Amed - Bali

Amed is another great dive location in Bali. Currently, there's a bit of runoff from the mountains, which greatly compromised the visibility.

The local fishing boats, which we used for diving. They are very very narrow.

These kids couldn't get enough of the spotlight. I introduced them to the wonders of sunscreen, which they used as face paint.

Women do the heavy lifting in this land - gotta have a hard cabeza and strong neck.
The Bali Lunar New Year Holiday, known as Nyepi is celebrated by creating massive papier-mâché demons, called ogoh-ogoh and parading them through the streets with a load of noise. After everyone shows off their monster they bash them to pieces and light them on fire, alcohol is obviously involved. The day after all the madness is Nyepi, and is a day of silence - no cars on the streets, no lights in the houses, you can't even make yourself a cup of hot chocolate (only the locals are subject to these rules). They even pick out members of the community to patrol the area to ensure the people are abiding by the rules. If you've got a light on in your house and your caught your sure to have rock or two added to your living room, and a pane of glass to replace.

Here are the Beasts


These kids were proud of their creation
The madness of the parade - each group comes running into the center of the town with their big doll and goes ape-shit.



The ogoh-ogohs play with fire

A bunch of kids gave me one of the heads, and told me to take it home to America and spread the word to the people about this great celebration.

En route to Ubud stopped at an old water palace.

Driving in Bali

USAT Liberty Shipwreck - Tulamben, Bali

Here's what Lonely Planet says about the Liberty : In January 1942 the US Navy cargo ship USAT Liberty was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine near Lombok. Taken in tow, it was beached at Tulamben so that its cargo of rubber and railway parts could be saved. The Japanese invasion prevented this and the ship sat on the beach until the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung broke it in two and left it just off the shoreline.


The ship is over 100m long and for once I decided to rent an underwater camera for the adventure - I don't have the best underwater photo skills, but here are the highlight pics from the 2 of the 3 dives I did.

Map of the Wreck
Before the dive in my neoprene
Nudibranch aka sea slug
Stern of the ship

I think its a gun
Me


Big ol clam
Two very colorful slugs
A whole garden of eels
Big bad grouper
Clown fish and their anemone home


A 4ft barracuda with some very sharp teeth
A load of sweetlips (type of fish)

Lovina Loca

The northern coastal town of Lovina is very touristy, but its nice for a day.


Me enjoying the basics beer and meat.

The outside of our bungalow - its sad that they put so much effort into the exterior of things and barely paint the walls inside.
Sam's new pet. Swimming with the dolphins is the reason to stay in Lovina. If you stay at the Melka Hotel you can enjoy their private zoo and swim with their dolphins for only $15.

Miniature deer of sorts.
I have no idea what this furry creatures are.

Me and the boa
Sam on a horse

Me slowly training the animal to walk on land
Blanco in prison
Blanco is a fairly friendly orangutan and very very strong. On one occasion, he tried to steal my pool towel - luckily I'm stronger and I showed him who was boss, after the bout he spit banana particles at me in frustration.

The trainer and his sun bear who is strumming a cardboard guitar for a treat.


A large statue of Ganesha in the hotel parking lot.

Pulau Menjangan

Sam and I rented a rig and drove the entire coastline of the island. The first stop on the journey was Pulau Menjangan. This western site boasts some of the best diving in Bali during the dry season, but the visibility was greatly diminished when I was there due to massive runoff from Java.

Here's a couple of photos from the dive trip.