I'm feeling Bali, Bali Lucky!

---

We woke up early in Ubud and were picked up by our divemaster and his driver from Aquamarine Diving who drove us to Padangbai for our day diving trip. We arrived at a charming little outdoor beach bar where we put in our lunch order and enjoyed a light breakfast while waiting for the rest of the dive group to arrive. Once the whole group was there, we hopped on the Aquamarine diving boat and rode about 10 minutes off shore to our first dive site. The dive was positioned next to a mini shipwreck which was rich with micro marine life and smalls reefs. It was such a beautiful dive, very easy and enjoyable and definitely much warmer then the dives I did in Sydney while completing my open water certification! It was very reassuring that the dives were set up and run similarly to the ones during my training though, since I am a very new beginner to the diving world! We had an amazing 40 min long dive with depths up to 18 m and then took a break on the boat for about an hour before driving the our next dive. For the second dive, I took my GoPro down, which was awesome but definitely challenged my multitasking! The whole day was incredible and we were able to see a moray eel, lobster, cuddle fish, stingrays, and so much more! After the dive we enjoyed lunch and a few beers at the beachside restaurant before our driver took us to our accommodation only one mile away from the harbour. We were greeted by Made, the manager of the Green House property, on his moped on a dirt road as far as the Aquamarine van was able to take us. Then, one by one, Made drove us to our villa which was in a quiet remote area south of Padangbai. The property was absolutely beautiful, our own little slice of heaven for two days! We swam by the pool for an hour or so and just soaked in the amazing view, and how lucky we are to be enjoying it. I mean really, this moment just made me realize just how lucky I am to be taking this trip. After sitting there in the sun, maybe shedding a tear or two of just absolute bliss, we snapped back to reality and went to the supermarket with Made to get some groceries for our stay. The whole event ended up taking a few hours, but it was nice getting to hear a little about Made's story on the ride. He has literally gone from being orphaned and homeless to owning multiple properties around Bali and being a successful business man, and he was such a sweet guy! Very helpful and accommodating, seems to be a common theme for the Balinese people we have met along the way. Vic and I got back to the house and made a great little meal of sautéed veggies and rice noodles with teriyaki sauce and drank lots of Bintangs. It was so nice to sit out on our porch and chat and just enjoy the peace and solitude of "Bali's Secret Green House". The next morning we decided to venture into town on the moped and on one of the first turns I ran square into a tree with Victoria holding onto me which sandwiched my body between her and the moped. My knee and pelvis took quite a hit and I've been limping for the last 24 hours, but I guess I learned the hard way where the break of the moped is... ugh I can laugh about it now but damn that hurt! We took the rest of the day fairly easy, drank a few beers, enjoyed the Black Sand Beach and then head back to the house to read and swim in the pool. Enjoyed another home cooked dinner and just lounged around drinking countless beers (surprise, surprise)....This is truly paradise! Bali has come to a close and by tonight we will be in the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! It will definitely be a weird adjustment at first, but we're both excited to see something completely new and different! On to the next!

---