Break 3 Days 6-10 Amed - the Real Bali

Our drive to Amed took about 3 1/2 hours - again taking us past
spectacular scenery - including roadside monkeys! By now we had learned why the name Wayan - our driver's name this day - was so common. First born (male or female) are named Wayan, second born are Made (pronounced maudeh), third is Nyoman, fourth is Ketut and then if necessary, the fifth name cycles back to Wayan. Families are not overly large, but obviously Wayan would be the most common!

Our second place of rest in Bali was on the east coast in Amed. Here we were away from the tourist chaos of the south, and were surrounded by the sites and sounds of the 'real' Bali.

Our rooms were idyllic. Kyle had his own room with twin beds and Mike & I had our own room (photo). Each room had it's own bathroom - Kyles complete with a family of geckos who lived high up on the walls. They were nice 'pets' except for their noisy nightly chorus of throaty 'ohhh ohhhh' which woke Kyle (and us) up at times! Between the rooms was an outdoor sitting area where we spent much time lounging, reading and playing cards.

The restaurant at Anda Amed was very good and the menu while not excessively long, had great variety. We ate several meals there, although we did venture out to try a few other hotel restaurants also. Meals were accompanied by Punkie and Holly (the ducks in the photo). They loved the popcorn given as a pre-dinner snack! There was also Daisy and Creamball the two dogs who were often around. Although they did not beg as such, they sat under your table waiting patiently for any handouts.

Kyle spent endless hours in the pool which had an infinity edge overlooking the ocean. The gardens were again spectacular - with orchids, frangiapani, huge hibiscus trees and many others which I can't even name.

Amed is a fishing village. On a couple of the mornings, Mike rose early to venture to the beach to see the fishermen. The fishermen went out twice a day - morning and evening. When they returned with their catch, the women would meet them on the beach and carry the fish up the steep hill in baskets on their head. Needless to say, there aren't a lot of overweight people here!

During the day the locals would work on fixing their nets, maintain their boats, act as chauffeurs to the tourists, or otherwise occupy themselves. On Friday evening we joined several of the locals and other tourists at a bar to see a live band - quite impressive rock ballads (although we suspect that the lead singer learned his English by copying Bon Jovi), some Jimi Hendrix and even they even entertained us with their own creation.

In addition to fishing, there was also lots of local farming, and many of the rice paddies had been 'upgraded' by adding a well - this allows them to farm sweet potatoes, corn or other crops which require more routine watering rather than flooding.

School runs in two shifts - morning (7 am to 12:30) or afternoon (12:30 to 6:00). So you often see kids coming or going to school around the noon hour as they shift change. The older kids often share a motorcycle - the younger ones walk or get picked up by motorbike. Rush hour at the school consists of many motorbikes!

The area where we stayed was also a great diving and snorkeling spot. Having a more laid back holiday, we didn't spend as much time snorkeling this time around. We did get down to the water twice however - once off the beach in front of the hotel, and once we took a drive down to a Japanese ship wreck where there was good snorkeling. The fish were quite good and there was a lot of coral, but after the Ningaloo reef, we found this one to be quite bleached out. But it was still fantastic swimming amongst the schools of fish and seeing the brilliant colours of the fish. It really is a whole other world which you don't appreciate until you are under the water.

In Amed, Mike and I again visited the local spa - I had a pedicure and Mike a reflexology session. We even returned for another massage, scrub, moisturize, facial, floral / herbal bath treatment. It's hard to resist since it is so affordable - and there is nothing like having a spa outdoors surrounded by the wonderful aromas of the flowers and the sounds of free roaming chickens, cows and pigs :-)

With each sunset, we became more relaxed. Bali really is paradise!

Break 1 - Day 11 Manta Rays and MORE

We rose to a very overcast morning with high winds. We weren’t quite sure if the tour would run – there were rumblings around the camp that some tours were not going out. But we packed up hopefully and headed over anyway. The Whale Shark tours go out past the reef – and their tours were being decided upon still – but the Manta Rays come inside the reef and so our tour did run (that's our boat at left). The boats are assisted by spotter planes to direct them to the rays/sharks.

Although it was still windy, the sky soon cleared and we ended up with good weather after all (ho hum, another beautiful day). The spotter plane had little luck at first – and even when he finally spotted a ray, we lost it almost directly once we got there. But they finally found another one, and we all got in the water to check it out.

It turned out we had found a ray who was visiting a cleaning station. We all had a nice long swim with it as it hovered around. The water was quite churned up due to the winds, and the manta was mostly down fairly deep, but it did come up higher on occasion. We could see the cleaner fish working over its body and the larger fish swimming along by it also. It was very majestic and smooth. We were at the surface floundering around to try to stay put, and it just glided around effortlessly. It was an incredible experience!

Next we headed over to see some green ocean turtles in an area where they come up to breathe and feed in the shallows (out deep – just in the midst of the outer reef). The turtles were a variety of sizes, some very large; close to metre in diameter. They were fast though! They would come up for a quick breath or two, and then they were gone. Hard to catch on film.

We also spotted dolphins en route - a group of 4. There were 2 mothers and 2 calves, feeding in the shallow water. It is easier for the small dolphins to fish in the shallows, so the mothers bring them there to teach them to fish.

We then headed over to a section of the outer reef for snorkelling. We all (3 of us that is – actually all of the boat less one fellow who was nervous of the sharks) did the more challenging swim with the guide. We first visited the area where the reef sharks come for cleaning – there were a couple of big ones there.

Sorry - no photos of the sharks this round. It really is amazing swimming near these creatures. One or two of the reef sharks are okay to be round, but when they start to accumulate in numbers (as they did at Lakeside on our previous snorkel), it does become a bit unnerving - and we would take off. But here there were only a couple and it was intriguing to watch them get cleaned.

We then swam across a ‘canyon’ in the coral where the tide currents were a bit stronger, but the reef was spectacular. It was great to see the variety of coral on the outer reef especially – there were many different types here from what is in the inner reef.

The fish out here somehow seemed brighter also – but that was perhaps my imagination.

All in all it was great day – one of the best for sure. I think we got great value for our money given that we spent $140 pp for this vs. $360 pp for a whale shark swim (by the way – they did end up going out on rough seas, and they did get to swim with one – but it was not smooth!)

Break 1 - Day 9 Snorkel at Lakeside

Kyle had been feeling under the weather for much of the trip. Given his general discomfort when driving, it could be that, or it could be something he is fighting – at any rate, he decided to stay home for the day and read while we ventured out (or maybe he just wanted a break from us :-).

So Mike & I headed off for another snorkel. We took a drive back to the reef side of the point, and decided to visit a couple of other sites first.

Again we spotted several wild emus. These ones were much less accustomed to humans and scurried away as soon as we left the car. We paid a visit to a local shipwreck (after a couple of wrong turns to other interesting spots). The ship was a cattle ship which wrecked around the turn of the century (1901 that is). It was salvaged for wood to build local houses, and then was used for bombing practice during the second world war. We then checked out a point to see the lighthouse, then to lakeside for a snorkel.

Lakeside was a bit more effort to get to, but was worth it. We had to travel a few hundred metres up shore from the parking lot. All along the way the beach was covered in jellyfish. The winds had shifted and they were being blown in shore. There were lots in the water too, but once you got out into the reef they were not as dense. Despite the numbers, we were extra careful and only Mike got stung, just once.

At one point, all the fish in the area where I was swimming darted in away. I decided not to find out why and followed them. Mike meanwhile was over a bit and caught the cause for concern - a large reef shark had come in. Reef sharks pose no threat to humans, but still trigger the natural response to a shark . Once you let your brain take over, it's neat to watch them cruise. Actually, the reef is so healthy here that most of the fish don't panic much when the shark approaches - they just saunter away.

Again there was lots of diversity of fishes. Puffer fish were quite common (photo'd at right). The little fluorescent blue ones which we had seen in Turquoise Bay were common here also.

There were some larger fish also - may have been mulloway (same as we saw caught off the jetty in Carnarvon).

We also spotted several rays - you have to be careful closer to shore since they blend in with the sand and you have to watch not to step on them (they sting).

Having snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef it is difficult not to constantly make comparisons. I really had expected the experience to be the same - but am surprised at how different it is at Ningaloo. We are lucky to have seen both to see the diversity.

And after a fair amount of searching, I finally found our anemone and clown fish. They are different here than the Great Barrier Reef, so it took me a while to spot them. These are tomato clowns and the anemone are much shorter and duller in colour. But their behaviour is the same - the clowns hover around the anemone for protection and anytime a threat comes near, they hunker down into the anemone.

We've decided that after our 2 days in Coral Bay, we'll head back to Mandurah - we're getting vacation saturated :-) But for tomorrow it's off to Coral Bay and more adventures!

Break 1 - Day 7 Ningaloo Snorkelling at Turquoise Bay

Side note – we have visited several places with photography exhibits and postcards, and Kyle always is drawn to the clown fish in the anemone. Our room has just such a photo in it by chance. Now off to see if we can find some on the reef!

We had breakie in our room and then headed out for our first snorkel on the Ningaloo Reef. The brochures (and Cindy) recommended Turquoise Bay for starters, so off we went. Of course photographing under water is a different 'kettle of fish' (sorry). Mike has done his best with the 'regular' digital in it's 'baggie', but the quality of these photos is naturally not the same as his Nikon, and it is much more awkward to use. Regardless, I was quite pleased to see that he was able to capture as much as he did.

We headed straight into the waters and as we have come to expect, we were not to be disappointed. The corals were very diverse – lots of different types. And there were LOTs of different fishes - many familiar from the Great Barrier Reef, but some new ones too. Compared to Great Barrier Reef, both Mike and I agree that there seems to be more volume and variety of fish, but the colours are not as dramatic. The GBR consists mostly of soft corals where the Ningaloo reef is mostly hard corals - which results in a subtly different environment. The best difference, is that Ningaloo is accessible from the shoreline - so you just walk into the water and are in the reef!

Right away Mike spotted a Manta Ray in the shallow waters. Kyle and I were just getting in and missed it, although we saw from above the water at a distance. Later both Mike and Kyle spotted other rays in the sandy bottom, but I was not so lucky (or possibly observant). I did spot an octopus though which was interesting to hover over and observe as he (or she) sat blinking and observing us.

There were lots of sea slugs, butterfly fish, angel fish, parrot fish and several other species I could not name. Kyle did get a small sting from a jelly fish – but not enough to scare him out of the water (luckily several folks at Rottnest had experienced them also, so it was less ‘unknown’).

It was fun to swim amongst schools of darts as they perused the reef. One woman on shore spoke of how they even nibbled on her to see if she were edible. The darts along with many smaller minnow-ish fish went into very shallow waters and were easy to play along side of.

After a rather long first snorkel, I was feeling very queasy – not sure if it was the salt water getting up my mask into my sinus’ or what. Anyway, we broke for lunch but were anxious to get back at it. After lunch we snorkelled over to the right and the coral diversity was even greater. I was again nauseous, so headed back early. By the time Mike came in, he felt the same. We passed out on the beach for a bit as Kyle played with the small schools near shore. Then we headed back to our room for a rest to try to regain our mobility, which we did. Kyle was not nauseous right off, but did feel it later. In hindsight, we think it may have been the snorkelling gear which came from China coated in an oily film. Susbequent snorkelling has been fine - we think the oil was the problem.

We had a bit of a relax back at the room where Mike did some work and I did some documenting (it takes time to write all this stuff down - there is just too much to remember till we return!) We had a nice Chinese dinner in between writing sessions.

Alas, no clown fish or anemone today - that will be the quest for the next snorkelling day. Tomorrow we plan on visiting Yardie Creek and its gorge (the only one with water right now).