Five days in Padang Bai was enough to restore my faith in mankind. I became a part of their little village in no time. It is really a diving community with a friendly support system. I had amazing seafood meals everyday, massages on the beach and never lacked for friends to talk to. Once again it was like the UN with new friends from Holland (Peter), Ireland (Shane), Germany (Oliver) and England (Rob).
Geko Dive was the center of my social life. I did six dives with Regig, a very patient local Dive Master, on some of Indonesia's best sites. One of the most popular was in a small city call Tulamben, which was an hour and a half drive through some of the most beautiful countryside in Bali. The volcano's, farm land and many small villages were extraordinary. It is so funny to see the scarecrows in fields in each country dressed in local costumes! The vegetation runs from large cactus to banana and palm trees in a minute. This is such a vibrant country!
In Tulamben, we dove on the wreck of the USS Liberty, a US cargo ship that has created a fish meca. They say that Indonesia has more species of fish than anywhere on earth and I believe it!
Tomorrow I am off for my next Indonesian adventure! I will take a 7:30am ferry to Lombok, then a taxi ($11 for a 2 hour ride) to Teluk Nara beach where I will board a waiting speed boat bound for Gili Trawangan. I've met several people on their way to and from this little island so I know it will be great fun...
