Advertisement
Published: August 25th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Last entry of the summer school holidays...and this time, finally with Tiffany and Leslie. I could have written an additional entry, but let say that during the last 10 days...I have spend all my time with Leslie and Tiffany, above and below water...and my time on internet was primarily for business issues....somebody still have to work!
I picked up Leslie and Tiffany in Denpasar airport. They had just spent a full month in Vietnam. Well, they were all white...didn't know there was no sun in Vietnam even during the rainy season...and they spent the first three days sleeping all over the place...go figure out! We spent the first night in Kuta before coming back to Denpasar for our short flight to Lombok.
I could have put few lines on an entry about Kuta...but it just doesn't worth it. Yes, Bali is rigged by traffic jams, specially here...took us more than an hour for the few kilometers back to the airport. Kuta could be Bangkok, except we don't have the beach in Bangkok. The place is just a huge shopping center...with too many people forgetting that not wearing a T-shirt, is great on the beach, not in the
streets! Good new for Leslie....there is shopping, because I have no idea how he managed to leave his swimsuit beside him in Vietnam. We also spent a great first evening sharing a Japanese dinner of sushi. The beach in Kuta is pretty average...and yes, it is way more stunning for the sunset, even surrounded by few thousand tourists.
So next stop, Lombok and the Gilis. The deal was...diving everyday out of Gili Trawangan. We based ourselfes in Senggigi with also few nights in Gili Trawangan. I last came to the Gilis some seven years ago and four years ago with Leslie. The place hasn't changed much, which is a somehow good news in the region. The Gilis have actually evolved, from a backpacker haven, to a glampacker haven. Direct effect, sleeping in Trawangan is now way more expensive, for somehow a pretty crowded place.
So for me, it's way cheaper to stay on Lombok, in Senggigi, 30 minutes by car and a shot crossing of 30 minutes by boat direct to Dream Divers. Imagine that I can land a huge suite at the Sheraton Senggigi...for less than a standard bungalow on the Gilis. So
we slept two nights in Trawangan, and 6 in Senggigi.
Two big events on this week....the first one...Leslie is now 14! Big boy...big birthday! Imagine, Leslie is just 4 years from University...time is flying! Fast! For Tiffany, it's time to do her Advanced Junior Open Water this week. Leslie did his Junior Open Water here just 4 years ago...this week, he is doing his 80th dive. And this week, Tiffany is learning more...and can now go down officially to 21 meters, which will allow us to dive way more sites three of us together.
We spent our week with Dream Divers. They have had a change of management few months ago, but are still a great bunch of divers. Diving is serious business in the Gilis...and Dream Divers is a big center...but it doesn't stop them to be just what I like...passionate divers who love what they do! Tiffany is now advanced...we all did one dive each day, keeping our days pretty relax.
The diving is below average in the Gilis. I knew about it...but it is the only area in the region which is not under the rainy season for
the moment, and still be an easy place to stay and enjoy fun times with teenagers. We dive a little, but eat a lot...and a lot of icecream too!
The diving...good visibility and fun drift with many turtles and mantis....this is a short way to explain a week of diving in the Gilis. It is also the windy season, so not all sites are easily accessible. We dive with fun people, trying to avoid as much as we could divers who blow a tank in less than 40 minutes...trust me, there are a lot of them around!
So the pictures are those of 7 dives. This is not Komodo for sure, but we had an amazing time. Next diving for the kids should be only during the Christmas Holiday. Today is back to school...and for me, it's back on the road in just over 3 weeks...with few more surprises till the end of the year!
It's good to be back home after 7 weeks on the road....happy to be back to my kitchen too...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0709s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Turtles
My favorite.