My travelblog, Indonesia 2023

Traveldays 20-21/2/2023

The trip to Bali was ok, as air travel is. The first night I slept right at the airport in Denpasar, before I was getting a SIM card (definitely take Telkomsel, they have the best network nationwide, so they say) and become a multimillionaire at the ATM. 1 CHF is about 16000 IDR, Indonesian rupees. It takes some getting used to and the many zeros on the banknotes are also a bit confusing.

Day 1, 22/2/2023

Reasonably rested and got up in good spirits, it's about 30° warm, humidity is still okay, the sky is steel blue, hardly any clouds in sight. I strengthen myself with a hearty breakfast, now the transfer to Munjangan is due, which is located in the north-west of the island of Bali, about 4-5 hours by car from Denpasar. Putu is my chauffeur and a very nice guy. His English isn't the best, but we understand and still quite well. He's a good, careful driver and he needs to be in all the hustle and bustle on Denpasar's streets, the little scooters are literally everywhere. Traffic rules hardly seem to exist, or at best to be considered recommendations, so people are honking and waving everywhere. You also have to, seeing turn signals in the sun is more or less a matter of luck. The polisi (police) don't care about red lights either, at least as long as it affects them.

When it comes to transport safety, they also have slightly different views than we are used to in Europe.

After an hour we get to the outskirts of the city, you don't see any more foreigners, the first rice fields appear along the road. Also striking are the many beautiful temples that are everywhere. Clouds are gathering on the mountains on the horizon.

During a smoke break we realize that we both vape and so we take some funny pictures and videos of ourselves, exchange numbers via Whatsapp and laugh a lot.

On the way we stopped at a coffee plantation, where they produce the famous Luwak coffee, exactly the one that went through the intestines of a civet cat.

This is Rocky, a tame civet cat, apparently he had to be rescued because he can't climb and so he has to serve as a demonstrator of the coffee plantation. He prefers bananas to coffee beans anyway.

The luwak is really delicious and, although I initially suspected it was a classic tourist trap, I was pleasantly surprised because the tasting was free, you only had to pay for the luwak, but I was asked beforehand if that was ok. Not pushy at all, very polite and friendly. Of course they also want to sell something, so there was also the obligatory shop at the end, but I don't like to carry extra weight the whole trip, so I plan to get some more of the ginger tea and ginseng coffee at the end of the trip. Arriving at the resort, I say goodbye to Putu, of course he gets a decent tip and checks in. The little birds that seem to be taking in water at the pool immediately catch my eye. I immediately decide that I have to try to take a picture of it, but for now I'll content myself with a cell phone video.

Day 2, 2/23/2023

My reasonably rested from yesterday was a bit premature, today the jet lag really kicked in. I slept late yesterday, but late today. So I dragged myself to breakfast anyway. Interestingly, a local photo crew was at work in the resort, they asked me, again very politely, if I would be okay with them taking some pictures for the website. I said yes, of course, and that's how I got to enjoy an extended breakfast, with extra juices, fruits and so on. Well fed, I lay down again and slept until after noon.

In the afternoon I started assembling the underwater cam and - oh my - the flash doesn't work!

After trying around for a while I found the error, a cable on the hotshoe (flash shoe) broke off. That needs to be soldered. I have tools with me, but not a soldering iron. What to do, said the Manitou... I still had to go to the dive shop anyway, so I took the defective cable with me. After a lengthy, goal-oriented discussion with Roland from Extra Divers here in Munjangan, he said there was another TV electronics technician here in the village and he could probably solder the thing. We agreed that I would take the dirty cable with me tomorrow and he would see what he could do.

Here you can see the torn off white cable.

So tomorrow I'll be diving without the big cam, that's fine with me, so I can concentrate on myself in the first 2 dives, I still have a few problems with my buoyancy anyway. That's why I want to do the "Peak Perfect Buoyancy" course. Course is a bit exaggerated, there are 2 dives where you just look at the buoyancy, amount of weights etc. There is also a bit of theory, but that seems negligible to me.

Later the little birds came back, which use the pool as drinking water, I noticed them yesterday. I tried to photograph them, but they're so fast that the autofocus can't keep up. Unfortunately, I didn't have any success manually either. The day is already over, eat something nice and tomorrow we go to the first dives.

Day 3, 2/24/2023

Cheerfully I stride to the dive center with the disassembled cable and put it in Roland's hands. Unscrewed I can see quite clearly where the cable has to be soldered.

The weather here changes very often and quickly, but it is also the rainy season. After a day of relaxing and sleeping in, we go diving, which are 2 nice dives. We see a lot of snails, a baby and a bigger turtle, many scorpionfish of all sizes, here too the dive guides are very friendly and will help you where they can. On the way there are fruits as a snack.

My fellow divers are a little less experienced than me and so I can even show something from time to time, e.g. popcorn shrimps on a closed anemone or one or the other nudi and I make some videos with the Gopro in vacationer quality for your edification. You like them, so everyone has fun, it's great.

I also collect plenty of fishing lines, that's what I have my Easycut for. You just have to be damn careful with the fishing hooks. And if possible, don't cut off the red filter of the Gopro at the same time and see it drift away🙄

Back at the base, Roland, the owner, beams at me and hands me a freshly soldered cable, I'm thrilled! Now reassemble quickly, but I stupid didn't take a picture of the contact assignment, it has 6 holes in the adapter but only 2 pins and they should just be back in the right place. Damn. Luckily I still have the email address of John from Ikelite Support, so I write him an email and after a good night's sleep and a bintang or two I go to bed early.

Day 4, 2/25/2023

I get up early and check my mail and indeed John sent me a picture of where the two contacts should go. I am infinitely grateful and set about assembling it. I put a lot of effort into it, I have to use the paper clip I brought from home so as not to lose the springs that make contact with the circuit board. And promptly slip one of those f****** feathers away. Nice crap. So I search the ground for about 15 minutes. A bit better cleaning would be in there as well, as I see during the incoming floor inspection. I'm slowly losing the courage to look around. But what do you want, like in the military, SBG (Search Until Found). 15 minutes later the little thing actually appears. The assembly is easy this time, and initial tests show that the flash flashes again. marriage assassination I quickly assemble the cam and head to the base.

Today we drive out to the island, the weather is pleasant, only slightly cloudy.

Hardly in the water do I realize that I have only tested the function of the flash, but for the sheer joy of the flash not whether the rest is sitting correctly, damn one more thing. I realize soberingly that I can't focus and give the cam back to the boat, so there's no point in dragging it with me for the whole dive.

The dives are again very nice, we see 2 blacktip reef sharks - not very big, maybe 1.3 meters long - about 15 meters away and a few meters deeper than we swim around. There were also some types of needlefish and a baby turtle on the way. I missed snails out here though.

In the evening I take the cam completely apart again to be absolutely sure tomorrow that everything is working as it should and test it extensively.

Together with the Swabian fellow divers and Roland from the base, we then treat ourselves to a great dinner.

Day 5, 2/26/2023

I wake up with a big stomach rumbling. It rumbles and I feel sick. My suspicion is the oh-so-delicious sambal, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Nevertheless, I drag it along to breakfast and eat some fresh fruit and tea instead of the delicious Bali coffee. After that I waddle to the diving center with a heavy heart and cancel for today, I don't want to pack the whole boat. I drink a lot of water and lie down again. I feel a little better after noon. I start planning the onward journey, buying the plane ticket to Sorong, where the safari will take place, and accommodation in Tulamben. It all takes forever, the WLAN there is not really stable, the Lion Air website doesn't make it easy for me either, because the first payment didn't work out. At 3 I made it. At least I feel good again, I drink coke, tea and a lot of water.

Later I go back to the dive center and borrow a weight belt. So I can at least test the cam in the pool. I fill an empty beer bottle with water so I have something to test ^^

Since it's pretty nice, and I need some restoration, I spend the rest of the day at the pool and relax.

Day 6, 2/27/2023 - Travel from Menjangan to Tulamben

Today Dodik is my driver, public transport is very, very, very limited, so you take a driver. It is better not to have this organized by the hotel, then it will be at least a third cheaper. The transfer, which takes around 4 hours, costs me 800,000 IDR, around $50.

Dodik tells a lot, I ask him a lot, so I learn interesting things, for example about the temples. So now I know that every town has 3 temples, one each for the main gods Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. But apparently every house has a small temple. His has 3 doors, again one for each deity, and when his wife cooks the food for the whole day in the morning, which is her 2nd task in the morning after boiling water, some of the cooked food is first sacrificed and then it's good for him Day.

Somewhere after Lavinia, a local center, the famous black beaches begin, with the typical black volcanic sand, which Dodik tells me they cart around half the island in trucks.

After a stop at a larger shop where I bought mosquito cream (2 tubes for 19.8K, i.e. around 1.25 francs), we exchange numbers, if he can organize the next transfer back to Denpasar, we meet one hour later in Tulamben.

Since I had no recommendations for a dive shop, I used Google and made a reservation. When we are there, however, only big eyes look at me. After some back and forth and a few phone calls, the eyes were still wide. In the meantime, I rummaged through my messages via Whatsapp and it actually said Sand's name and that's how I was received. I suddenly realize that there is no more department feeling. Was that a good idea? After they believed us that we were in the right place with you, I was also shown a room. Dodik meanwhile takes care of my stuff, you never know. the room is big, a bit expensive, but very clean and even has a bathtub. I test the safe first before putting anything in it, but it works fine, so I leave my passport and wallet in it. It would also have been smaller, but I don't give a damn about the few euros difference. A somewhat queasy feeling persists at first, but hey, in the worst case I can always move on tomorrow. The diveshop seems to be under construction, but looks ok at first.

First I go out and have a big Bintang in the shop visavis. Some snacks as an emergency ration can't hurt either.

When I come back an hour later, the owner of the dive shop is there, he's the one I wrote to. We discuss when, where, how, what diving tomorrow. He seems to be ok and so that calms my somewhat queasy feeling from earlier quite quickly. He also invites me to a BBQ in the evening, which turns out to be very nice. There are tuna steaks and grilled chicken, with rice and plenty of sambal. Hopefully everything stays in place this time.

Back from dinner I see a beautiful reflection, I think I'm slowly falling in love with Bali.

First impression on the day with the mobile phone

Cell phone at night

In the night with the Nikon

I should get some movement in. I'll probably redo the picture again :)

Day 7, 3/28/2023 - Tulamben

My first attempts at "Muck diving". I'll let the pictures do the talking here.

Day 8, 1.3..2023 - Tulamben

Also today my guide - Eka - and I make 3 dives. Again he lends me a macrohead, different from yesterday a smaller one, from another manufacturer. Yesterday I had a Nauticam, today something Chinese. We dive to XXXX to look for the pygmy seahorse. Since I was a bit cold yesterday on the last dive, I put on my diving hood. Bad idea, when diving down to about 20m I get an oppressive feeling and get very nervous. Not good at all. However, I have already experienced such situations and remind myself what to do. Calm down, everything is good. Calm down, otherwise the tank will be empty in no time. Soon we will be there. Nothing will happen to you, you can do it! Arriving at the coral, I tell the guide that I feel unwell and need to calm down. He becomes with hand signals again calming on me. So I push all worrying thoughts aside and swim around the big beautiful coral very slowly and then also manage to come down quickly, to bring my breath to a normal level. All is well again. Meanwhile Eka is looking for the pygmi and sure enough, there it is! Despite the fact that I was quite nervous just now, I manage to take a few pictures of the pygmi. On the small display they look ok, I'm curious how they look like on a real, big display on the laptop.

On the 2nd dive my guide forgot to change his tank. I am bobbing around in the water while he rushes back to shore to change the tank. well, buddy check and all that. The dive is again great and instructive.

Afterwards we go back to the diveshop, I eat something, the world is fine.

Also the 3rd dive, which we do not far from the store is again very nice. Eka teaches me a lot, it works better and better with the cam. It's great when you have a private guide. I didn't order it that way, but everyone is happy and it doesn't even cost me extra, as well as the snacks and drinks in the diveshop, all included. Except naürlich the Dekobier, which I like me while the guys my Cam to dry with compressed air blow off. Some other divers are also here, most of them beginners. WIr have it all funny. All guests are invited again to the BBQ I look forward to it. Ca at 3pm I am back in my room and can finally copy the pictures from the cam. WOW. One of Pygmi became really super. I'm happy like a little kid and get to work on it.

Day 9, 2.3..2023 - Tulamben

Today we dive the wreck of the USAT Liberty, which was sunk by the Japanese in the 2nd World War. While swimming there we get into a stream of garbage, as some of you might know it from videos. Normally I try to collect garbage in the water, but there is just too much. Somewhat thoughtfully we dive further, the garbage pulls regular as a cloud past, a little later the plastic storm is over.

After the dive I ask Eka where this comes from. He says it's from the rain, when the rivers swell and take everything with them, it ends up in the sea.

The next dive is my 200th. When I started diving I never thought I would get this far. But it is a lot of fun. In the base we have a snack, fried noodles with a fried egg. For dessert, as always, fried bananas. Yum.

I'm getting better with the camera, it's a joy. When we get back, it starts to rain. Not just a little, it is now pouring. Fortunately I have my rain jacket with me, so I don't even care.

In the evening I ask at the hotel how my laundry is doing, I'm running out of panties.

Phyllodesmium iriomotense

Eubranchus ocellatus

Day 10, 3.3.2023 - Tulamben

The weather has improved, the sun is shining. I check the BLitz of the cam and assemble the housing. And promptly, as soon as we are in the water, I notice that the autofocus does not work. When inserting the lens, the switch on the lens must have slipped to Manual. I'm annoyed with myself again, but still try to take a few pictures. It's much more difficult without autofocus, but it's not a bad exercise to get a better idea of the distances. I also learn that I have to do a 2nd function test even after assembling. So slowly I have probably made all the mistakes once. What can one say, one pays evenly much lesson money as a beginner.

After the dive we drive back to the base, I fix the cam, everything is good again. Overcome, improve, adapt. I learn a lot about how to mend this and that or how to fix problems.

The 2nd dive was very nice, my last one with the letsdivetulabnen.com guys. An electric clam, also called a disco clam put me under its spell.


EIne electric clam, also known as a disco clam.

I really need to get my own macro head. This is an attachment lens with +10 diopters, which you screw onto the macro, so it's like a magnifying glass in front of the macro lens. With it, you can get even small animals that are only a few millimeters in size into the picture. I jokingly asked the diveshop if I could buy one from him. He couldn't sell his, Yansu said, but I should go diving and he would see what he could do. If anything, I should take the one from Nauticam, they are much better than what I was graciously allowed to borrow from him today. Back from diving, which was again very cool, he quickly called a store in Denpasar. 15 minutes later, he asked if the price of 7.7 million was ok (about 500.- same price as at home) then he could put me one ready. I affirm and a little later he sends me via whatsapp the location of the store. So tomorrow I will make a short stop there and pick up the lens. Anyway, I asked Dodik again whether he might drive me, with him I have made very good experiences. He agreed within a short time. Again something organized. At noon we are through, that was my last TG in Tulamben. Too bad, actually, I liked it very much here.

I lie down a bit and go for a hearty meal. Meanwhile, I'm busy with Lightroom and my NAS at home, so that I can finally synchronize my pictures directly home. I have time for such fun. When I get back, my clean laundry is there too. Yuppie. KOstet 80K rupees, 5 francs.

The Liveboard.com aunt promised to recommend me another hotel, but never answered. In general, they were better with the service in the past, so I had 7 different contacts in the 12 mails of the whole correspondence. No wonder they have a whorehouse. I am somewhat disappointed by them, especially since the reservation for a 2nd liveaboard did not work out. Already full, it said succinctly. Too bad actually, I know the otherwise different. So I reserve a hotel on my own and treat myself to a four-star hotel for the night, in the Swiss-Belhotel Sorong, I want to sleep well there and a decent breakfast before it goes on safari. Costs the equivalent of 50 francs, so what the heck.

I type until late at night on the raw texts for the blog around and lay me happily in bed, excited what waits for me next.