After an unexpected month away from KV Kismet, I finally met Kevin at the dock in Lombok. It was such a relief to be back onboard and reunited with all my stuff again. Kevin’s brother, Sean, was also back, visiting for a couple of weeks and the guys had some more land-based adventures planned. Also, since I’d been gone, Kevin began dating someone so it seemed like a good time for me to move off the boat and begin some new adventures which I’ll cover in the next blog.
After spending a night in the marina, Kevin, Sean, and I sailed a few hours from Lombok, across the way to Nusa Lembongan, an island off the southeastern coast of Bali. We all wanted to do some diving so I was able to find a dive company with availability that would pick us up from the boat the next morning. As we approached the main town on the island, we picked up a mooring ball in a field of party boats with beats blasting. It seemed we were no longer in quiet, sober Indonesia anymore, we were in Bali now.
We headed to shore to grab lunch and sign waivers for the dive company. We walked down the main street and checked out a few different food options but Kevin stopped once he saw a sign that said “pork ribs”, a rarity in a Muslim country. Afterward, we walked the town, the number of yoga shalas and health food stores was a good indicator that we were close to Bali and its western tourism. After spending much of the year in rural Indonesia and Malaysia, I welcomed the variety.
Once we got back to the boat, I was relieved to find the party boats had departed back to Bali, leaving a quiet mooring field. The silence was only disrupted by the sound of blow holes, a large pod of dolphins was swimming through. Kevin, Sean and I sat in the cockpit watching them swim by. I’d given up on trying to swim with dolphins long ago, rarely getting a glimpse of them before they disappeared. These seemed to be sticking around so I ran downstairs, threw on a bathing suit, grabbed my GoPro, and hopped in.
I tried to gracefully slide into the water and swim over to them, without making much movement. While the dolphins weren’t overly friendly, they didn’t seem to mind my presence and went about their business. I followed them around for about 20 minutes and felt like a dream had truly come true. The pod swam around, stopping to scratch on some coral, then slowly swam some more, occasionally looking back to see if I was still following. They began getting farther and farther away from the boat so I decided to swim back. It’s moments like these that make me grateful for life on a sailboat.
The next day the dive company picked us up in the morning, already carrying several other divers. I always think it’s funny to see people’s reaction when they see you are living on a sailboat; they have a little sparkle of envy in their eyes. Kevin entertained a series of questions about what it’s like to sail around the world and eventually, we arrived at our first dive site on the neighboring island of Nusa Penida. The first dive was at Crystal Bay and I was shocked to see the number of dive boats crowding the small bay. After I back-rolled into the water, I was shocked once more at the water temperature, a cool 65 degrees Fahrenheit. This was easily the coldest water I had ever dove in, and to think, just a few months earlier we were diving in Raja Ampat in plain bathing suits.
As we descended, our dive guide hurriedly rushed us along because he spotted exactly what we were here to see: Mola Mola (Sunfish). It seemed we were the first group to discover the massive, bizarre-looking fish, with its giant fins extending above and below its body. It’s hard to believe this dopy-looking creature can survive in a sea of apex predators like sharks and orcas, it must taste horrible. I was careful to allow the massive fish enough space and tried to take a few selfies with it but the view was quickly obstructed by the tens of other divers who had also caught word of the fish’s presence. I could no longer see the fish behind the thick wall of bubbles, as inexperienced divers got as close as possible for pictures, kicking coral in the process.
The rest of the dive was quite nice and I was pleased to see healthy corals and a diversity of fish. We saw turtles, sea snakes, a large marble ray, and a host of other fish. The corals also seemed abundant and without signs of bleaching which wasn’t too surprising given the frigid currents coming into the bay. The overall temperature of the dive was quite cold to begin with but you could also see the thermocline of the colder currents, appearing blurry as the two densities of water collided. If you stuck your hand into the blurry water, you could easily feel the temperature differential.
After some time I checked my dive computer and was surprised to find we were only 20 minutes into the dive, unsure if I could make it another 30-40 minutes, I was relieved to see the guide was slowly beginning to ascend, ending the dive at around 30 minutes. Normally, if I am paying for fun dive prices I expect to get at least 60 minutes but I was starting to shiver and could hardly sip my hot tea on the boat without spilling on myself.
Next, we headed to Manta Point for lunch before diving in to see, you guessed it, mantas! I thought back to my first time diving with mantas in Pulau Wayag with Kevin and Sean and the magic of seeing these giant, gentle creatures under the water, eager to recreate this experience. This dive site was even more crowded than the previous one with even more snorkelers swimming at the surface.
The water felt even colder here and we descended with several other dive groups, making our way to the underwater peninsula where the mantas hang out. Within the first few minutes, we begin to see the massive shapes of these giant creatures. We saw maybe 6 in total but I felt slightly bad for them as they seemed to be sandwiched between divers at the bottom and snorkelers at the top, diving down for pictures. Although it was nice to see these giants again, I much preferred the first encounter where we were the only ones.
Once again I felt grateful for the cruising life and the unique experiences it afforded me. So many wild places and animals unavailable to the normal tourist and I began to question if I was really ready to leave sailing behind. I already told Kevin I would be departing in Nusa Lembongan and began feeling nostalgic as I started to pack up my things. I just had to trust that what would come next would be just as amazing!
