Bali Adventures #1 - Under the Ocean

It's been a good 13 years since I have been diving. The same amount of time since I reconnected with my then-and-now-again fiance, and yes, there's a connection with him and the diving too.
Not one to be renowned for things physically adventurous, it is really only because of his encouragement that I even learned to dive in the first place. Diving in Bali was again his suggestion, and one I was a little dubious of... 13 years is a long time between dives, even with a planned refresher course.

Fortunately for me, Shane's daughter, also with us in Bali, completed her Open Water training while we were there and I was able to piggy-back on her pool sessions to have a proper refamiliarisation with the experience. This meant I could go in to the ocean dives with greater confidence and therefore enjoy them more.

Enjoy them I did. Our refresher dive was off the beach at Sanur, an amazing array of colourful marine life in warm, clear water. Only a shallow dive, but perfect for re-learning.

 

Next day we headed away from Denpasar, travelling over two hours to dive the Liberty wreck at Tulamben. The wreck lies very close to the shore, and whilst nothing is visible from land, the sea was peppered with snorkellers and divers, which clearly gave the location away.

Looking out to where the Liberty lies

 I hired a little digital camera for the experience, and although the photos I took could have been so much better (I was grappling a bit with concurrent safe diving and effective picture making!) I am very happy to have these digital reminders of our time beneath the waves.

Mind you I came away with other reminders as well... A tasty fist-sized graze on my calf from the first Sanur dive, a sting rash from some marine flora on my first wreck dive, (gotta love short wetsuits) and a decent bruise on my shin from falling on the rocks whilst exiting the water at Tulamben. They are now fading, but (vomitous cliche ahead) the memories of an incredible experience will remain for a long while yet.