Tulamben

So, yesterday was working in Tulamben. Met a couple of really good contacts. Boy was it hotter than hell. I try to travel as light as I possibly can, but you want to be prepaired. Walking another 5km to a dive shop was not an option..only if I want to die of over heating! I could have gotten a ride with a motor bike, but part of me was tired from having strangers take me here and there. I can always try to email once I know the company name.

Tulamben is the wreck of the Liberty, a US Army Transport ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942 lies just off shore. During high-season, up to 100 divers descend to the wreck each day. The ship rests in 30 meters of water, is roughly 25 meters from shore and can be reached with a short swim from the beach. The highest point of the wreck tops out about 5 meters from the surface. The ship was torpedoed by the Japanese off the nearby Island of Lombok and the ship was towed to the beach at Tulamben for salvage operations. The 1963 eruption of Mt. Agung, which devestated much of the eastern side of Bali, drove the ship into the water just off shore, where it became encrusted with coral and a home to other sea life. -thanks Wikipedia. Although I must say that the coral is not as pretty as Amed.

So after walking around town for a couple hours to talk to people, I decided to check out the wreck. Not sure what I would actually see since all I had was my snorkel. I geared up and decided.....what better way to find a ship than to just follow all the scuba divers. So I hovered at the surface and followed all the bubbles. I absolutely love swimming through all the bubbles as they expand towards the surface. It's like having butterfly kisses all over your body. Sure enough I came upon the wreck. It's funny how you can enjoy the wreck just as much as possibly the divers. It's very freeing to dive down amongst the scuba divers and check out the scene for a couple seconds and then dart back up for some air. It's very rewarding to try to make it down there with your own set of lungs. Plus you don't have to wear all that gear. After visiting Amed, I would have to say that it is much more rewarding to go to Amed. You get immediate satisfaction in Amed. Steps away from the beach underwater, and you can see so much. In Tulamben you have to swim out to the wreck to see anything. There may be some other things I may have missed, but Amed is one of my favorites.

Also the women in Tulamben are very, very fu@$#ing strong! They can cary three scuba tanks and tons of gear on there heads. Amazing. I can barely carry all of my gear. Sometimes I have to make two trips to get all my gear to the boat or the beach. I couldn't help but stare, it just didn't seem humanly possible. For sure without the proper training, you could break your neck! I hear that the women are prepared from childohood. Strengthening there necks and balancing things on there heads. Makes me feel pretty wimpy.

Tomorrow I head back to Sanur. Need to get fitted for all my scuba gear. We are dropping a new reef in Sanur on Monday. It may be covered in the local paper...not totally certain, but they have asked me to be intereviewed for my efforts with the organization. hmmmmm...