You might remember Claire, i met her last year diving in the Philippines and stayed with her in Singapore. She and I wanted to get together to do some diving. Bali is a ‘do-able weekend’ for her from Singapore; and Amed is a great diving location, so plans were made.
The same friend that i met through FaceBook with his beautiful underwater photos, that took me to Anilao for diving, also posted photos from Amed. I contacted him about Amed and he made recommendations for a place to stay and also a Driver; that makes it so much easier for me !
Amed is a 3hr car ride from the airport in very busy noisy Denpasar.
I booked 2 weeks at Rising Star, a ‘budget’ establishment, but right on the sea with my own bath and a/c. Here, so i could snorkel from shore for free and looking at the maps, i figured i could walk to some shops and restaurants. Once i got here, however, i realized there wasn’t going to be much ‘wandering around’. It’s very different from my ‘perceived idea’.
There is no central ‘village’. It is a famous fishermen's area consisting of 7 small villages, and stretches over NINE miles. It is a 'rugged' area of Bali. It is all volcanic hillside, the roads winding and of course it is very hilly. The volcano Mt Agung sits in the background. That is the Volcano that erupted 2 years ago, closing airports and causing destruction.
Driving is dangerous on a single lane road, with cars and motorbikes passing dangerously close to each other. There is no shoulder on the road, just a raggedy asphalt drop off onto broken asphalt, stones, and grass. It goes without saying that when walking you really need to pay attention in front and back of you… and get off the road if you hear a motorized vehicle, ... which isn't too difficult because they use their horns constantly.
Nevertheless, my first day i decided to walk towards Jemeluk Bay (1+ mile one way), where i originally thought that i would spend a lot of time. There is a conglomeration of dive shops, places to stay and eat, and a great snorkeling beach. But after that first walk, i realized it was the last time i was going to do that. In 90-something degree temps, i was hot, sticky, and tired from constantly concentrating on staying safe. I jumped in the pool to cool down when i returned. Oh, yes, we have a pool! View taken from my room
There was a huge downpour of a storm the day before i got here, roads were impassable, and the ‘covered terrace’ out by the pool was destroyed and laying on the beach. The owner assured me that they would be working on rebuilding the next day. i was surprised when the workers actually showed up and started the clean up and rebuilding. The noise and disruption of construction continued my entire stay. This also meant that there was no ‘shade’ to sit under to eat, relax, or enjoy the sea. And, it is hot here
I had planned on spending a lot of time in my a/c room working on my blog and photos; and that is mostly what i did for 2 weeks.
But no fear, i did get out and have some fun. While in Komodo i saw a FaceBook post from Ashley that i met diving 8 years ago in Utila, Honduras. She posted that she was in Bali, i quickly made contact with her and found out she was going to be in Amed the same time as i was. So, we made a plan to get together. A couple days in, Ashley arrived with friend, and we made plans to go diving.
Our young, handsome, well-built Dive Guide, Carry, was very good at finding ‘critters’ for us. Ashley takes great photos, so we were on the ‘same page’ for the dive itinerary. He found this tiny Dendronotids - Undecided
Check out those 'barbs' at the ends the rhinopores and each cerata. Each one is packed with venom. If that doesn't say 'don't touch' i don't know what does. Unfortunately he was so tiny, you wouldn’t see them; until it was too late. Many Nudibranchs ingest the toxins from the plants they eat and use them in their own defense. It is one of the most remarkable examples of recycling in the animal kingdom.
Those toxins can come from Hydroids like this one, pretty, ...but ‘nasty, and they look so innocent. But they have ‘stinging cells’ in them and they are so feather-light that they brush against your skin and you don’t realize it until you feel just a little ‘sting’. This mostly happens when i'm taking a photo and not paying attention to where my hands are.
My skin seems to react worse than most, and i usually wear gloves for this reason. But Dive Shops frown on wearing gloves. This has happened before, and i would have worn them anyway, but i seem to have lost them. The result is uncontrollable itching and then blistering while they continue to itch. It only lasts about 3 days, but it’s very irritating. New gloves are on my Christmas List.
We also came across an area of Garden Eels. There were thousands of them! I've seen these before, but never this many; and i've never been able to get this close to them.
They are interesting characters .... as you approach, they just s-l-o-w-l-y slide back down into the sand...kind of eerie. Check out this video ! So Cool ! Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6aVEf9HlKv4
There were also 2 GIANT Moray Eels that poked their heads out to see us.
and these very large Barrel Sponges
On the way to our dive we went past my home, Rising Star, ... you can see they are moving along nicely on the construction of the new terrace.
We also met at SunSet Point to watch it set over Mt. Agung, with Jemeluk Bay far below
The same FaceBook friend that helped me with recommendations here, gave me the name of a Driver, Pena. A young guy who just started his business 7months ago. On another day, we hired him to take us on a day tour of surrounding attractions. That was a fun day.
Our first stop was Lempuyang Temple, a Balinese Hindu temple, is one of Bali’s oldest and most highly regarded temples, on par with Besakih (aka the ‘mother temple’ of Bali). The main temple lies almost 4,000 feet above sea level, up on the peak Mt Lempuyang
It has become quite a tourist attraction. You should be able to see Mt Agung Volcano through the towers, but it was cloudy. People wait in line for up to 2+ hrs to get their photo taken here.
Pena advised us to get an early start so we only waited 1 hour :) We took turns waiting in line. Ashley and i climbed to the top. Notice we are properly ‘garbed’, in our best Hindu ‘fashion statement’
and took in the view below ... Mt Agung is behind those clouds ...but it was still beautiful
So what are people waiting in line for? This is what it looks like, no big deal, huh?
There is a guy sitting out front. You hand him your camera, and then go stand between the pillars.... and this is what you get !
it's 'magic' ... he makes it look like your reflection in the water ... he keeps clicking away as you do silly things ...ok, rather disrespectful at a temple, but 'everyone was doing it'. It actually is a great marketing ploy.
We also visited Rumah Pohon, a ‘tree house park’ with great views. Never in my wildest imagination did i ever think it would be so extravagant. From the ground you have NO idea of how extensive it is. Rope and bamboo ‘bridges’ take you to one platform, just to find that there is yet, another bridge, …. to another platform ... and it continues
It goes up and up and up
Yes, those are the ropes you walked on ... it was very scary!
At each platform, you can continue to climb up, or back down, ...which isn't much easier.
It was an amazing network or ropes, platforms, and bamboo, all way up in the trees
But the views were beautiful, this is a rice field
And one of the villages below
Ashley was brave and just kept going. This was one of the easier ones, with railings and bamboo floor
I did not do this one ... I didn't really think those ropes would hold me if i feel sideways. This is her friend, and he admitted it raised his heart rate !
This is only part way up, you can see Pershing in the blue shirt below us, with one of the bridges in the foreground
but i joined her again, and we made it to the very very highest platform. There was even a chair up there, but capacity was limited to 3.... i think 2 was the limit. The view was amazing; but we were careful not to move too quickly, because it was definitely swaying in the breeze.
i am absolutely positive that i would have never climbed all the way to the top if it she wasn’t with me
It was a really nice cool place to spend a hot afternoon. Lots of trees, and fun swings like this one made out of branches.
They also had a Palm Civit in a cage. I am not a coffee drinker, so i'd not heard of this before. This cat produces 'the most expensive coffee in the world'. What? It eats the coffee cherries, then poops out the digested beans. They are collected, finished and sold as Kopi Luwak. Their digestive enzymes change the structure of proteins in the coffee beans, which removes some of the acidity to make a smoother cup of coffee. Although, as usually develops for the tourist trade, now the poor Civits are being kept in captivity in inhumane and unsanitary conditions :(
i hate to see animals in cages and this monkey didn’t make me feel any better about it. But don't let that innocent expression fool you. There were 2 monkeys in this cage, and this one was the ‘bully’. We gave both of them bananas, and the ‘bully’ quickly ate his, and then chased after the little one, trying to steal his :(
nor did these baby birds with lots of their feathers picked off :(
It was a fun day, we had lunch, then to a Silver/Gold Smith shop that only exports to NYC and Japan (or China, i can't remember). It was beautiful jewelery. Then we went to the city Amlapura for a little shopping at a market, unfortunatley it was mostly closed for a weeklong religious celebration :(
It was great seeing Ashley again after 8 years. Hope we can meet up again sometime.
There is snorkeling right in front of Rising Star, and also at Jemeluk Beach, just a mile down the road. Here are some photos i took while snorkeling. A Yellow Eye TriggerFish
a Semi-Circle AngelFish
Years ago someone sunk a 'Temple', which is now home to critters and corals.
These are Long Jawed Mackrels … and they are pretty cool to see rushing through the waters, with their mouth’s wide open gulping their feast
A video is much more expressive
Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-vM7fn3Igx4
and of course the ‘feared’ Titan TriggerFish; although i’ve never been threatened by one, others say they have
Although Claire arrived close to midnight on a Friday night, we were up at 7am for our day of diving, allowing me to catch this sunrise at our hotel.
We did 2 great dives. Claire had never done any ‘muck diving’; but i think we converted her :)
We saw a fierce looking Porcelain Crab
And a small Shark sleeping under a coral ledge
Our Dive ‘eyes’, Carry, found this ridiculously small Nudi that i could not manage to get into focus. They called it a Bumpy Mexichromis
and just as tiny... but no one seems to know what it is
This T-Bar was large, about 4", and right out in the open. It is called a “T-Bar” because of it’s distinctive T shaped body. The “T” shape actually comes from the toxic, elongated skin flap which covers and protects this nudibranch’s gills.
Very striking, you can see the 'T' shape better in this photo
Although i’ve seen and photographed this Moorish Idol many many times, i think this is my best effort yet.
This is Claire and i celebrating our first dive experience together. Last year when we met in the Philippines, we never actually got to dive together because of the Typhoon !
This is a Napoleon Snake Eel, another new critter for me
We saw more Blue Spotted StingRays than i’ve ever seen before. There were 5 of them together here, you can only see 'eyes' on 3 of them. And there were morer couple close by. WoW
And of course, we were looking for the Pygmy SeaHorse on both dives. The first dive was unsuccessful, but Carry came through for us on the second dive. Although, the current was quite strong; and true to my nature, i couldn’t see it; then when i could see something that might have been a SeaHorse, i could not get the camera to focus on it. I tried several times, then signaled to him that i was 'finished' and handed the camera to him. He struggled for quite awhile as well, but wouldn’t give up and finally gave the camera back to me.
Surprisingly, when i looked at the photos, … one that i took turned out … those are Carry’s figures in the photo. A good size comparison. And ... while i was looking at the photo .. i noticed there are TWO SeaHorses ... one by his finger and another facing down to the left !!!!!!!!! Their tails are intertwined
and this is one of his photos :)
Claire and i had a snack and drinks at Blue Earth which is a restaurant and yoga center, and watched the sun ‘kinda’ set over the Volcano Mt Agung. It was a busy place, obviously very popular with the 'hippie-yoga-type' tourists.
It was great catching up with her again. Hope to see her some day in the States.
I found this Nudibranch egg ‘flower’. I’ve never seen a ‘pink’ one before (usually red); but from what i’ve read, it is still from a Spanish Dancer. The egg flower color can change depending upon what they are eating. You can kind of see the 'texture' in this photo... those are all eggs
and he took this photo of me photographing it …. i am really concentrating
We also did a day snorkel trip with Pena, our favorite ‘driver’ to a ‘ship wreck’, that you can actually snorkel. Since we were staying close by, Pena asked if it was ok if he brought his 3yr old daughter along for the day. She is beautiful, and a perfect child ... not a fuss out of her all day long
Ship wrecks at the shore are very unusual, because wrecks are typically very deep and only accessible to divers. The first one was the ‘Japanese Wreck’
The 60 ft long wreck of a Japanese freighter lies in very shallow water. The top is at about 10 feet, down to 30 feet. And, it is right on shore, so you can easily snorkel to it, and it was fun to look at
Lots of fishes and pretty coral
Aryel found this Nudibranch couple
i still can't find those tiny creatures. So, i spent a little more time around the coral so i could take photos of something i could actually see; like this SailFin Tang
We took a little break, and then there was discussion about whether or not to do the USS Liberty Wreck.
The USS Liberty Wreck is the most famous dive site in Bali, and probably what made Amed a tourist destination. It is also one of the ‘best sunken ship wrecks in the world’ ! If you come to Bali, you absolutely have to dive there. So they insisted i should at least snorkel it before i left.
The ship is about 410 feet long with the shallowest part at about 15 feet deep and the deepest on the other side of the wreck at about 60ft deep
They were right, it is amazing; but difficult to photograph
There were lots of big fishes there
including my favorite Sweet Lips
Aryel took this photo of me, coming up from a deep dive along side the Liberty ... i like it ... it looks like i have long legs :)
Some history:
The USS Liberty began its life in June 1918, in New Jersey. It served in the US Navy during WWI, as an animal-transport ship, moving cavalry horses to the front line in France.
When the war ended, the ship was decommissioned, but continued to sail, rather recklessly in my opinion, …colliding and sinking another ship in 1929, and again in 1933 … wtf ?
In Nov 1940 it was one of 10 ships taken by the US Army defensive service to serve in WWII
In 1942, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the ship, which was carrying cargo from Australia to the Philippines. The US began to toe the ship towards Bali, but the ship began to break apart, and instead was beached onto the shore of Tulamben-Amed so cargo could be salvaged.
In 1963, the volcano Mt Agung erupted, and violent tremors pushed the ship off the beach and into the ocean, where it finally sank onto it’s side and came to rest just 100 feet from shore.
It was forgotten until the early 1980’s. While it remained underwater, marine life of all colors, shapes, and sizes colonized the vessel. The bones of the wreck are spectacular, but the many creatures that now live there attract divers and snorkelers
Neither Claire nor i particularly like ‘Wreck-Dives’, so we specifically asked NOT to be taken to the Liberty. I now realize that was a mistake. I was told it is not a ‘typical’ wreck dive, and now i understand why …another reason for me to return.
Aryel and i spent some time in the shallows looking for critters again. I can only find the big ones like this Puffer Fish
and a BroadClub CuttleFish. They aren't as colorful as those Flambouyant CuttleFish, but their subtle colors are beautiful in the right lighting
This is the construction that was going on while i was at Rising Star. Perfect timing, they finished the roof the day I left. He is going to add more to it, and it will be really nice.
i did have a little accident while getting a motorcycle ride to the beach to snorkel. it was an uphill entrance to a busy road with a blind spot. While making the turn the driver got off to the side of the road, and i knew that we weren’t going to make it. We were barely moving and the bike tipped over and i couldn’t get my leg off the bike in time, so i got some scrapes and bruises. It really was nothing, but my leg thought otherwise ... and the colorful bruising continues
I left Amed a day earlier than planned, and had Pena drive me back to Bali, so i would have a day to ‘shop’ and make sure i was there for my flight. I booked a room at Palm Beach Hotel, the same place Kim and i stayed last year. I was familiar with the area so i felt more comfortable walking around there alone. It’s a nice place and close to the sea. Also, a popular ‘surfer’ spot.
This is Pena and I as he dropped me off.
Then back to the Bali Airport for a 4 hr flight to Hong Kong; a 12 hour layover; and a 15 hour flight to Chicago; then Kzoo, and home!
Again, another great Winter Adventure in the books; with many unplanned and unexpected experiences. Thanks to all of you for coming along and for your support. It does mean a lot to me. Traveling alone is, …sometime lonely. And the friends i meet never replace my family and friends back home !
At some point, i'd like to compose a video of small clips of underwater creatures in action. It's the best way to see them. I'll let you know when/if that ever happens :)
