Dragons, Earthquakes & Missing Divers

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The journey from Queensland to Indonesia wasn't the most obvious route. Jetstar decided to cancel my original flight and reschedule so that I would arrive at the layover destination 2 hours AFTER my connecting flight would have already left! As a result I now found my self connecting via Melbourne meaning I first had to fly 2 hours in the wrong direction. I finally arrived in Denpasar on the island of Bali at 1.30am. At least that's what I thought. I jumped in a taxi only to be told by the taxi driver that although the airport is called Denpasar it is in fact much closer to Kuta, a popular beach resort.

Deciding to avoid DPS, I went on the search for a room for the night in Kuta. Making my way through the narrow streets I eventually found a bed and decided to head to another island at dawn.

The Lonely Planet for Indonesia is not particularly accurate. I had chosen to head for a small fishing island about 2 hours off the coast of Bali called Nusa Lembongan. To get there I had to take a boat from Sanur. The boat left Sanur at 8.00 or 10.30am depending whether I believed page 306 or 308 of the LP. As suspected I sat on a beach wall for 2 and half hours. Individuals with fishing rods and carrier bags full of fish were already making their way back to their mopeds presumably to go and sell their morning's work to local restaurants.

The boat looked like it was made out of empty coconut shells and drift wood and I wondered whether it would be able to cope with the renowned swell that rips through the Indonesia islands. I stepped off the boat with my large rucksack on my back and my daysack on my chest and negotiated the surf. I was soaked over my waistline just managing to save my camera.

"Would you like a motor bike?" Declining the offer, I now had company for the entire 1 mile walk across the sand up to the hill on the far side to the hotel I had booked. The people of Nusa Lembongan cultivate seaweed which they dry out on the shores and export mainly to Japan to use in everything from cosmetics to ice cream! It smells pretty awful and combined with the midday heat and two heavy bags I could have done with a lift to get to the hotel quicker but the guy now in tow was starting to annoy me with his constant questions so it became a matter of principle! "why you no take motorbike?" "you book hotel already? My uncle owns that hotel!" and so it went on.

Ware-Ware my eventual resting place is a small hotel on top of the hull overlooking the fishing bay. As the sun sets the bay is filled with incredible colours as small fishing boats make their way out to the distant reef to fish by night. By day, Lembongan is a Mecca for surfers and divers. Opting for the latter, I booked myself on a dive boat for the next 2 days. Not quite world class as I had been led to believe but still we saw a few turtles, reef sharks, moray eels and some colourful shoals of fish. The evenings were spent drinking beers in a bar called Scooby Doos with Dave-O - a Cornish guy who spoke with a cross between an Australian and Rastafarian accent! It was during one of these evenings I learnt about Manta point where manta sightings are albeit guaranteed.

The dive centre used to date wouldn't be persuaded to go due to the large swell that Lembongan was experiencing. We found another outfit that had a more powerful boat however and they agreed. The next morning we set off and I regretted the decision within about 5 minutes. We were in a 20ft boat with a 7-8ft swell and being tossed around heavily. Every so often the boat would sink into a trough and 360 degrees around the boat would be sea and no sky. I was the only one who looked concerned and I pondered whether this was because of me or that for the others ignorance was simply bliss. I decided to give it 5 more minutes before requesting the boat turn around. As it was the sea did seem to ease a little so we continued and finally arrived at the dive site after an hour of being bumped around the boat.

Seeing mantas has been a lifelong dream and it didn't disappoint. Within 2mins of jumping in the first of 6 mantas arrived. For the next hour we swam with them constantly. I swam for about 10m upside down about a foot under 1 manta occasionally tickling its tummy. It was just mind blowing. The ride back was smoother as we could ride the waves that now were flowing in the same direction as our boat.

I decided to opt for a faster boat back to bali the next day rather than the one made of drift wood in order to meet my friend Ian who was flying in from Sydney that night.

We met in Kuta and headed at 6am to Padangbai, the door to the Gili islands. The Gilis are 3 beautiful yet small islands just off the coast of Lombok. Once a budget traveller's paradise, the Gilis offer great diving and a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of cities for any traveller heading through Asia. We opted for Gili Air, the island that offers more peace and tranquility than Gili T but actually has some life as opposed to Gili Meno. It was a good place to stay for a few days but it was impossible to book tickets for the next part of our route - we wanted to see the infamous Komodo dragons. Frustrated with not being able to get a straight or consistent answer from anybody on flights or routes to the island of Flores we decided to charter a boat and head to the mainland. We headed straight to Mataram airport and found a company who had 2 spare seats for a flight in 2 days time. We found a fantastic budget place along the coast in Senggigi called windy cottages - a west facing group of huts on the beach with a great pool - to stay for the two days as we awaited our flight.

The plane had only about 20 seats so it wasn't hard to see why it had been difficult to obtain a ticket. As we came into land at Denpasar, the low point of the entire trip hit. A mother holding a small baby suddenly screamed hysterically. The plane was only 20m or so from the ground but as we landed I saw the baby's face. I got up as the plane was braking along the runway and went to see if there was anything to do. The baby's pupils were dialated and was fighting for air. Unlike a child normally in distress this one was silent albeit for the tiny gasping sounds. I stripped off it clothes, checked it's airways and lifted its legs above it's body to try and retain as much oxygen near the core organs. Meanwhile the aircraft crew - totally relaxed - fumbled with an oxygen tank. Nobody could open it. The valve was jammed shut. It was so frustrating. We rushed the baby off the plane into an ambulance which was only called when we asked the captain to do it and it was rushed away. I don't know whether the baby survived but it's face and lips were so blue I feared not. It was immediately clear that an individuals fate rests so much on where it is born.

We eventually landed at Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores. It was great to arrive as it offers a perfect base for diving some world class sites and is also based only 2 hours from the island of Rinca - the island of the Komodo dragon.

We opted to dive the first day with a new locally run dive company called Divine Diving who turned out to be pretty good. It turns out as I write this that the company we were originally going to dive with are missing 5 divers in what could be a tragedy. Dave-O had specifically recommended Reefseekers, the ones now in trouble. The only reason we chose Divine Diving was because we wanted to plough money back to the local economy rather than diving with an expat based company and had been told by someone we met on Gili Air that they were a new start up but good. Once again I am realising, with the benefit of hindsight, how seemingly innocuous decisions can potentially lead one down a very different, and possibly, tragic path. The outcome of the incident is of course now known. Given the tidal rips that we saw first hand, this group were very lucky to be found alive. I later found out that the incident had happened on the Thursday and not the Friday as originally thought. We had in fact passed the Reefseeker boat only earlier that afternoon. We arrived at our dive site called Batu Balong which is reknowned for its tidal rips and you can see huge whirlpools in the water. The dive site Reefseekers were diving at was close to Batu Balong. Our dive guides decided that the waters at Batu Balong were too risky to dive in at that time so we proceeded to another location. It was a good call as we had in fact dived 2 days previously at the same site and we hovered between two whirlpools at each end of a rocky outcrop and instructed not to swim within 10m of them. It had been a little tricky to get out of the water back onto the boat.

We dived over 2 days and saw everything from sharks to turtles to lion fish to schools of 1m humphead wrasse to another couple of mantas. We also came far too close to a 3m marbled sting ray which was just enormous. Landing myself with an annoying ear infection so I now can't hear anything in my left ear however meant I had to give the last day of diving a miss.

The Komodo dragons are the stuff of legend. It is actually easier to catch a glimpse of one on Rinca than it is on the neighbouring island of Komodo according to the locals. We set off on a small fishing boat run by two boys no older than 13. The boat chugged along at a frustratingly slow pace and 3 hours later, having passed dolphins and turtles swimming on the surface, we were at our destination.

Ian and I opted for the 2hr walk across the island in the hope we would increase our chances of seeing a komodo dragon attack a water buffalo or wild deer. In reality it was so hot that every dragon or buffalo we saw was wilting or lying down in the midday heat. I knew how they felt. We took the slow boat from Rinca back to Labuan Bajo.

That night about 1am I felt my bed shaking. I awoke from a dream wondering what the boat had hit. Then as I came to my senses I realised I wasn't on a boat. 5.1 on the Richter scale. I had been woken by an earthquake. It's a strange sensation. I've never really thought about what I'd do in the event of finding myself in the middle of an earthquake. I now know. I rolled over and went back to sleep. By the 3rd time I was woken up later during the night it just became a bit tedious. I finally got up in the morning however feeling pretty chuffed I'd just survived 3 earthquakes!! Ian told me he was close to getting up and climbing under his bed. I hadn't thought this far. I did wonder whether a tsunami might be triggered but there would be nothing I could do in that event so I figured I may as well be well rested!

Indonesia has been eventful to say the least. It is a stunningly beautiful country of which I haven't even scratched the surface. The people are so welcoming and friendly. It is one of those countries that restores your faith in the human spirit. Although once a popular traveler destination the Jakarta and Bali bombings in 2002 and 2004 along with a sad anti Muslim sentiment stirred up recently have caused many to shy away from its shores. The country deserves better and I for one shall definitely be going back.

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Photos

Ware-Ware
A view from the swimming pool over the bay of Nusa Lembongan

The Island of Gili Air
A little piece of paradise in the middle of the hustle & bustle of Asia

Dragon Food
A water Buffalo grazing in the midday heat

Rinca Island
The island where the missing divers were found only two days later

The Crew
The two boys in charge of the boat

Labuanbajo
The small fishing port on the island of Flores

Sunset from Labuanbajo
I took this photo at the time as we thought about the divers about to endure another night of darkness only miles away in the open sea