Nusa Penida

February 8th - Dewi picked me up from my hotel and off we went. The weather was pretty rainy and cloudy from last night's storms.

Then we went to the diveshop office and did a switch-a-roo. Dewi and Putu were going to Tulamben and I joined a man named Jim to go to Nusa Penida. Jim works at the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) and is from Texas. He's been to Bali about 10 times and was lent by the FAA to the UN and has lived in Thailand, Jakarta, and Burma. He's about 60 years old and currently manages all the test pilots in the US.

We took a 1 hour boat ride to Nusa Penida. It was incredibly bumpy due to the huge swells. On our way we stopped at Lembongan Island to pick up Wayan, my dive instructor for the day. The diveshop has an outpost there and we picked up equipment from there. Wayan is a common name because it means the 1st. Balinese usually are named 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on. My hotel shuttle driver in Ubud was #3. After we picked up Wayan, we finally arrived at Nusa Penida which was about another 20 minutes. We did 2 dives and I finished my certification. I am now certified for the open water! Of course there are more advanced certifications and specialties, but this will do for right now. The testing, at times, stressed me out.

We saw trumpet fish, lion fish, puffer fish, lobsters, cleaner shrimp, and so many different types of coral and sponges. There were so many schools of fish. At one point, I maintained neutral buoyancy in an upright position and was swarmed by fish. Amazing!

For lunch, they brought nasi goreng and coca cola. They dropped me off at the hotel where I showered and headed out to explore Kuta. I had already seen much of Kuta as we have to do a loop and only take one way streets to get to my hotel.

I ventured to see Bali's version of Ground Zero where the bombings in 2002 took place. There is a fountain and the names of the victims are on a wall, sorted by nationality. The security at the hotels are pretty high and noticed it even more so at checkpoints when we dropped off other divers. The bombings are fresh in the memories of the Balinese as their economy, heavily dependent on tourism, has only returned to normal recently, or so I have been told.

Then I headed to Poppies Restaurant. Recommended highly by my guidebook and the same location of the hotel I originally wanted to book, but was sold out. This is also where Katie stayed when she was in Bali.

I had Soto Ayam, an Indonesian chicken porridge dish with glass noodles. It was quite delicious, especially with the sambal pepper sauce. I must have been hungry because I downed it prior to taking a picture! So unlike me!

I then ventured back to my hotel as I have an early start again for scuba. We are heading to Padang Bai. This time there will be no skills testing, just a leisurely dive.