Departure 2013-Nov-19 - 8.00     Arrival 2013-Nov-19 - 11.30

I finally make the move to Bali, after three nights on Gili Meno and another three nights on Gili Air. The speedboat from Gili Air is connected to a shuttle-bus in Padangbai. In only a few hours you can get where you want to go. I guess this is a good thing about touristy Bali: transportation is faster and more efficient, the tracks are well beaten here.

Kuta is my destination and arriving here I go room-hunting. The streets in the center are filled with mostly Australian tourists and surf shops or retailers for beer-tank-tops, budget-rooms are shabby, small and not worth their money (I change rooms after the first night, as noise-wise I felt like sleeping in a bar). But hey .... sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!

Kuta ocean is good for surfing and the beach is hugh. It's filled with people and surfers and vendors and bar-stalls. This place is very different from anything I have been to before, I have a good laugh!

Another major difference to Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi, both rather Muslim islands, is that most parts of Bali are Hindu. Between all the bustling Kuta tourists you see Balinese people walking in there traditional costumes and putting offerings in a palm leaf on shrines as well as driveways, counters, pictures, scooters ... anything important as they belief all these things have a soul.

Streets and houses are usually decorated, shrines are often embellished with fabrics, incense sticks, flowers and other playful things. Later in the day you can watch strolling dogs and chicken looking for the eatable goods in those little trays.

Departure 2013-Nov-20 - 10.30      Arrival 2013-Nov-20 - 1.00 

To get to Nusa Lembongan you take a speedboat from Sanur. Arriving on this small island there are many boats as well as water parks located in front of the main beach, this place is definitely not remote. Besides tourism the main thing here is sea weed farming. You can see patches of drying sea weed everywhere and the smell of it is filling the air. But.... I came for the diving and to see the Mola Mola (or sunfish).

And how lucky am I ... I only go on two dives as it is too windy and the sea is rough. Still I get to see one, on my first dive even. After 5 minutes under water at 25m suddenly a large creature appears and peacefully swims towards me. I almost hold my breath but then it starts disappearing again already. Exciting ...

Even though Nusa Lembongan is not spectacular I am happy I went!

Departure 2013-Nov-22 - 8.00      Arrival 2013-Nov-22 - 11.00 

The next weekend I spend in Ubud, a city built in and around rice fields and terraces. The movie Eat, Pray, Love brought this place to the attention of tourism. To avoid all the solo-traveling mid-aged women on their spiritual journey I stay outside the city center, in the Santra Putra Guesthouse. A remote place with simple cottages and a very hospitable family.

For a few days I explore the rice fields and the city on a scooter. Ubud is all about food, yoga and handicrafts - I enjoy being here. Even though the Starbucks branch next to the palace shows how commercialized this place is, already!

Departure 2013-Nov-26 - 11.00      Arrival 2013-Nov-26 - 13.00 

Traveling west I stop-over in Munduk, in the Balinese highlands. I stay only one night in this village to explore the coffee-, cacao- and clove-plantations (I never new cloves grow on trees and are bright red before they are picked). The next morning I make my way to the next dive spot.

Departure 2013-Nov-26 - 6.00      Arrival 2013-Nov-26 - 9.30 

Pemuteran, in the west of Bali, is a village that grew around the main street connecting Bali's East and West. It is small yet has approximately 20 dive shops, which are catering a small area around Menjangan island. Somehow this area got famous, I guess because there are not really that many great dive-sites in Bali.

B&B's, resorts and home-stays are overpriced (even in low season) and diving is ridiculously expensive. It takes me 6 shops until I find a local, regular-priced operator: Pemuteran Dive Center (they are too small to have a website). The guys here take well care of their customers and I guess this is the most basic and relaxed day of diving I have had so far. In the morning, they pick me up at the B&B and we drive to the harbor, there we pick a captain and a boat and off we go... three average dives are to come.

Most likely, these will be my last dives for the rest of this year, as I will travel on to Java, which is all about culture and volcanos, not diving. I have seen some great things under water in the last two months and gained a lot more experience, so it is easy to be patient for South Africa in January, which is my next dive destination ...

continue with ... JAVA