More of a Scuba than a Surfer Dude

Hello all, sorry it's been ages since my last travel update, just one of those stereotypical "having too much fun doing a whole lot of nothing" excuses. But now upon reflection I there has been much to discuss, so let's get to it!

When last we left our crew was spliting up for a bit to have some time to chill apart. When you travel with the same people day after day every minute together you see you need a bit of space, so this was ours. I flew to Bali home of the legendary surf and met up with Marlise and Evan. The first night there we had one of those "traveler moments" that I love so much. We hung out at a tattoo parlor which Evan had befriended a couple days prior. We were just relaxing out on the steps of the place with 7 or 8 Balinese guys and one of them brought out a guitar. Naturally we traded back and forth and had a three hour singalong of all our favorites. The Balinese guys liked it so much they shared around some balinese moonshine derived from rice and everyone got quite wasted! Good times with locals indeed, almost everyone in the world seems to know Summer of 69!

The next day Marlise and I took our first surfing lessons! This is something I'd always wanted to try and now I was getting my chance at this amazing beach. the board they gave me to use was MASSIVE, about 9 1/2 feet which even in long board terms is huge. It's much easier to get up on a big board so it's natural for beginners to use them. I got up on my feet often benefiting from the help of my teacher pushing me into the waves. The only problem I had was I didn't wear a "rashie" so my chest got devoured from the wax on the board and I still have the marks to prove it a week later. The next day was by myself and although I got up a few times, it was of course much more difficult on my own.

I split from Marlise and Evan to hit up the Gili Islands which I had heard so much of from my sister who had traveled there before. As is the way when you travel on your own, no sooner than I had boarded the boat to get to Gili T I had already met a dude from Brazil named Raphael and made plas to split a room when we got to the Gili T! He was a super cool guy who was doing some traveling on his own as he had just said goodbye to his girlfriend who was heading back to Brazil. I have to say that Gili Tranwangan might be my favorite destination I have ever traveled to. It's not as lush as some islands I've visited, in fact it's quite arid. But the people are incredible and the snorkeling is truly world class. Just from snorkeling we saw Trigger Fish, lion fish, turtles, baraccuda, and tuna. On top of that the corals were incredible and it was clear as far as the eye could see. I spent most of my week here. We decided to splurge a bit on our room and for 22 bucks each we stayed at Tranwangan Divers in a decked out suite. Probably the nicest place I've stayed on both trips. We had a flat screen, awesome beds, beautiful bathrooms and giant windows looking out to sea. that, plus there was a swim up bar just feet from our door...perfect!

I did a few dives here that were incredible, albeit with a very strong current. The sea life here is second to none as the government and dive shops pay local fisherman to NOT fish. The result is incredible. We saw so many turtles that they actually became kind of boring to come across! On my first dive I was paired with an extremely rude English fellow who was giving our Balinese dive master a really hard time for telling him we were only going to descend 20 meters instead of 30. This jackass was insistent on going to 30 and was swearing at our guide. It was VERY tough for me to not say something, but I kept my mouth shut and sweet sweet Karma took over. When we descended we swam up over a large mass of coral, as we were passing it one of my true fears of diving occured, not to me, but to the british idiot! It was amazing!! We inadvertently passed over a Triggerfish nest and papa was not happy. He came straight at the looney Brit and bit him twice, TWICE, on the arm. After swimming away rapidly I had a great chuckle to myself. That bastard deserved it.

The rest of the week was spent writing songs, drinking beers and wasting the days away in the beautiful water. I now have a new favorite spot (sorry Ko Tao!!!) and I'm sure I will return here again one day, hopefully with my lady as it is a very romantic spot, which Raphael and I noted on more than one occasion... I can only imagine what some people thought of a mustachioed white dude and a young latinguy having gourmet dinners on the beach. Ha!

The week passed much too quickly of course and I headed back to bali to meet up with Scott and Emily again. I've spent the last two days with them and we had a great reunion night last night (read: shlammered) And today we nursed our hangovers in Bali's beautiful waves. Surfing is difficult but quite rewarding, although I think I still prefer diving!

Emily is starting her journey back to Canada tomorrow and I think Scott and I are going to forego Thailand to stay here in Indonesia a while longer. i really love this place, and the people are incredible. Indonesia is a magical place. 2 weeks and we're home, it's gone by really fast!

GO FLAMES GO!

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