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So, as I mentioned before I would write a blog about my trip over to the Gilis… Here it goes…

Originally the trip was supposed to be with just 2 girls who were celebrating a successful IDC over at Blue Season, my girlfriend Dani and myself but just a couple days before departure we came across the last minute additions of a Canadian girl from Saskatoon, a chick from the UK out visiting a friend in Bali as well as a friend of a friend on vacation that also had plans to visit the Gilis, so naturally, it made sense for him to join along. So, the group was formed our pack now contained 7 and although we did little to prepare and made no prior bookings the trip was shaping up to be a dandy!

We left the morning after the BIG Best Dive Job Contest 2012 launch party so before even setting off to tackle 4 nights and 5 days of drinks, many of us were a little hung over. We squeezed into a car that barely could fit 6 people let alone 7 and set off for Padang Bai where we would take a fast boat over to our destination. The boat was a rockin and took about 2 hours after dropping some passengers off in Lombok and although Dani was battling some severe sea sickness and had to sit on deck instead of the dry area, we all made it.

Once landing, we decided to break into groups with worries that we may not be able to find an accommodation but in the end, it was your old pal Kenzo that negotiated a 3 bedroom house for only 450,000Rp a night. Split 7 ways that’s like $7 a night each, not bad eh! So we had what we called our “villa” the beds were claimed, luggage sprawled on the floor and we were off to the beach. **Fun fact: what do 2 guys do when they find a dead rat in one of the cupboards of the kitchen… They close the cupboard then film as they trick one of the girls into opening it in an attempt to find some plates for our lunch. hahaha, Priceless!

Anyways, to give you a description of what you can expect over in Gili Trawangan… Basically, there is one main road that runs parallel to the beach. There are no cars or scooters or any motor vehicles of any kind. (quite a nice change from the hectic streets of the rest of the world) However, you do need to keep your head up for some rushing by horse carriages and speeding by bicycles. The island doesn’t contain or allow any dogs so as you can imagine, it’s cat paradise. The main (only) strip contains several beach bars, restaurants of all varieties, dive centres, snorkel rental stands, homestays and a couple other little random shops as well as a shisha lounge. There is also a little turtle protection centre which ensures green & loggerhead turtles can survive the first stages of their lives and safely be released into the ocean. It’s a strip you can easily walk from beginning to end but has everything you would possibly need. 

So basically the censored version of our trip would be to say we found a couple great places with some great drink specials. Our favorite would definitely have to be Rudy’s the bar we had our very first drink the morning of arriving and bar we spent countless happy hours flushing countless Rupiah down the drain. Whether it was Rudy’s or any of the other bars we occupied, there was always a wide variety of people each on their own adventures and a wide range of stories to tell. That’s one of the great things about travelling to small islands like this, the people you meet and the travellers knowledge you can gain through their experiences are endless. Every couple nights one of the bars or dive centres will throw a huge party which brings the island together in one big celebration, so if you’re there for more than 2 days, surely you will get to experience that. The night we were there, the theme was mustache night which was hilarious! One night I let curiosity get the better of me and gave fire dancing a try. Although I nearly burnt a tree down and lost some leg hair, overall I would say it was a success and now I have dreams of one day becoming a great fire performer.

So nights as you could guess were mainly a blur consisting of several drinks, random conversations with other tourists and everyone from our villa coming home at different times with different stories. Some better than others… During the day we spent most of our time relaxing on the beach or for some, nursing severe hangovers in the shade of our villa. For those who could function, we did some snorkeling from the shore and Bryon and I managed to get 3 nice dives in. The diving in the Gilis is quite nice but unfortunately it’s reefs have suffered severe damage due to dynamite fishing in the past. Luckily now their is an EcoTrust set up to pay off fisherman to stop dynamite fishing. This has slowly let the reefs rebuilt but when underwater, the damage doesn’t go unnoticed and you can’t help but think how full of life the reefs could have been if it wasn’t for the destruction of man. There is however some nice sites which have suffered minimal destruction. If diving in the Gilis I would recommend the sites Deep Turbo, Sharks Point or Shallow Shark Point. These are the more healthy dive sites and you will most likely see a blacktip or whitetip and certainly some turtles at Shallow Shark Point. There are some sites I didn’t get to explore so if you ever make a trip down, please let me know about your diving experiences and any of your recommendations… On two of the four nights we ventured out to sunset point and enjoyed some Bintangs along with our good friend mother nature. Quite a nice place I must say so be sure to check that out if you ever make the trip.

Overall, the Gili experience was a complete success that brought some friends and a couple strangers a friendship that will last a lifetime. We had a blast and did it for quite an affordable price. We probably could have stayed another day or two but 4 nights was a good taste. After all, you gotta leave something to do for next time around.

During peak season we would gather our guests and leave first thing in the morning only to arrive at Nusa Penida’s Crystal Bay to find 20 other boats already waiting for the same reason… To fulfill their guests desires and dreams of seeing the legendary Mola Mola! We would drop into the water with high hopes and 4 atmospheres of pressure from guests who expect you know tricks that make a Mola magically appear. Most days we were fortunate enough to have if not several, at least one glimpse of the infamous fish. Problem is, the second one appears almost everyones logic and reason go out the window and you find 20+ people all swimming mach 3 towards this now terrified fish just to get the perfect shot or perhaps a kiss on the cheek. (in some cases, believe it or not, guests will actually attempt this) So as one could guess, although Mola season is filled with Mola’s, it’s rare that one stays around long enough for a person to truly enjoy the up close and personal experience and see this enormous fish in it’s natural habitat.

Today however, now that high season has pretty much dropped off, we arrived in Crystal Bay to find we had our own private dive site. We had a group of about 9 people and had a hell of a current to fight through, but within 5 minutes of our dive we can across the most friendly Mola I had ever seen. We all clutched on to a rock at around 23 meters and just watched in awe as this massive Mola came by for it’s regular cleaning. I’ve seen a few Mola’s in my day but I had never seen one so close for so long. No mayhem of tourist chasing them away, just you, the raging current and this 2.5 meter fish closer than you’ve ever seen it before. We all snapped a few photos then realized we were all nearing our deco limits so we took one last good look then waved goodbye to our Mola Mola. What a Day!!!

Hello again ladies and gentleman,

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve spent the last 2 days getting over a brutal fever, nothing that 20 hours of sleep and bed rest can’t mend. As usual things have been busy over here in Bali, although nobody’s really complaining when a busy day consists of a full day of diving in crystal clear waters spotting such vast variations of life forms enough to keep you approaching each day with excitement of what new creatures and critters you may discover while roaming through the deep blue seas of Bali.

Over the past week as many of you probably have heard, Blue Season Bali has launched the second wave of their Best Dive Job in the World Contest. It’s great to see the enthusiasm of this year’s contestant’s so far and I’m sure as the contest goes on, things will only get better. I must say, it is quite a relief to be on the other side of things, as last year I was right in the thick of things trying to show the world and BSB I was the right person for the job. Although the anticipation and suspense almost killed me, I can truly say it was all so totally worth it. So… to all the new contestants if you truly want to live the dream and experience the time of your life, put yourself out there, show some initiative and do your part to preserve the ever depleting ocean world and finally, show the world through creativity, passion & determination why you should be crowned the next Best Dive Job winner!

Anyways, like I mentioned before it has been a little while since my last blog. Part of that reason is because a couple friends and I took a little trip to the Gili islands. We set up camp at Gili Trawangan one of the 3 Gili islands and I’ll follow this blog up with the tale of how the Gilis went as that requires a totally separate blog. So stay tuned!

For now I’ll talk about diving in Tulamben as it is something us over here in Bali do quite frequently and I think many people start taking it for granted. For me I don’t think this could ever happen because it’s an incredible dive site that people all over the world put near the top of their diving destinations. Here is why…

From Sanur it’s about a 2 hour drive. On this drive you start by observing the chaotic streets of Bali but gain some appreciation that although the streets don’t seem to really have any rules, everything runs smoothly and accidents are a very rare occurrance. The second wave of the drive takes you around some mountains where you can observe some beautiful rice patties and on a cloudless day you get a great view of Mt Agung the volcano that when erupting in 1963 sent the famous and at the time beached USAT Liberty ship off shore to later become a world famous wreck dive. There are several great dive sites in Tulamben some of the favourites being Coral Garden, Seraya’s Secret a great muck diving site, Drop Off a spectacular wall dive, Amed and of course the USAT liberty wreck. Usually on day tours we start off with the wreck and after some lunch and our surface interval we move over to Coral Garden. These 2 sites offer great variety and are literally right next to each other. From the entry point the wreck is to the left and coral garden is on the right which makes for easy access to both and satisfaction for all. Since being out here I’ve only heard stories of the elusive giant green turtle which roams the wreck as well as the pigmy seahorses which call a nearby sea fan their home. Finally, after 2 months of searching, 2 days ago on the same dive I found both. What a triumphant feeling that was. The wreck also is home to a huge family of schooling jacks as well as a massive moray eel, a patch of garden eels, leafy scorpion fish and hundreds of other species of invertebrates and vertebrates. It never gets old.

Coral Garden has come to be one of my favourite dive sites in Bali, first off because it’s the only dive site that I’ve seen a shark (blacktip) on since coming to Bali. But also it is a fairly shallow dive; the majority stretches between 9 and 5 meters depth and goes on for ages. There are 2 artificial reefs along the way one in the shape of an airplane which are home to several lion fish. The shallow depth increases dive time which gives you ample time to find things like octopus, nudibranch, ribbon eels, spotted eels, cleaning shrimp and several others. I experienced another first the other day when local guide Putu showed us the home of an Onix Ghost Pipe Fish. Truly fascinating when you see something so small yet so intricate and adaptive to such a small patch of coral it calls home. So if you’re planning a trip to Bali and find yourself torn between the choice to dive in Tulamben, Nusa Penida, Padang Bai or the several other choice dive sites Bali has to offer, really you can’t go wrong with any of them. Personally, I recommend you reserve enough time to do them all. You won’t be dissapointed!

Until next time take care everybody and keep checking the Best Dive Job facebook page for contest updates and prize giveaways!

The great people of Bali Adventure Tours and Blue Season Bali has treated Best Dive Job winners Priscilla Ong and myself to yet another unforgettable experience during our stay here in the island of the gods. Last week we enjoyed a visit to elephant park, this week we were back in full force and ready to conquer Ayung river. My girlfriend Danielle Simpson who is along for the 7 month journey with me in Bali came along for the ride as well as one of the BSB interns Natalie Yeates. Once arriving at the river rafting centre we paired up, got geared up and finally pumped up as we walked down a long flight of steps, closer and closer to where we would be deploying the rafts. Team Deathmatch (Nat & me) were accompanied by guide Wayan while team La (Priscilla & Dani… ya the team name is kinda lame and not intimidating at all) were accompanied by guide Frankie. After quite a bit of trash talking and a quick briefing of how to paddle and what to do if thrown out of the raft we were on our way.

The rafting was absolutely incredible! Filled with thrills and chills, twists and turns and an all out war with every other raft we came in contact with throughout the ride. There were several stretches of calm spots in between, one in which we hopped out of the rafts and drifted peacefully downstream. The scenery itself was enough to make this a rewarding experience. Numerous waterfalls left and right, some which you could steer your raft under and enjoy a nice massage. They also had a huge stretch of carved rock that was very impressive and quite the incredible sight! In the end, although there were some close calls and we had all swallowed our fair share of water, the river rafting was a complete success. We finished off the day with another exquisite buffet lunch put on by Bali Adventure Tours, this time the soup of the day was cream of corn (my favourite) so I polished off about 4 bowls of that. Mmm Mmm Good!!!

Today’s blog will be short and sweet since I’ve been battling quite the stomach ache all day… I’m thinking it may have been the raw chicken I was served in my cordon bleu last night… Just a thought… Thanks a bunch Wicked Parrot.

As for the diving today, our group ventured out to Nusa Penida in search of the imfamous Mola Mola. Normally we plan our days in Penida with a variety of sites. For example, one at crystal bay, then on to manta point, then maybe finish off with sental, blue corner or toyopakea. But not today. Our guest were so adamant on seeing the Mola that they requested all 3 dives at Crystal Bay. Our guide Frankie I’m sure was thrilled to hear that, as were all of us DM’s and DMT’s. But, for the sake of making our guest dream come true we went on the Mola hunt and as luck would have it, they got their Mola!

For this week’s day off I decided to take the time to relax with some friends, enjoy a much needed massage on the beach and head out to Jimbaran Bay. There we went to Cafe Jukung an exquisite seafood restaurant right on the beach, where you can bury your feet in the sand while enjoying your meal alongside the sunset a traditional Balinese dance and some fireworks in the distance(quite the place I must say)!

The following day it was back to business as usual. My Divemaster Program has officially begun!!! Like usual when staring a new PADI training program it comes alongside a hefty book(in this case two) as well as some cool new slates and items to help with your training. I will be working with Instructor Mandy in this chapter of my training which will no doubt be a blast!

Off to start my readings, enjoy some dives and let the good times roll!