My OperaFinally back into the blue
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 4:03:39 PM
I haven't been diving since mid June, and was getting some serious abstinences from the very long surface interval. That being said, beginning of July was too busy, diving in Norway will have to wait until I move back (I guess), August was entirely dedicated to bike riding, and Bangkok is not very appealing as a dive site... Unless we're talking about diving into glasses of GT's and bottles of beer that is 
.
Bali might not be among the first sites mentioned in dive magazines, competing with Maldives, Palau, Belize, PNG, Sipadan, Philippines, Red Sea and numerous Caribbean islands is rather hard - but Bali is actually a very good place to go diving.
Since this was to be an extended weekend with diving, the ease of getting there from Malaysia, the number of places to stay and the possibility to see the Mola Mola (Sunfish) was really the deciding factor of going there rather than to some more inaccessible areas. However, I ended up in the small island Lembongan 30 minutes boat ride east of Bali, rather than Bali itself.
A factor to be considered when diving in and around Bali is that currents and surge can be quite challenging. Always dive with a well renowned operator. I used World Diving after numerous recommendations and reading Internet - and Sue and her team run a very professional operations. They actually required experience of more than 80 dives for some of the sites.
This trip was not only about diving, and two dives a day had to do. First off was Crystal Bay, where the Mola Molas most often are encountered. However, the water temperature was unusually high for the season, and the Mola Molas hadn't been spotted in quite some time. I struck out of luck, but had a nice first dive of the day, trying some buoyancy skills with my camera in currents. Dive two was a dive in some of the best corals I've seen. Spotted a couple of nudibranchs, but shooting this creatures with a wide angle lens is anything but easy.
Day two started with a rough boat ride to Manta Point. I've been to quite a few "creature name" points where no "creature name" can be found. Lobster Wall in Mabul doesn't have a single lobster. Eel Garden in Mabul hardly had any eels, hammerhead point in Maldives had a single visitor when I was there
Sue assured me Manta sightings were regular at Manta Point, but no guarantee - and the visibility would probably not be good because of several days with much surge. Luckily surge was not so bad that we couldn't get into the water, and after only five minutes I could see the first majestic Manta Ray hovering above the cleaning station. It turned out to be a great dive, spotting 5-8 Mantas, one of them at least four meters wide swimming only a couple of meters away. It was amazing to see the gracious moves and being so close to these marvelous creatures.
Dive two was again in Crystal Bay, spotting some awesome nudibranchs, and I guess the best part - I will have to come back to look for the Mola Molas when the water finally turns colder
.Bali might not be among the first sites mentioned in dive magazines, competing with Maldives, Palau, Belize, PNG, Sipadan, Philippines, Red Sea and numerous Caribbean islands is rather hard - but Bali is actually a very good place to go diving.
Since this was to be an extended weekend with diving, the ease of getting there from Malaysia, the number of places to stay and the possibility to see the Mola Mola (Sunfish) was really the deciding factor of going there rather than to some more inaccessible areas. However, I ended up in the small island Lembongan 30 minutes boat ride east of Bali, rather than Bali itself.A factor to be considered when diving in and around Bali is that currents and surge can be quite challenging. Always dive with a well renowned operator. I used World Diving after numerous recommendations and reading Internet - and Sue and her team run a very professional operations. They actually required experience of more than 80 dives for some of the sites.
This trip was not only about diving, and two dives a day had to do. First off was Crystal Bay, where the Mola Molas most often are encountered. However, the water temperature was unusually high for the season, and the Mola Molas hadn't been spotted in quite some time. I struck out of luck, but had a nice first dive of the day, trying some buoyancy skills with my camera in currents. Dive two was a dive in some of the best corals I've seen. Spotted a couple of nudibranchs, but shooting this creatures with a wide angle lens is anything but easy.
Day two started with a rough boat ride to Manta Point. I've been to quite a few "creature name" points where no "creature name" can be found. Lobster Wall in Mabul doesn't have a single lobster. Eel Garden in Mabul hardly had any eels, hammerhead point in Maldives had a single visitor when I was there Sue assured me Manta sightings were regular at Manta Point, but no guarantee - and the visibility would probably not be good because of several days with much surge. Luckily surge was not so bad that we couldn't get into the water, and after only five minutes I could see the first majestic Manta Ray hovering above the cleaning station. It turned out to be a great dive, spotting 5-8 Mantas, one of them at least four meters wide swimming only a couple of meters away. It was amazing to see the gracious moves and being so close to these marvelous creatures.
Dive two was again in Crystal Bay, spotting some awesome nudibranchs, and I guess the best part - I will have to come back to look for the Mola Molas when the water finally turns colder
