Hey, everyone! I’ve spent the last 10 days in Amed – a small fishing village on the northeast coast of Bali. I went scuba diving, snorkeling, and I even surprised myself by taking scooter lessons. While there was a lot of excitement underwater, I wasn’t up to much on land. Much of that was due to the location of my initial accommodation, which I’ll speak on later. Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Amed and hope to return in a few weeks time.

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify called Rose Thorn Bouquet. Please check it out!
2) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
3) I have recently finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Death of Duncan Lee. I’ve sent it out to some friends to get feedback and I’m really excited to have it done(ish) finally. If you haven’t read it already, the link to my first book, Eclipse Me can be found here.

Liberty Wreck and Tulamben

Early in the morning, I took a shuttle service to get from Kuta to Amed. It was only a few hours. The shuttle did various pick-ups and drop-offs along the way. Amed is known for being a fishing village but I’d read online through various sources that it was a great spot for snorkeling/diving. So, now that my tattoos were healed and I could get in the water again, I figured it was an absolute must.

The shuttle dropped me off in Amed. Instead of taking a taxi to my accommodation, I decided to chat with Jasper during the 30min walk. Normally, a 30min walk is nothing, but it is slightly taxing when carrying two backpacks haha. However, time went quickly while catching up on the phone.

Once I’d arrived to my accommodation, I checked in and was instantly met by the owner trying to get me to book some dives. I was like, damn, let me drop off my stuff first before I decide!

They had an array of packages – 10 dives over 5 days for a pretty good price. I tried to weigh my options with that one, because it seemed like the best bang for my buck, but in the end, I decided against it. I didn’t want every single day spent scuba diving.

However, by the time I left that accommodation, I did end up going on 6 dives – so I may as well have just done the package!

I ended up being in a dorm room by myself for the first few nights, which was… perfect. It wasn’t until my second to last night that someone else moved in. I love having space to myself!

Stepping out from my accommodation, I was able to observe a lovely view of Mount Agung, Bali’s tallest mountain peak/volcano. Much like Mount Cecil in Queenstown, Mount Wellington in Tasmania… the mountain seemed to draw my attention from wherever I was in town. It served as a sort of grounding presence throughout my stay.

Aside from the view of Mount Agung, my accommodation wasn’t really in the best of locations for someone without a scooter. I ended up walking everywhere because Gojek/Grab don’t work in Amed. And so, I felt a little trapped and wasn’t loving my accommodation. I later ended up extending my stay in Amed, but moving to a different location, which ended up being much better.

On my second morning, I was reunited with the ocean. My guide, who was an Amed local and proceeded to be my guide for the rest of my dive trips, loaded up his truck and we drove to our first dive site of the day – Liberty Wreck.

I’ve never done a wreck dive before. In Australia, I snorkeled around a wreck on Rottnest Island, but that’s the closest I’ve ever been.

Because I don’t have that much experience diving and I’ve heard currents in Bali can be somewhat strong, I was slightly nervous about the dives. However, it ended up being fine. All of the dives we did were shore dives – meaning, we walk into the water with our gear and then begin the descent. (Versus boat trips, where you’re traveling in a boat and then jump off to begin your dive.)

I had issues equalizing at first but then it ended up being okay. And wow, how cool to check out the Liberty Wreck! My guide and I maneuvered throughout the wreck, going “inside it” (sort of) and checking out various areas. There was so much marine life around. I think my three big wins of that dive were:

-A massive porcupinefish*
-A massive sting ray resting under a coral shelf
-A massive group of garden eels poking out of the sand

(*The porcupinefish is especially exciting for me for nostalgic reasons. Back when I was 4 or 5, my family and I took a trip down to Miami. We bought a… taxidermy..? porcupinefish that was all puffed up. In the hotel room, I accidentally sat on it. The spikes really hurt lol.)

There were also some vibrantly colored fish I don’t think I’d ever seen before.

AND there was a plaque next to both the Indonesian and American flags. The USAT Liberty was torpedoed by Japan during WWII. Originally, the ship was grounded on shore but after a major volcanic eruption, the ship was knocked into the water and now serves as a popular dive site. Cool!

After the first dive, we took a break where I had tea and biscuits. My guide was chatting with others in Balinese and I got the vibe he was making fun of me a little. I suppose there’s always that feeling when someone you’re with speaks in a language you don’t understand and starts laughing. Alas.

We went to another dive site afterwards called Tulamben. That one ended up being really awesome, too. I saw a few scorpionfish, starfish, etc. We were diving along a reef wall, so there was a lot going on. So many fish and things to observe. At times, with diving, so much is going on, it’s hard for me to pay attention. It’s very different from snorkeling in that way.

My guide pointed out an electric clam, too, which was certainly something I’d never seen before. (That’s in the middle picture below.)

Oh, and we saw a barracuda! Eek!

I believe we saw larger eels on that dive, too. And plenty of starfish. Yahoo!

Pyramid Point and Jemeluk Bay

Day two was one of my favorite dives. A couple of days had gone by and I was eager to dive again. We didn’t have far to drive – just into town a little bit. We started at Pyramid Point.

Pyramid Point is named as such because concrete “pyramids” were dropped into the water to promote new reef life. It was a great spot. We saw more garden eels, had some excellent views of blue-spotted stingrays, scorpionfish, the occasional turtle, and more. No complaints!

At the end of the dive, when surfacing, I noticed this really strange fish that appeared to have wings. We were basically at the surface when I saw it. I called to my guide and he came to check it out, too. Such a strange fish! Apparently, it’s a flying gurnard. One of the most bizarre creatures I’ve ever seen! I’m so glad I spotted it.

And after, we drove a few minutes to Jemeluk Bay, which also serves as a popular snorkeling spot. I would later return to Jemeluk Bay to snorkel.

The visibility wasn’t that great in Jemeluk Bay in some spots, but it wasn’t too bad. We spotted nudibranchs (yay!), more starfish, and… just plenty of marine life. I love being underwater.

Pyramid Secret Wall and Batu Belau

On the final day of diving, we ended up returning to the Pyramids to check out the “Secret Wall” area. My guide had heard that there were some baby white-tip reef sharks in the area and he wanted to try and find them. That was fine by me, because the Pyramids were one of my favorite diving trips yet. He did end up spotting the baby sharks, tucked underneath a coral shelf. I could just barely see them.

The current was a little strong so I was having a hard time steadying myself. My guide motioned for my GoPro and he went behind the coral shelf, where he put the camera down through a crevice and was able to record what the reef sharks were doing. Trying to sleep!!! But he got some really cool footage.

After Pyramids, we drove to Batu Belah, which is a popular spot for macro lovers (nudibranchs and other teeny, tiny critters). It was our last scheduled dive and it was a good one. Lots of cool stuff. There were quite a few nudibranchs but they’re so small at times, it’s hard to see them. If only I had a good underwater camera for macro photography – to really see these creatures in all their glory! Alas.

We also saw a feather starfish moving on the ground which was cool.

Unfortunately, during this dive, I had some mask issues. The mask was squeezing onto my face really tightly. And also fogging up. My guide gestured for me to let a little bit of water in. I tried messing with my mask a few times and finally got it situated again but unfortunately, the damage had been done.

By the time we surfaced and I took my mask off, my eye was bothering me. I thought maybe it was my contact, although, usually if I’m having issues with my contacts, I can feel it as soon as I put them in. I believe what happened was I got “mask squeeze,” which is when you didn’t properly equalize your mask while diving. It can cause “subconjunctival hemorrhages,” which is basically like burst blood vessels in your eyes. I’m pretty certain that’s exactly what happened. Anyway, my eye was pretty red and irritated. Later, when trying to sleep, my eye was weeping throughout the night, trying to heal itself. Yikes.

I’m glad it happened on my FINAL dive. It would have been annoying to have more dives scheduled and have been unable to do them because of my eye.

A Foolish Snorkel Adventure

I gave my eye about two days of rest. On the second day, it seemed pretty much fine. Some red above my iris and below it, but the whites were still white. I had made a friend staying in a nearby hostel who enjoys snorkeling and we decided to go out together.

When I put my contact in, it seemed fine. In hindsight, I really should have just given myself a couple more days to heal my eyes. After snorkeling, my eye just became re-aggravated later in the evening. I really set myself back lol.

HOWEVER… I am glad we went snorkeling because Luchi spotted something I’d never seen in the water before… squid! And not just one, but multiple. There were like six of them!

And also, we saw a school of jackfish, which I’d wanted to film in the Philippines but wasn’t able to turn my camera on in time. They’re such weird fish because the outside of their mouths somehow turn silver as they open them..?

Luchi also spotted a mantis shrimp. I tried to freedive a little to get a better glimpse, but I didn’t want to push the limits and risk hurting my eye from pressure changes.

It ended up being a really lovely snorkel session and made me wish I was staying in Amed longer. Luchi told me he sees cuttlefish on occasion in the afternoon and if you’ve been following along for a while, you may know that it is such a dream of mine to see a cuttlefish. (That is honestly the reason that I decided to chance my eye irritability and go for it. I wanted to try to see a cuttlefish.)

My new accommodation was located RIGHT across from Jemeluk Bay, so it was such a tease to not be able to snorkel as much as I wanted. To be fair, when I was doing my dives, I felt I was getting my fill of underwater adventures. I was originally going to leave after 6 nights, but decided to stay closer to Jemeluk Bay for an additional 3 nights. But then I couldn’t even make use of snorkeling because of my eye – I really only had that one snorkel session. Oh, well. I may end up coming back. We’ll see.

When not in the water, I was mostly just taking it easy. Going out for lunch, for dinner, for dessert. And also just hanging out at my accommodation, watching Six Feet Under. I met up with Luchi and some of the friends from his hostel a couple of nights in a row, which was nice. It felt good to have social interactions because I’ve hardly been socializing at all since I’ve been in Bali.

Oh, and I also took scooter lessons! It was only about an hour and a half but after so much time being like, “No, no, I’ll probably never ride a scooter,” I decided to bite the bullet and try it out. I’m really glad I did. I’ve been feeling a bit trapped lately and this will give me the freedom to explore more. Yahoo!

Miscellaneous

When I first got to Amed, I was walking around listening to music and… suddenly felt like I was tilting side ways and got lightheaded simultaneously. It was only for a second and I wondered, was that an earthquake? Indonesia has a lot of small earthquakes constantly, but most aren’t felt.

Also on a walk, I passed a mother tending to a rice field while her toddler was laying on its back in a wheelbarrow filled with dirt. That was a bizarre sight, for sure.

And another bizarre sight was… seeing a striped keelback snake floating through the water in an irrigation ditch LOL. I most certainly wasn’t expecting to see that. (Please note, I would have probably tried to save it since I knew which type of snake it was – non-venomous – but I also knew that the irrigation ditch dried out a block or two down the road, so the snake wasn’t going to drown.)

I also saw a Hot Wheels car, which I had to send my brother.

AND I have to share that I eat these Mango-Yogurt-Parfait Magnum bars for dessert almost every night. They are a recent obsession and I love them. (Who am I kidding… I eat TWO of them.)

I also wanted to share a couple of pictures that I’ve been meaning to snap for a while now. One is of the local petrol/fuel stations.

The other is of… garbage. OOF, it’s so bad and it’s everywhere.

Art of the Week

I drew this one in-between diving days. I’ve had it in my mind for ages to draw a person with multiple sets of eyes, nostrils, even mouths. Finally got around to it, although it didn’t turn out quite how I imagined it. After I drew it, I realized it kind of looks like the mask that Melanie Martinez wore in her most recent tour for Portals. That wasn’t my intention, but I’m not mad about it, either.

I haven’t been feeling like drawing much lately but at the hotel I’m currently at, there is a desk… and those desks beckon to me. I’m sure I’ll draw something tomorrow, since it’s a rest day.

Reflections

Prior to moving to Jemeluk Bay, I was feeling a little… I don’t know. Out of sorts. I think there has been this feeling that maybe I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be seeing or doing and that has led me to feel a little lost, or a little “purpose-less.” This concept of “purpose” ended up coming up in conversation a couple of days in a row. With Luchi, and then the following night, with one of Luchi’s friends. (Funnily enough, I think “purpose” was the word of intention I had decided on for New Year’s.)

When traveling, my purpose has felt pretty clear for the most part. But Indonesia has been throwing me for a loop, for some reason. At first, it was because I couldn’t go in the water/sun with my new tattoos. But now, it’s… different. I think a major contribution is that a mode of transportation is really necessary in Indonesia. And I’ve mostly been operating on foot. I think that will change now that I’ve taken scooter lessons. I’ll be able to go for a morning or afternoon drive if I want, to explore the area a little further. And just to feel the wind on my face, etc. That will be good.

Another part of it is that, usually I’m working on something artistic. Whether that’s drawing, or working on writing a book, etc… I typically always have a project. But right now, aside from writing my blog, I’m mostly waiting on feedback from friends on The Death of Duncan Lee. I think I need to fill that empty space with something else, because writing was a big, artistic pastime for me and I haven’t replaced it with anything else.

I think, too, it’s been tough because aside from a few Musts, I haven’t been sure what to do/see in Indonesia. I knew I wanted to come to Amed to go diving, but other than that…? As mentioned before, I’m not sure I’m particularly interested in seeing every temple in the country. So then, what do I WANT to see? I guess I am just figuring it out.

I know that above all, seeing wildlife is where I’m at my happiest. But that can’t be every day.

So, now I’m in Pedang Bai. I originally was going to go to the Gili Islands, but there’s no point going there until my eye is fully healed. It’s a set of three, small islands that are good for snorkeling and not much else. So, I’ll stay in Pedang Bai tonight and tomorrow to do laundry, blog, etc. And from there, I’ll go to Lombok, where I’ll be going on another “herping” tour to hopefully see the blue viper of Lombok. I’ll also explore the island by scooter. From there, if my eye is all good to go, I may head up to the Gili Islands.

A lot is also contingent on whether or not I can extend my visa as well – because I still want to go see the Komodo dragons several islands to the east, and also to the blue flames in Java to the west. So much ground to cover in Indonesia! So little time.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x