My Bali Trip: Scuba Diving!

We did 4 dives near Nusa Lembongan over the course of 2 days. The last diving I had done was in Thailand 2 years before, so needless to say, I was a little rusty. And by rusty, I mean terrified. The first day we went out, it was pouring rain, the waves were crashing, and I spent the entire 45 minute boat ride to the dive spot clutching the edge of the boat like my life depended on it. If I didn't think my life was nearly over on the rocky ride there, I definitely thought it was when we arrived. We anchored the boat in the thrashing waves right next to huge rocky cliffs that, in the dark and stormy weather, jutted out like they were death itself. To make things even better, the location we were diving at that morning was called ‘Manta Point,’ for the obvious reason that there are often Manta Ray swimming beneath the surface. Now, this may sound exciting to most divers, but to me, it sounded like I was about to dive 30 meters under water with a massive sea creature that is big enough to eat me. I don’t care if it’s a vegetarian. If it lives in the sea and is bigger than the size of Nemo, it’s a threat in my book. I so wish I could be one of those divers who’s main goal in their diving escapades is to see as many terrifying creatures as possible, but really my main goal in diving is to stay as far away from any sign of danger as possible. I put on a pretty good show... "You saw a shark on your last dive!?! COOL! I'm SOOOO jealous! Oh, to see a shark someday..." but let's be honest, coming face to face with a shark is my most greatest of fears. After the fact it’s all cool and exciting, but when I’m under the water, am desperately trying to control my buoyancy while flailing my arms around ungracefully, and, oh ya, can’t BREATHE without a tank, I’ll stick with the clown fish and colorful coral, thank you.

However, my fear eased slightly as we went below the surface. For some reason, I’m less terrified when I’m part of the underwater environment than when I’m hovering between my world and theirs. When half of my body is above water, and the other half is dangling below, I can’t help but feel like I am prime shark bait.

Manta Point lived up to its’ name, and we saw a Manta. No, the picture of the Manta Ray here was NOT taken by me (I wish!), but hopefully it will give you an idea of what it’s like to swim with a Manta. They’re really beautiful. Like a giant bird flying through the water.

The other highlight of our 4 dives was seeing the Mola Mola. The Mola Mola is the famous Balinese sunfish. Apparently, if you see the Mola Mola you are VERY lucky. This sunfish is HUGE. The size of a shark! And very oddly shaped, as you can see by the picture. (Again, not mine, just an example!) Unfortunately, I was too panicked to calm down and really take it all in. This is something I’m hoping to work on.

My favorite part was all the beautiful coral and the crazily colored fish. I can’t believe how every fish is a different color, shape, size, and design. I know that people are all different, but for the most part, we all have the same general layout. Head, ears, eyes, mouth, hair – it’s all in the same place. But not with fish! There are some WILD looking fish out there! I can’t help but feel like God put all of his creativity energies into life under the sea.