharks! I had a little bit of a panic, not being the greatest shark fan. We settled on the reef bed and watched the graceful predators for some time. The icing on the cake came literally like a bolt out of the blue, two dolphins erupted through the ranks of the sharks, shot overhead and danced overhead. It was incredible! By far my most exciting dive...

The second dive of the day was on 'Bata Bolong', an absolutely stunning dive site. I spent about an hour singing 'Just Keep Swimming' from "Finding Nemo", the comparisons were unbelievable, the corals were pristine and beautifully coloured, the sheer volume of fish was overwhelming and the dappled sun light danced over the whole spectacle like something I thought only Pixar could create - I was in awe.

The final dive of the day and indeed the trip was to ‘Manta Point’, no prizes for what we were looking for here! It was a bizarre dive site, a baron underwater landscape pocked with islands of coral, a fairly mundane drift dive. Twenty minutes in, we found what we were looking for - an enormous and apparently rarer Black Manta Ray. At least three and a half meters across, the majestic behemoth, clearly as intrigued by us danced overhead as we all watched on, mesmerised. Eventually, the beautiful creature slid into the blue and out of sight and we made our ascent, content with the spectacles from each dive. Back on-board, we made our way back to Luaban Bajo where I checked back into Gardena and crashed out, exhausted.

The next day, I was to return to Bali. I arrived at the airport, I’ve seen bigger corner-shops than that! Shockingly, the flight was on time so after dropping my bags and grabbing some food, I found myself in Bali on my way to Seminyak. I arrived at the Aussie’s villa to find no-one home but their security guard, a fat, jolly soul with no grasp on the English language! Thankfully, using wifi, we managed to converse through the magic of Google Translate - the joys of technology.

Luaban Bajo Airport...
Having finally located the Melburnian’s (a real word I’m assured!), I regaled them with stories of weird and wonderful creatures and they regaled me with stories of drunken antics — good times! We head out for dinner and seemed lured into the nastiest, tackiest restaurant on the strip, I have a feeling it was the free shots that swayed it and the Australian flag on the wall was the deal clincher! The restaurant (a term I’m using very loosely here!) was followed by a bout of drinking games back at the villa in which I was definitely being victimised! 

So Neighbours

The night was passed in ’Sky Garden’ with random tramps, sleeping Asians, 4am Maccas and Flicks pole dancing debut...

Things can only end badly!

The next morning pounced quite unexpectedly and with it, the end of the Australian Adventure! We said our goodbyes, feeling abandoned like a lost puppy I bundled into a taxi and made my way to Legian where I checked into the first hotel I found and zonked out for 16 hours...


Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | | edit post

Dragons, Dolphins and Nice Australians?! Pt. 1

18:32 Paul

Bali oozes class!
With an all day power cut on the cards, I thought I'd be proactive. Unwashed and fairly gross, I dropped off my laundry and bought myself a sarong - starting asking price Rp. 350,000, paid Rp. 50,000, jokers! I took a stroll along the beach walk toward the airport where the beach and clientele did improve but only marginally! I'm still baffled as to the secret of Kuta's popularity. As I made my way back, I crashed on the beach for some much needed sun.

As the sun went down, the power came back and I washed off the day and head to 'Swell Bar' which boasted celebrity clientele such as Johnny Depp, Michael Jackson and Angelina Jolie in photos which were definitely not taken this century! Here I got chatting to Corey, an Aussie flight attendant, who, being a Bali veteran suggested we head to some gay bars - why not! We made our way to "Bali Joe's", drag queen central. Being on the gay strip we hopped around a few bars until we got to "Club Cabaret" where I was assaulted by Madonna, Whitney, Britney and Rihanna! As the 'ladies' pulled at my clothes, the feeling I have been made a naked spectacle of far too many times in Asia crept in and I ran for the door! Back to Bali Joe's. The crowd had grown and shifted from seedy old men to a younger crowd which was a relief, it's here I got chatting to Flick and Alex, they in turn introduced me to James and Lydia and just like that, my view that all Australians in Indonesia were illiterate Bogans was shattered - praise the lord! My first night out in Indonesia was a blast.

After a surprisingly late start to the day, I made my way over to Seminyak which compared to Kuta is positively swanky! I found myself in the Aussie's villa which depressed me greatly considering I have been washing with a bucket some days - I even got breakfast...made by their maid! Hammish, Hooper, Flick, James and I made our way to the beach to 'La Plancha' - the day passed avoiding beach sellers, attempting to make it into the sea without the lifeguard blowing up (his whistle!) and generally monging out! The sun began to slip behind the horizon so we took our leave - it's so refreshing to be able to speak to people with the same first language, other Westerners don't seem to pick up on sarcasm! From the beach I head home for a shower and to pick up my laundry from the previous day - this turned out to be a mini adventure itself! First hurdle came with road closures left right and center meaning my motorbike driver got ridiculously lost in the claustrophobic backstreets of Kuta. Eventually arriving at my destination time came to pick up my laundry, I rarely make this faux pas but I neglected to ask a price when I was dropping my clothes off...Rp. 350,000 was his starting price, already in a hurry I nearly slapped him for his insolence, £25 to wash a few tshirts, two pairs of shorts and some boxers was insulting. After causing a fairly impressive scene I managed to get them down to Rp. 60,000 and got an apology - win!

Following a lightning shower, I found myself back on a motorbike winding my way through the backstreets to the cute faux colonial 'Cafe Bali' in Seminyak to meet the Aussie's. Twenty minutes late I sat down and met the rest of the troops who had been absent for reasons better left well alone the previous night! Despite latching on to a friendship group 9 strong, they were remarkably welcoming. With dinner done, we head back to their villa for a dangerous assortment of drinking games but a healthy dose of banter - how I've missed being able to mock people without them taking actual offence. They did try their best to wow me with their racial stereotypes of 'Poms', I think they favoured being that we whinge a lot! Sufficient humiliation all round, we made our way back to 'La Plancha' for a beach party. We drank, we danced and I cut my foot, all in all a winning night!

Lazy Aussies!
Such frivolity potentially wasn't a plan considering I had a flight the next day. I left my hotel room at 11:30am to catch a 12:45pm flight - cue the desperate rush! Magically I arrived with time to spare and eventually boarded the 52 seater propeller 'Merpati' plane, that's when my hangover struck with all it's might! A gruesome hour and a half later, I found myself in Luaban Bajo, Flores on the edge of Komodo National Park. The airport and baggage claim were laughable, a man hoisting bags through a hole in the wall is a novel replacement for the customary conveyor belt! A motorbike from the airport offered a great view of the stunning natural harbour of Luaban Bajo nestled in a stunning bay edged with mountainous islands. I checked myself into Gardena Bungalows with a room overlooking the ocean and passed out...

Taking my life in my own hands!
With the previous day a complete write off, I was up early to sort out some diving. Visits to numerous dive shops offered little hope until I popped into 'Sebayur Diving' who took from me Rp. 2,500,000 for a 2 day liveaboard including 6 dives - a done deal. Next stop was the pier where I chartered myself a boat to Rinca (Rin-cha) to go huntin' Dragons (Komodo Dragons)! After a journey which wouldn't have been out of place in a Lord of the Rings film for duration, we chugged our way up to a jetty protruding from the mangroves. At the end of said jetty, I was greeted by Bruno who wielded a 6ft 'Y-shaped' stick which he assured me was for 'dragonssss' as he swung it theatrically through the air - unsettled by this lunatic, we plodded through the mangroves to the Ranger Station. Once in the Ranger Station, I handed over endless Rupiah to buy permits for park entry, diving, snorkelling, using my camera....breathing?!


Don't judge me, my neck was burning!
Evil!
Out of the office and back into the blistering sunshine, I was confronted with five enormous dragons lolling in the sun. Whilst they were quite docile, their presence was massively unnerving. Bruno decided whilst I crouched with my back to the group of monsters to try his hand at becoming the next David Bailey! Worryingly, I noticed that whilst they may not have been moving a great deal, it was very apparent that they were constantly watching and assessing the potential for a Western snack! The rest of my time on the island was fairly boring, we didn't spot any other dragons on account of it being mating season. Bruno did point out some interesting flora and fauna and we spotted lots of Long Tailed Macaques but I was content with what I'd seen. Back to the Ranger Station, through the mangroves and onto the boat and I was headed back to Luaban Bajo, witness to a beautiful sunset....

Labels: , , , , | | edit post