We spent our third and fourth days in Bali in Tulamben, a resort town that pretty much exists as such for its proximity to excellent diving, namely the USS Liberty shipwreck. In these two days Jesse and I made one confined dive and four open water dives and we are now certified PADI open water divers. Thrilling, I know!
While Jesse took to scuba like a fish to the sea (haha), I struggled a bit more. Is natural that humans should be able to breathe underwater?, I constantly pondered. Needless to say, it took me a while to get comfortable and master the necessary skills. I have decided to blame this not on my worrying about drowning to death 20 meters below the surface, but rather on our instructor’s distractingly good looks and piercing blue eyes. Who wouldn’t struggle at least a little bit?
Mauritz was our half-German, half-Austrian, raised all over Asia, instructor. He managed to complain about everything from the food to the staff to how windy it was at our hotel. However, he did a good job training us and although I thought he was harsh at first, he turned out to be patient with me and stopped Jesse from hitting his head on a cargo hold.
Side note: why are all Germans obsessed with if I’m German, and how many generations back I trace my lineage. “tzeemeerMAAN, are you German?” “you do not pronounce your name correctly, in ze german we say “tzeemeerMAAN”. For the record, I’m Austrian and haven’t been so since the 1770s.
Tulamben was beautiful and we were definitely spoiled in our dive experience. Mauritz was a micro fauna enthusiast and showed us some rare teeny tiny fish and underwater life that we definitely would not have seen, literally, otherwise. Also upon painstakingly returning to shore, we watched female porters carry two tanks and two jackets each upon their heads back to the resort. It made me feel bad that I describe the two seconds of carrying the tank out of the water as painstaking. Here is a photo of our dive site, sadly from the surface and not underwater:
Tulamben bay in the east part of the island. The current was actually quite strong which made for some challenging beginner diver experiences.
Next up, Ubud for jungles, volcanoes, and temples, oh my!
Bengali Ali 