To dive or not to dive, that is the question

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As I pulled up the zipper of my wetsuit I began to get a claustrophobic feeling. If just putting on a wetsuit could do that to me how would it be to have a weight belt, tank and a mask on my face feel once I got into the water? Jennifer and I were in the process of learning how to dive in the Trawangan Dive pool when I suddenly realized that this was just not for me. I'm more than content to swim on the surface of the water and see the beautiful fish down below me. Why go through all of this hassle just to get a little closer to those fish?
So while Jennifer finished up her diving instruction, Jerri and I walked down to the beach and snorkeled from the beach. The current is so strong around these islands that you only have to get in the water and you drift along, enjoying the underwater scene as you float by. After just a few minutes in the water, Jerri pointed out to me a large sea turtle! It was really exciting to see. Its amazing how well the pattern on their back camoflauges them in amongst the coral. We saw many other types of fish and just when I was consumed by seeing a large school of angelfish Jerri motioned to me that we were about to get hit by the pontoons of a moored boat that was anchored offshore. Oops!

We all climbed aboard the dive boat for the 11:30 dive and while everyone else went scuba diving, I was able to just swim off of the boat and drift whereever the current took me. The underwater scenery was spectacular and the snorkeling effortless. The coral reefs underneath me were just amazing to watch while the fish swam around, through and interacted with them.

Jennifer and Jerri saw a large sea turtle while they were diving. Afterwards we went and had lunch at the Beach House and sat through a rain storm. We watched the storm as it overtook the island of Lombok just across the way. It was really fun and helped cool things down by 10 degrees.

After a little shopping, we rode our bikes back to our hotel to rest and relax before getting dressed for the evening and riding our bikes back into town. Its quite interesting riding in the dark with a small light on the front of your bike while the full moon shines down on us.
We might just have to crash the wedding reception....I don't think they'd mind after we've met quite a few from the wedding party. Otherwise there's plenty of other little places to explore as well. Another great day of being in paradise.

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