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If
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Part 1: Taking liberties Our first dive commenced the afternoon we arrived and the various pairs of dive buddies stumbled, rather ungracefully, over the stones into the water. The water temperature on the house reef was the standard 29ºC you commonly experience in Asia and we dived a maximum depth of 14m. Things to see on the house reef included a moray eel and two beautiful ribbon eels, a couple of scorpionfish and two small purple-spotted rays. The highlight was two octopuses that were spectacularly and rapidly changing colour, potentially caught by six to ten divers in the middle of some hanky-panky. However I've been instructed that what happens on tour must stay on tour, so on this matter I won't say anymore. For a first dive I was impressed and I wondered what the forthcoming week would bring. Jason decided during the course of the trip that a 'sighting' was when more than one person actually saw the creature, event or crustacean, so with this in mind we all carefully narrated our findings at the conclusion of each dive. Next morning the Liberty wreck was the first dive of the day. This wreck from WWII was moved from its original position on the beach by the eruption of the volcano Agung in 1962 and now rests some 35-50m offshore. It's just a short wander down the pebbly beach from the resort steps. Our BCDs and tanks were transported to dive site by local woman and children, on their heads. The oldest lady porter is approximately 70 years old and I strongly believe she will make the Ripley's Believe It Or Not television show shortly. I did ask one lady who was loading two tanks and the BCDs on her head if she had room for one more, but fortunately her inability to understand English saved her from my sick sense of humour. Upon our descent to the wreck we were greeted by schooling jacks that seemed to circle around and around endlessly. Again we saw a couple of small rays and several trumpetfish. The highlight of this dive was two large bumphead parrotfish that graciously cruised around, oblivious to any divers who were watching. Other sightings included a bearded scorpionfish that sat extremely still, apart from the casual blink of its eye. A large grouper, surgeonfish and a variety of sweetlips were also seen. Unfortunately the surgeonfish have been fed, so don't be surprised if a number of large fish swim right up to your mask during your dive. There are parts of the wreck that you can casually swim through and the corals are present in great variety. I decided it was going to take me several dives to truly observe all that was on offer at this site and several dives later it was proved to me that each dive did produce a different experience of fishes, including a pipefish, lots of snapper, goatfish, colourful wrasse and for some an eagle ray. Sadly I missed the big tuna spotting. Maximum depth on this site was approximately 27m and thermoclines were evident on some dives. The next dive site was the Drop-off. It was another casual wander down to the other end of the resort beach, past women weaving baskets during the midday sun. If you enjoy skydiving, this dive site is the next best thing. We descended to a maximum depth of 35-40m but the actual drop-off descends some 100m. After some brief finning across the blackened sand, you are out there with nothing but your BCD and the deep blue - an awesome feeling! The highlight of this site is a very large blue fan coral on the edge of the reef. This site is one of the best places (potentially) to see the 'big stuff', with the occasional cool current coming through. Ann and I were in huge trouble with Jason because we entered the water with my BCD hose unattached. Along with the entire dive team, we were reminded about this event on each dive for the complete course of the week. Thanks Jason, you're a great diver and yes, we have learnt our lesson. On subsequent dives we saw a few stingrays, multiple moorish idols, a barracuda, a lonely cuttlefish, an octopus, lobster, the biggest blue pufferfish one could see, a cream-coloured pincushion starfish and way too many triggerfish. On a separate topic, one thing I had noticed early in the trip was that regardless of whether he was in or out of the water, David's hair remained the same - perfectly groomed. I would decide later whether he would win the award for the neatest hair over the course of the week. Later that day we dived the house reef again before retiring to the pool to commence the soon-to-become-ritual drinking of pina coladas at 4.30pm. It was also established during dinner that Trevor and Paul would give Ann a 'non-stirring day' later on in the week. This helped all parties manage the level of banter for the course of the evening. Trevor started to set the pace of the service and helped out the waiters frequently over the course of the week with plate removals, drink refills and his own contribution of warmly received chocolate bars. Thanks Trevor, truly appreciated, especially the low-fat Snickers bars! |
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