Open Waters

If you ever come to Bali and want to get Scuba Certified, you have to find Avandy Djunaidi: the man, the myth, the legend.  He owns BIDP (Bali International Dive Professionals) and has been diving since 1981.  He’s like underwater Yoda, calm but meticulous in his instruction.  He understands the technique, but also the intricate ecosystems and marine life.  And everywhere we went, he was recognized and adored.  We struck gold in having our first scuba experience with him.

We got open water certified at Tulamben, a WW2 wreck of the Liberty.  The story goes that it was a cargo ship, but inside sources revealed that it was actually loaded with guns and quickly cleared when hit by a Japanese submarine.  Now, it’s covered in amazing varieties of coral and sealife.  The clarity is exceptional and it’s surreal to 1. breath under water 2. explore the wreckage and how much life has grown around it.  As with the shipwreck on the beach near Single Fin, it’s a testament that life goes on and heals around all our scars.

Tanks at Tulamben shoreline

Tanks at Tulamben shoreline

One of the hardest things about scuba diving is achieving buoyancy, essentially finding a state of suspension at any depth, almost like an astronaut in the water.  The goal is to use your lungs and air intake to monitor your level, exhaling to go deeper and being able to relax, suspended, without finning in any direction.  As you can imagine, this takes a lot of patience and a lot of practice to learn your body and air intake needs.  I am not a very patient person, and my first dive was incredibly frustrating.  Jay naturally mastered it, no surprise to anyone who knows his natural athletic ability, but it finally clicked for me on the second dive.

There’s a lag time- when you inhale deeply, it takes a second or two for your body to rise.  A few deep exhales, and some patience, and your body will drop.  Underwater, time is magnified and, at first, I didn’t trust those few seconds or give my body time to adjust- I went straight for the quick fix solution, my BC inflatable vest, to get me where I wanted to be.

The metaphor was glaring: life takes time to settle and instant gratification changes may be the norm in our society, but they don’t push us to understand ourselves and grow our own resourcefulness and resiliency. So often, we make a choice in life and watch expectantly for life to quickly make the adjustment (hopefully in our favor) but we have no patience for the lag time.  We have no patience for the long-term plan.  

It’s another lesson in being present.  Breathing in and breathing out, but also taking in what’s around us.  Seeing that remarkable polka dot fish to our right, the brain coral to our left, and not worrying about much else beyond that moment.  We are learning to settle into life, and take it just as it is: with all of its beauty and all of its shipwrecks.

Open Water Certified!

Open Water Certified!

 

 

 

Uncovering Uluwatu

I’m not sure that our first day in Bali could have been any more quintessential of island life.  We landed around 1 am and flew through customs.  At each airport leading up to Denpasar, we got hassled for our tourist visa but, of course, got stamped right through in Indonesia- no cost. Our bag and driver arrived without incident, and we made it to Uluwatu in about 20 minutes with no traffic at that time of night.

Our villa is exceptional.  It’s exactly what we need (minimalist, but clean) and beautiful outside with a pool and neat Bali landscaping.  In true OCD fashion, I unpacked at 2 am so we woke up as official residents of D’Padang.

D'Padang: We live here

D'Padang: We live here

We managed to sleep until about 9, at which point I felt Jay flinch and squeeze me.  “Don’t move,” he said. My mind raced to a million possibilities, but my gaze quickly fell on a large spider in the upper corner of our room.  About the size of a chocolate chip cookie (4 inch diameter, if you prefer the scientific reference), this friend was no joke.  Our ceilings are tall and I quickly backed away to the door and told Jay to grab a shoe.  He eyed it curiously, and swears to me it was not a spider, but a special mutant bug with only 6 legs.  I opened the door to our villa and flagged down one of the workers.  He came flying in with two spray cans and handled the beast.  Good morning from Bali!

When we were last in Bali we only had 10 days, and we made a list of all the things we wanted to do when we returned- so we hit the ground running and decided to walk to the Uluwatu Sea Temple.  On our way we, of course, needed breakfast and ended up with amazing fresh juice, free coconuts (why wouldn’t you get free coconuts with your meal?), and amazing organic breakfast burritos and avocado toast.  It was enough to keep us full all day (literally, all day, since we slept through dinner).

Outside Corner, uluwatu

Outside Corner, uluwatu

On our 2 mile walk to the temple we also stumbled upon Single Fin Beach, and found some surf that Jay will definitely be taking advantage of.  To get down there, it’s almost like the jumbled market in Aladdin, with restaurants and tiny shops cascading down a cliff, nearly on top of each other.  As you reach the bottom you find a tiny slit of beach between two massive cliffs and paddle out from there.  In the other direction, we found a tiny private beach with a massive shipwreck on the shore.  People lay among the ruins, and a baby played naked- completely unphased.  It reminded me that the most devastating times of our lives, that feel like they’re in ruins forever, can one day heal over and become places of beauty and peace.

Single fin, secret beach

Single fin, secret beach

We finally made it to the Uluwatu Sea Temple, where they had us don silk scarves and sashes out of respect.  The silk was not the most comfortable in the 80 degree heat, but the views were beautiful.  Of course there was a cost, and the tiny sea temple on the distant cliff made Jay and I laugh at falling for the tourist trap.  But the monkeys eating potato chips and stalking unassuming, Chanel wearing tourists made us laugh.

monkey brunch at uluwatu sea temple

monkey brunch at uluwatu sea temple

We concluded the day with our $6 hour massages, assuming we’d make it out to dinner after a shower. We woke up 12 hours later, this morning.