Bali: volcano treks and wreck dives
July 21
Today turned out to be a lost day. I spent the morning vomiting and the rest of the day in bed with a fever and missed my day to see some more things and take advantage of the shopping.
July 22
Feeling better, just in time for the plane to Bali. We arrive in Bali around 8:00. The hotel is nice, not too far from the beach.
July 23
We get a late start, take the day easy. We wander around Kuta and Legian for most of the day and figure out what to do for the rest of the week. After much discussion, we decide we want to conquer Mount Agung, the largest mountain on Bali, which is also an active volcano, and we decide we want to do it tomorrow. After some research, we decide it might be a good idea to do a guided tour. Mount Agung is a holy mountain, and many believe superstitions about its dangers. After discovering the price for a guide, we decide to rent a car, and drive and hike it ourselves. We also learn that the best time to hike it is to plan to get to the summit for sunrise, which means we have to leave our hotel around 1:00 am, and to be safe since we barely know where we are going, we make it midnight. We go to the grocery store to get food for the hike, and take our newly rented car, which also needs gas. I take the driver seat and find driving to be very similar to India. Getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, while not knowing where you are going, on roads that are barely big enough to fit two way traffic, while passing and being passed by motor bikes and other vehicles, makes for some nervous passengers. We get through it all, get some dinner, and try to get a few hours sleep.
July 24
After about 3 hours of sleep, I get up at 11:40 and suit up. We are on the road a little after midnight, crammed in a car that is way too small. Most of us had agreed to getting a larger car that can actually fit 5 people and their bags, but Rory took it upon himself to find the cheapest car possible. He succeeded in saving us each about $2, while forcing three people into a two person seat in the back of a tiny Suzuki POS. The ride takes several hours, and is quite uncomfortable. Ryan, who has had more experience driving on the wrong side of the road and who has looked at his Lonely Planet maps for better directions takes the wheel, and Rory ends up navigator, taking the front seat, while me, Scott, and Jon struggle in the back. As we near the base of the trail, the road becomes extremely steep with sharp switchbacks, and the car can only make it in first gear. Eventually we are passed by a larger car, and just after it is out of sight, our car stalls. The only way to get the car up now is for all of us to get out. Ryan only makes it about 100 meters around a corner before it dies again. We ditch the car on the side of the road, and as we prepare to start our hike early, the car that passed us comes back down the road. The man stops and gives us a ride the rest of the way for a small price. Its about 3:00 am or so now, and there is no moon. Its dark and the stars are clear. We begin our hike in the dark with flashlights and headlamps. Everyone makes fun of me when I carry around 3 flashlights, but tonight we needed all of them. The start of the hike is just stairs, which lead up to a large temple. Our ascent begins behind the temple up a trail, which starts right off fairly steep, and never really lets up. Along the way there is a dog ahead of us, it seems to be guiding us, as it runs ahead, we always find it waiting patiently over the next hill, and continues when we get there. The trail never traverses, it just climbs straight up the side of the volcano, whose pitch only increases with altitude. The stars are incredible here. Its been a long time since I've seen the milky way. The trail turns from woods and a dirt floor, to smaller trees and loose gravel, then to smaller undergrowth and more solid rock. Eventually we pass the tree line. As we near the top, the rock becomes darker. In some places its still gravel or fragmented, in others its solid, but in fluid shape. This is the first hike where I have been in the back of the pack, but 6 years out of high school spending days in studio and calling an occasional intramural game of dodgeball "exercise," doesn't really keep you in shape. Jon is a fairly avid weight lifter, which doesn't put him in front of anyone else, but in front of me, at least. Ryan is the most athletic, and he and Rory lead up the front, and Scott is somewhere in the middle. We are on the South face of the volcano, and as we reach the summit we can see the sky start to light up. The horizon to the east is a deep Orange, and we can now see the island below in clear view. The next rock seems to be another false summit, I expect to see at least a little more distance as I near the top, but as I get closer and closer, I see nothing. There is no plateau or even a rounding at the top. The pitch of the rock I'm on continues at its steep pitch straight to a point, which as I peer over, drops straight down several hundred feet into a gigantic crater. Looking at the sharp black pointed and jagged rim of the crater, one can tell that the last eruption was clearly a violent one. Our dog is still with us, and patiently waits as we eat lunch. I tip him for his services in lunch meat and fill my camera with pictures before our decent, which the dog also stays with us for until the base. The view and the trail looks totally different in daylight, starting at night is definitely a cool way to do a hike. The drive back is even more uncomfortable, and upon our return, everyone but me hits their beds for sleep. I want to sleep, but I have to go book my Open Water Scuba Diving course, if I want to start it tomorrow. No one is interested in diving again, so I get a few days from the group. I return for some sleep after several hours of figuring out the diving situation for a few hours of sleep before everyone wakes and we go for dinner. I get to bed early for some much needed rest.
July 25
I wake up at 6:00 am to go to class. Good way to spend a day in Bali. The first day of the Open water course is just time in the pool and waiting a video and taking some quizzes. There is only one other person in my class, and German girl named Julia. Both of us have dived recently, so a lot of the class is redundant. The next two days we dive in Tulamben, on the northern coast of Bali. After the course is over, I relax for the rest of the day with the guys. We get some dinner, and I have a couple beers with Scott and Jon before another early night. I have to wake up at 6:00 am again to go to Tulamben.
July 26
After a 3 hour van ride, we arrive in a much less inhabited area, which seems to have some hotels and dive shops, but not much of anything else. This part of the island really doesn't have anything besides this dive site. There is a clear view of Mount Agung from here. We have two dives today. Our first dive is right off the shore into a reef garden. The diversity of the sea life here is more intense than Koh Phi Phi. On our first dive we see all kinds of fish. The highlights being a moray eel and and a stingray. Oddly enough, the fish that catches my closest attention is a tiny sea slug. Its semi-amorphous form is lead my a hammer shaped head, but what is impressive its jet black coloring with tiny bright blue stripes. Our second dive is a wall dive, more to the east of the reef garden. At this point I have become much better at swimming with all my equipment and controlling my buoyancy with my breathing, and can get much closer to the reefs to see the hidden lion fish and stone fish. The most spectacular thing is a giant school of trevallies, which just spiral at the top of the wall. They aren't bothered when we swim through their school, they just continue in their circular motion, surrounding us as we swim through. After our dives are complete, we take our exam, which is a sure pass. I try to look around the town, which is really just a street, and as soon as you get passed the coastal hotels and dive shops, there is nothing, but I got a few good views of Mount Agung. I eat dinner and hang out with the rest of the divers for the night. On of the instructors, Jason, is from Australia originally, but has lived in Bali for years, and speaks fluent Balinese and Indonesian. My instructor, Su, is Balinese and has been a scuba instructor long before Jason. There is another student here, Victor, from South Africa. Its nice spend time with some new people.
July 27
Our first dive today is a wreck dive. 60 years ago, there was a US cargo boat that was shot by a Japanese sub. They managed t tow it as far as Tulamben, but the boat that was towing it was called away, and it stayed there beached at Tulamben. 20 years later, Mount Agung erupted, and the earthquake caused the ship to move just off shore and sink. Diving around a ship wreck is amazing. Every single piece of metal is totally coated in some form of coral or undersea creature. Now we can dive down to 18 meters. Some of the fish down here are huge. We have a choice of where we want to dive for our last dive, and we choose to do the wreck again. This time we explore a bit more thoroughly, going under the bow a through the cargo bay. We see a huge barracuda, parrot fish, and an octopus briefly before it slid back into a cavity. There are a lot of divers here now, this is a popular dive spot. Now our training is complete, and I am a licensed open water diver. Maybe I can dive cheaper now when I go to Australia to the Great Barrier Reef. I have finally returned to Kuta. The guys don't seem to be back yet, they went deep sea fishing today, we'll see if they have any interesting catches for dinner tonight.
Today turned out to be a lost day. I spent the morning vomiting and the rest of the day in bed with a fever and missed my day to see some more things and take advantage of the shopping.
July 22
Feeling better, just in time for the plane to Bali. We arrive in Bali around 8:00. The hotel is nice, not too far from the beach.
July 23
We get a late start, take the day easy. We wander around Kuta and Legian for most of the day and figure out what to do for the rest of the week. After much discussion, we decide we want to conquer Mount Agung, the largest mountain on Bali, which is also an active volcano, and we decide we want to do it tomorrow. After some research, we decide it might be a good idea to do a guided tour. Mount Agung is a holy mountain, and many believe superstitions about its dangers. After discovering the price for a guide, we decide to rent a car, and drive and hike it ourselves. We also learn that the best time to hike it is to plan to get to the summit for sunrise, which means we have to leave our hotel around 1:00 am, and to be safe since we barely know where we are going, we make it midnight. We go to the grocery store to get food for the hike, and take our newly rented car, which also needs gas. I take the driver seat and find driving to be very similar to India. Getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, while not knowing where you are going, on roads that are barely big enough to fit two way traffic, while passing and being passed by motor bikes and other vehicles, makes for some nervous passengers. We get through it all, get some dinner, and try to get a few hours sleep.
July 24
After about 3 hours of sleep, I get up at 11:40 and suit up. We are on the road a little after midnight, crammed in a car that is way too small. Most of us had agreed to getting a larger car that can actually fit 5 people and their bags, but Rory took it upon himself to find the cheapest car possible. He succeeded in saving us each about $2, while forcing three people into a two person seat in the back of a tiny Suzuki POS. The ride takes several hours, and is quite uncomfortable. Ryan, who has had more experience driving on the wrong side of the road and who has looked at his Lonely Planet maps for better directions takes the wheel, and Rory ends up navigator, taking the front seat, while me, Scott, and Jon struggle in the back. As we near the base of the trail, the road becomes extremely steep with sharp switchbacks, and the car can only make it in first gear. Eventually we are passed by a larger car, and just after it is out of sight, our car stalls. The only way to get the car up now is for all of us to get out. Ryan only makes it about 100 meters around a corner before it dies again. We ditch the car on the side of the road, and as we prepare to start our hike early, the car that passed us comes back down the road. The man stops and gives us a ride the rest of the way for a small price. Its about 3:00 am or so now, and there is no moon. Its dark and the stars are clear. We begin our hike in the dark with flashlights and headlamps. Everyone makes fun of me when I carry around 3 flashlights, but tonight we needed all of them. The start of the hike is just stairs, which lead up to a large temple. Our ascent begins behind the temple up a trail, which starts right off fairly steep, and never really lets up. Along the way there is a dog ahead of us, it seems to be guiding us, as it runs ahead, we always find it waiting patiently over the next hill, and continues when we get there. The trail never traverses, it just climbs straight up the side of the volcano, whose pitch only increases with altitude. The stars are incredible here. Its been a long time since I've seen the milky way. The trail turns from woods and a dirt floor, to smaller trees and loose gravel, then to smaller undergrowth and more solid rock. Eventually we pass the tree line. As we near the top, the rock becomes darker. In some places its still gravel or fragmented, in others its solid, but in fluid shape. This is the first hike where I have been in the back of the pack, but 6 years out of high school spending days in studio and calling an occasional intramural game of dodgeball "exercise," doesn't really keep you in shape. Jon is a fairly avid weight lifter, which doesn't put him in front of anyone else, but in front of me, at least. Ryan is the most athletic, and he and Rory lead up the front, and Scott is somewhere in the middle. We are on the South face of the volcano, and as we reach the summit we can see the sky start to light up. The horizon to the east is a deep Orange, and we can now see the island below in clear view. The next rock seems to be another false summit, I expect to see at least a little more distance as I near the top, but as I get closer and closer, I see nothing. There is no plateau or even a rounding at the top. The pitch of the rock I'm on continues at its steep pitch straight to a point, which as I peer over, drops straight down several hundred feet into a gigantic crater. Looking at the sharp black pointed and jagged rim of the crater, one can tell that the last eruption was clearly a violent one. Our dog is still with us, and patiently waits as we eat lunch. I tip him for his services in lunch meat and fill my camera with pictures before our decent, which the dog also stays with us for until the base. The view and the trail looks totally different in daylight, starting at night is definitely a cool way to do a hike. The drive back is even more uncomfortable, and upon our return, everyone but me hits their beds for sleep. I want to sleep, but I have to go book my Open Water Scuba Diving course, if I want to start it tomorrow. No one is interested in diving again, so I get a few days from the group. I return for some sleep after several hours of figuring out the diving situation for a few hours of sleep before everyone wakes and we go for dinner. I get to bed early for some much needed rest.
July 25
I wake up at 6:00 am to go to class. Good way to spend a day in Bali. The first day of the Open water course is just time in the pool and waiting a video and taking some quizzes. There is only one other person in my class, and German girl named Julia. Both of us have dived recently, so a lot of the class is redundant. The next two days we dive in Tulamben, on the northern coast of Bali. After the course is over, I relax for the rest of the day with the guys. We get some dinner, and I have a couple beers with Scott and Jon before another early night. I have to wake up at 6:00 am again to go to Tulamben.
July 26
After a 3 hour van ride, we arrive in a much less inhabited area, which seems to have some hotels and dive shops, but not much of anything else. This part of the island really doesn't have anything besides this dive site. There is a clear view of Mount Agung from here. We have two dives today. Our first dive is right off the shore into a reef garden. The diversity of the sea life here is more intense than Koh Phi Phi. On our first dive we see all kinds of fish. The highlights being a moray eel and and a stingray. Oddly enough, the fish that catches my closest attention is a tiny sea slug. Its semi-amorphous form is lead my a hammer shaped head, but what is impressive its jet black coloring with tiny bright blue stripes. Our second dive is a wall dive, more to the east of the reef garden. At this point I have become much better at swimming with all my equipment and controlling my buoyancy with my breathing, and can get much closer to the reefs to see the hidden lion fish and stone fish. The most spectacular thing is a giant school of trevallies, which just spiral at the top of the wall. They aren't bothered when we swim through their school, they just continue in their circular motion, surrounding us as we swim through. After our dives are complete, we take our exam, which is a sure pass. I try to look around the town, which is really just a street, and as soon as you get passed the coastal hotels and dive shops, there is nothing, but I got a few good views of Mount Agung. I eat dinner and hang out with the rest of the divers for the night. On of the instructors, Jason, is from Australia originally, but has lived in Bali for years, and speaks fluent Balinese and Indonesian. My instructor, Su, is Balinese and has been a scuba instructor long before Jason. There is another student here, Victor, from South Africa. Its nice spend time with some new people.
July 27
Our first dive today is a wreck dive. 60 years ago, there was a US cargo boat that was shot by a Japanese sub. They managed t tow it as far as Tulamben, but the boat that was towing it was called away, and it stayed there beached at Tulamben. 20 years later, Mount Agung erupted, and the earthquake caused the ship to move just off shore and sink. Diving around a ship wreck is amazing. Every single piece of metal is totally coated in some form of coral or undersea creature. Now we can dive down to 18 meters. Some of the fish down here are huge. We have a choice of where we want to dive for our last dive, and we choose to do the wreck again. This time we explore a bit more thoroughly, going under the bow a through the cargo bay. We see a huge barracuda, parrot fish, and an octopus briefly before it slid back into a cavity. There are a lot of divers here now, this is a popular dive spot. Now our training is complete, and I am a licensed open water diver. Maybe I can dive cheaper now when I go to Australia to the Great Barrier Reef. I have finally returned to Kuta. The guys don't seem to be back yet, they went deep sea fishing today, we'll see if they have any interesting catches for dinner tonight.
posted by James Dixon at 4:46 AM
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