Let me start off by writing about my diving experience in Bali... The dives were the main highlights of my 10 days long trip. There were many first times for me in this dive trip. Few of us were planning to do 3 days of diving actually. In the end, we cancelled one of the days as we saw what we wanted at the dive sites at Nusa Penida. Thus eventually we did 3 dives in Nusa Penida, and 3 dives in Tulamben.
My first dive was at Nusa Penida - Manta Point. Wow, it was the first time that I got to see like 6 manta rays together at a time. The sight was spectacular! However, other than that, the first dive was a horrendous experience for me. The water temperature was only 22 ° C. For someone who has been diving frequently in Malaysia area, this temperature was the lowest ever for me. Though I was in a 5mm wetsuit then, it was too big for me, and thus the cold seawater kept seeping in. To make it worse, the underwater surge was very strong, thus rocking us back and fro underwater. Already feeling slightly unwell before my first dive, I was feeling cold and nauseous in the water after awhile.
When I surfaced from my first dive, I was like puking in water, though no food came out. When I was on the boat, I was shivering big time, with my teeth chattered uncontrollably. Feeling very exasperated and helpless, I was on the verge of tears. However, I told myself that no tear was to be dropped…I went to sit right under the sun, wore another 2 tops, wrapped in tower, trying to fight the cold. The shivering lasted at least 20 min. To make thing worse, I had diarrhea shortly thereafter. Gosh… Luckily, B.B was there for me, trying to make things better for me.
B.B strongly discouraged me to go down for the 2nd dive, as my shivering was really bad after the first dive. But Blue Corner dive site is where the chances of seeing a Mola Mola are the greatest. Unwilling to let go of this chance, I insisted on going down. The water temperature was even colder this time round, with only 19°C at some points in time. I was already shivering uncontrollably in water after 10min. With some elementary knowledge of diving and first aid, I was getting worried that I might just get hypothermia at the rate I was going. But I do suppose that it was a good risk taken, as we really got to see a Mola Mola! That is a weird sunfish indeed, and the sight was awesome!!
The 3 dives at Tulamben were equally spectacular! The water temperature was better at 27° C. Yet due to prolonged diving of an hour a dive, I was again shivering when I was up from each dive. Of course, it was considered very mild compared to that at Nusa Penida. Can really tell that I am scared of cold, isn’t it? Useless me. Ha… Coming back to the dives, the diversity of marine life there is overwhelming! Mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish, pipefish, ribbon eels, scorpion fishes, ball of jack fish (!!), crab, stingrays, puffers, box fish, cowfish, stonefish, cornet fish, lionfish, giant grouper, barracuda, orang utan shrimp etc. The list just goes on! It was really a big wow for the three of us. We certainly would not mind if we were to dive at Tulamben for another day!
Still reminiscing all the sightings today! <:o)
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