June 2, 2001 - Ubud to Lovina - Bali, Indonesia
 |
| Gunung Batur - Bali, Indonesia |
I got on the bus today and headed toward Lovina. On the main bus to Lovina, I sat next to an English bloke named Dan. He was pale as a white sheet. We chatted for a while and I found out that he's another Brummie - AKA a person from Birmingham, England. We decided to travel together, at least stay in the same place in Lovina.
 |
| Dan - Bali, Indonesia |
We got along fairly well but he's a bit quiet. The bus took a bumpy road up the mountain, passing some beautiful terraced rice paddies, and dropped some people off at a look out over the Gunung Batur, a volcano crater that last erupted almost 20 years ago. The view was fairly nice but the air had a chill to it.
After getting off the bus at Lovina, we were surrounded by people offering accommodations. Finally, we rode on back of two motorcycles with our backpack and were driven to two places to see the accommodations. We finally settled at a fairly new accommodation place with nice large beds and large bathrooms for about US$2.40 each.
June 3, 2001 - Sunday - Lovina - Bali, Indonesia
 |
| Menjangan Island with Java looming in the background - Bali, Indonesia |
We got up early and went into the shuttle bus along with two Danish people and headed toward Menjangan Island on the northwestern end of Bali. It was a fairly uneventful hour and a half ride and we got there shortly before 11. I ended up paying US$15 for my snorkel trip, which is still quite a lot but that was that. We ordered our box lunch and then got into the boat for another 40-minute ride and were off into the water.
Coral gardens and rainbows of fish greeted me and fluttered all around me. The water was warm enough that I didn't need a wet suit. After about an hour, the divers got done with their tank and we got back on the boat and anchored at the island to eat our lunch. We headed to another site and they dove while I snorkeled again. I swam along this cliff face and followed them for a while. It was neat to pop the bubbles that came up from the divers below.
I didn't really see any fish that was different from the ones I've seen before though. The Great Barrier Reef was a little more impressive than here, but the snorkeling was as good, if not better than most of the other places I've been to before.
;)
;)
;)
