Nudi and The Blowfish

Day 135/136/137- This dive trip was a fantastic experience that was jam packed with dives, 11 to be precise and unfortunately from under water, it is nearly impossible to distinguish between the dive photos. With this in mind, I decided to clump the whole excursion into one large post. The following post will describe the 11 dives we did with as much detail as possible. 

We awoke around 4 am in our campervan because I thought I heard a knock on our window! Mike assures me it was just in my dreams. Oh well, we had to be up early anyhow for our pickup at the scuba center. Mike and I, along with 32 other divers, boarded the boat and before we knew it we were making waves in the open ocean. The crew warned us that the first three hours of our journey to the reef would be rocky but that was an understatement. Most of the boat got sea sick. Luckily, Mike and I were ok but we literally couldn't walk from one end of the boat to the other without getting completely shooken up in the process. Highly recommend the sea sickness pills, they worked great. We were also lucky to get one of two rooms on the boat that had a double bed instead of bunks... and a large window to boot!

As soon as we arrived at our destination, we set up our gear and suited up for our first dive. 

                     

Something was different this time from the other times we'd gone diving. No one was coming with us. The dive master gave us a quick lesson on how to use our compasses and informed us on the degrees needed to navigate underwater, to get to and from our first reef. I was a little nervous but as I had recently underwent my training, I knew I could handle it. 

Everything was BIG on the reef. Really, really BIG.

I wish the photo below had turned out better. What you see is a nudi branch, which is a type of sea slug. The color was quite vibrant and it looked like he was wearing a frilly dress. 

See, like I said... BIG.

 The turtle in the video below was BIG!..No, he was HUGE. In the video, I am swimming beside him, my camera is not zoomed in and I can barely fit all of him in the screen.

                                

The days consisted of three things; sleeping, eating, diving then repeat. And of course the view was there for our viewing pleasure during our free time.

This was what we saw in every direction. No other boats, no islands, no land, no buildings, nothing but the big blue ocean. 

Beautiful sunsets set the mood for cozy nights.

As a part of our 11 dives, two of them were night dives. It was my first time diving at night so we went with an instructor as part of a group. Diving at night was truly terrifying. My body shook from fear, excitement and the cold ocean water. We had a briefing before the dive with strict instructions on hand signals and using our torch underwater. We each attached glow sticks to our O2 tanks to seperate us into groups. As we jumped into the water and emptied our BCD's, we slowly melted into the dark black ocean. The only light came from our torches and the pink color of the glow sticks on our companions tanks. Luckily, I felt quite relaxed once we reached the ocean floor, knowing we were with an instructor, gave us the freedom to look around with ease. 

We didn't bring the camera because the dive master said it wouldn't be able to capture anything at night. Am I ever upset I didn't bring it anyway. While we were following the instructor, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I moved my flashlight to see a very very BIG cuddle fish. It was the largest we'd ever seen. Using my torch I got the instructors attention and she came over to see. We knew I had found something cool by her genuine interest, yay! We must have spent 10 minutes just watching it move along the ocean floor. It wasn't afraid of us and allowed us to observe it for some time, it even changed color for us a couple of times. 

After another sleep and eat, it was time to dive. 

Swimming with the fishes.

I cannot stress enough how disappointing our cameras color capturing ability was or was not. The colors are so vibrant and literally wow you at every turn. Different species of fish surrounded us, disappearing within the pastels, the lime greens, the electric blues, the neon yellows, the rich burgundies, the bleach whites, the violets and the burnt oranges of the living coral. It is something you have to see with your own eyes to believe because it truly cannot be captured by a camera. 

It was a great moment when we finally saw a sting ray! I even got to swim with it for a while. We ended up seeing quite a few by the end of the trip, which was a real treat. 

                              

After a lovely pasta dinner on the second night, we began suiting up for our second night dive when an iconic underwater creature showed up at the back of our boat. Specifically, right where we jump in!

Check out that fin sticking out of the water. That is exactly what you don't want to see before getting in... However, they seemed more interested in the left over meat sauce then us, so with nervous anticipation, we queued up to jump in as the sun dropped below the distant horizon, leaving us in the pitch black water. 

Oh an how could I forget ... now that I was an "experienced night diver", Mike and I were sent off on our own for this night dive. AM I SERIOUS? Yes! And yes, it was so scary. 

This time we brought our camera but the dive master was right, nothing turned out like we'd hoped. While Mike and I explored the mysterious waters, we moved our torch from side to side trying to navigate, which quickly became our top priority. Then, combing the dark water in frount of us, we saw the silhouette of a shark! Whipping the torch back in place the silhouette was replaced with an endless abyss of darkness! It was beyond scary and got even scarrier. Mike and I realized, with an array of hand signals back and forth to each other, that we were completely lost. We tried to find our way for a little while before my anxiety took over and then we decided to make our way to the surface. We surfaced about 80 meters away from the boat and in the opposite direction of where we were supposed to be. Oops. Luckily, the captain always sits on the top deck of the boat to keep an eye out for divers. As soon as our lights came above the water, he took notice and signaled to us, asking if we were ok? We signaled back with a giant circle, meaning we were indeed ok. We then proceeded to swim back to the boat in the black shark infested water. Happy to be back at the boat we could laugh at our situation. We were also not the only ones to get lost. :) Turns out it is pretty common. Don't worry mom and mom in law... we are alive and well. 

Sleep, eat, dive, repeat. 

Check out this dude.

 

A very BIG clam. 

Below was one of the landmarks we were given to navigate with from reef to reef. They described it as a garlic clove. I think it's pretty darn accurate. 

These fish were incredible and I am kicking myself for not taking a video of them. They were completely still and as it was a 6 am dive, they were actually still sleeping. They were so still that they looked like a wall, it wasn't until Mike pointed them out that I noticed they were in fact fish and not a wall of coral. Their stillness was mesmerizing, odd and out of place. Oh and in case you can't tell, they were really really BIG!

We have both never dove so much in our lives and we were absolutely exhausted when it was all over. Pro Dives was a great company and it was a great trip. They fed us well, the boat was clean and the dives sites were incredible. Now it was time to put another check on my bucket list.

Paradise

Day 24- We left Jogjakarta for our next destination at 6 am in the morning.  Our next spot came highly recommended from two separate friends in Calgary who raved about the snorkelling and beauty of the island called Maratua, in Borneo.  In both cases we were told to book early and the hotel would send us all and any information we could possibly need to get to this place. We were warned that it was hard to get to and this was no lie. It's crazy because we're not talking about going great distances, we would be staying in Indonesia, just changing islands. It took three plane rides, a 2.5 hour taxi through the mountains and a 1.5 hour boat ride. Lucky for us the ocean Gods were happy when we arrived and we were able to complete the journey in one day, 13 hours later. It would be insanity to risk crossing the ocean in poor conditions on their small 40 horse power speed boats so we were thankful we had good weather. We arrived to Maratua guesthouse around 7:30 in the evening and we're welcomed by the owner June and a lovely pasta meal. We were taken to our eco room and after a few bug discoveries, we slept with the help of our secure mosquito net.

Windows surrounded the room, which made it feel like we were sleeping outside and it allowed the forest to serenade to sleep. An open air bathroom with cold showers to cool us down after a hot day were the perfect compliment to our eco style room.

Day 25/26- When we woke up in the morning we were happy to find out that we'd arrived in paradise. The water was blue and crystal clear.  When the tide goes out, you can walk in ankle deep water for 100 meters before an abrupt 100 meter drop into the deep ocean.

We also took a 5 minute drive to one of the three villages on the island to find Paradise Resort. Their view was no less spectacular.

The next two days were booked for snorkelling. We stayed within the area of our guesthouse and it really was amazing. Lots of turtles, trigger fish, lion fish, clown fish, baracuda, parrot fish and many many more. 

Here is a video of me trying to swim alongside a turtle. He was my friend and I called him Murtle.

                                    

Although our homeade sunscreen has been working wonders until this point, nothing beats the heat this close to the equator and we had to pay for it. Mike and I both had terrible burns for the next week and they are just now starting to get better. 

                                 

Day 27/28- Indonesia is one of two places in the world that has stingless jelly fish and this has been on my bucket list since I first heard of it years ago. There are day trips that go to jelly fish lake on Kakaban island but these day trips are very weather dependant, as is many of the activities available on Maratua. The ocean calls the shots. We had planned to go there on this day but the night before we had a wicked storm and the sea was angry. So we weren't going anywhere. Unfortunately for us and a few other travellers, the ocean chose not to cooperate for the next 3 days and we were unable to go. :( I was very disappointed but it was out of our hands. I guess we will just have to go to Palau (Philippines) to see the jelly fish there.

When it rains in the jungle, the creepy crawlies like to stay dry, so many of them decided to join us in our room. If I would have known we'd be sharing our room with so many unwanted guests I would have put out some hors d'oeuvres! 

There are no dangerous insects or animals on Maratua but the owner June warned us to be cautious of centipedes. He said "they are not poisonous but their bite hurts like hell, so look out for the big ones, they come in when it rains".  When he said "big", Mike and I were thinking an inch or so in size... but when I woke up in the morning to see this thing crawling into our room, I knew what he meant by BIG.

                            

It was the length of a 1.5 litre water bottle and finger thick around. Needless to say continual bag and clothing checks became part of our daily... hourly routine. Have you ever seen a daddy long leg spider at home and thought, "Eww, who can I get to remove this massive creature from my home!?". A few nights in the jungle will have you begging to hang out with our bugs back home. (Dear Mike, I will still require you to capture and remove all bugs from our home in Calgary, the previous was just an expression)

Since our plans were thwarted, we spent the next few days reading our books, playing our many games with our new dutch friends and enjoying the beautiful sunsets. I finished reading my second book of the trip.. and I must recommend them both. The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion will have you laughing out loud and on the edge of your seat in the same sitting. It was hard to put them down and I was very sad when it was over. 

When the sun begins to set, the bats come out to get there share of mosquitos. I sat back for a while and captured a great photo of our sunset with a bat flying in the orange and blue sky.

Day 29- Maratua has a lagoon on the east side that always has calm water and on the outer edge of the lagoon sits a private island called Nabucco. It is owned by a German who turned it into a beautiful resort island. It takes 7 minutes to walk around the island and there are free boat rides to the island in the morning and evening. We went to enjoy an delicious expensive meal and the powdery white sands.

This photo shows the entire island in one picture. We were two of eight people on the island so we virtually had all of this sand to ourselves. We turned on the speakers and played a game of mini bocce ball. I won.  

We headed back to the guesthouse for dinner. We had arranged with our new Dutch friends to pick up some fresh lobster while they explored the island on a scooter. This night, the Dutch, the Australians and us Canadians enjoyed a fresh and succulent lobster dinner with rice and an expensive bottle of gin with tonic (provided by the Australians). Dinner was consumed overlooking another dreamy sunset.  

Then, Bali bound baby!