BALI (3) Diving in Tulamben Part One

Welcome to our bungalow in Tulamben, Bali. The rooms were brand new, with a queen sized bed and a nice porch. They provided a rack outside to dry our towels and swim suits, but they took our dive gear and rinsed it for us and hung it to dry in the dive shop. Great service! Our room came with breakfast everyday. And every night we heard a big gecko calling. Harry was ok with hearing him, as long as it sounded like he was outside.

I had to get a picture of our doorknob. Isn't this great? Yes, we did alot of diving. I did 5 dives and 2 snorkels. Harry did 16 (yep) dives. But I had some time to relax too. I did my bible study and read another book I brought along. This was Harry within 30 minutes of arriving at the dive site. It may have been sooner than 30 minutes. I don't think he unpacked or anything first. The dive guys bring your gear and tank right to the cement ledge for you. You just slip it on and walk about 6 steps, and you are in the water and a few short kicks away from the shipwreck. Yep, it was a diver's dream site. I loved it because I never had to haul my gear more than a few steps. The guy in the background got our gear ready for us every day, or several times a day in Harry's case. Harry shared a couple cigars with him, too. Nice guy.
Harry was showing me this giant clam. You get some perspective of the size next to him. All of the critters seemed bigger than the ones on Saipan to me, the fish, the clams, the coral formations. And the variety was mind boggling, sensory overload. Here is Harry in the middle of the huge fish ball that was out there every day.
Harry is swimming past some of the shipwreck. It was fun to explore the shipwreck, as there was so much to see. I never got bored going again and again. And it was fun to take some pictures down there.
Harry is at a deeper portion of the shipwreck. He liked to check out the bottom and surfaces for nudibranchs. He even taught me how to photograph the nudibranchs. I managed to get two good shots I think.

The first morning it was time for Kelli to get in on the diving. I borrowed Hozumi's dive skin, as the water was just a bit cooler than the water in Saipan. But I was comfortable for all my dives with the dive skin on.

Here I am - great visibility that day, and a perfect photo by Harry. I am checking out the rocks and coral near the shipwreck here.

This is a closeup shot of the fish ball. I got to swim right in the middle of them. They just moved over and let me in. It was awesome. Yep, they were as big as they look in this picture.
Well, I guess I'll close out this segment of the dive story with a photo of one of our dinner companions. This guy and his friend showed up for meal times every day, and were rather noisy about making sure we knew they wanted us to share our dinner. Here he is - guilty of offering theft. Hope there isn't kitty karma.