Today I get to see two of my close friends from back home in San Diego, Will and Erin! They’re doing a 3 week late honeymoon trip through Thailand, Bali, and Japan. Knowing we would both be in Asia during the same time, I coordinated and planned my time in Bali to overlap theirs. As much as I love solo travel’s freedom and making new friends, it will be good to see friendly familiar faces for the first time in a while.
The early alarm came at 5:55AM for a scheduled shuttle pick up at 6:00AM. I slept for about 45 minutes in the shuttle until we arrived at Will and Erin’s fancy honeymoon Ritz Carlton hotel in Nusa Dua. My heart was immediately full getting to hug them and share space with them again. We did some major catching up and shared travel experiences until we arrived at Planet Bali Dive. We tried on gear and prepared our equipment, then took a shuttle to the shore, boarded a boat, and made way towards Nusa Peneda. It was about a 45 minute cruise through some massive waves to get to our first site.
The first dive was at Manta Point, and as the name suggests, divers and snorkelers alike crowd here to catch a glimpse of manta rays. There was a considerable crowd of crews at this site, and immediately upon our descent it was obvious why. There were multiple massive manta rays gliding through the water throughout the entire site. Not only were we able to share an intimate space with these manta rays, but we also saw a nurse shark about 1.5m long. The dive’s duration was 42min, max depth 19.9m, and avg. depth 11.1m. If you understand diving physics, you know as pressure exerted on an object decreases, the volume of the object increases. As we made our ascent and did our safety stop, I felt some uneasiness in my stomach. Thus began my first personal battle against the Bali belly beast. We reached the surface, and I could feel the gas inside of me expanding as we made final ascent. Uh-oh. I wish I could say the battle ended well, but the Bali belly bested me in my rented wetsuit. Thankfully saltwater made for easy cleaning.
We rode about 30min to our next dive site, Crystal Bay. This dive had a duration of 33min, max depth 19.9m, and avg. depth of 12.7m. Wildlife observed includes turtles, tiny seahorses, moray eels, lionfish, and a spiny lobster. Also observed was the significantly colder water temperatures. The currents sent streams of frigid water, and I held my arms close to my chest in attempt to remain warm. About halfway through the dive, I felt a pain in my hips and back as kicking became more difficult. My legs were shivering incessantly. As I got colder, I could feel my breathing intensify as I consumed air at an increased rate. Eventually we made it to our safety stop on the ascent, and I had difficulty using my hands to hang onto the buoy line. Looking closely at my hands, the outer layer of skin was flaking off. “I must be borderline hypothermic,” I thought to myself. After surfacing, when I removed my regulator my teeth began chattering uncontrollably. I quickly got onto the boat, took off my wetsuit, wrapped myself in a towel, and sat in the sun while my whole body shook for about 10-15 minutes. I had never experienced having my core temperature be that cold in my entire life. Will and our guide were fine, so I deducted I must be dehydrated and fatigued from the night before, both of which can contribute to hypothermia.
The rest of our boat ate their lunches, while I continued warming up. We then made our way to the third and final dive site, SD Point. With some hesitation, I elected to join after feeling the water’s warmer temperature. This dive’s duration was 40min, max depth 20.8m, and avg. depth of 12.2m. Wildlife observed includes turtles, scorpionfish, pufferfish, and other fish common to the area (butterfly, angelfish, surgeonfish, etc.). Towards the end of this dive, again I felt my legs stiffen and my hips and back aching. At this point, I was nearly low on air so we began our ascent. After the safety stop, we surfaced, I boarded the boat, took off my gear, and again had to sit in the sun while my body shivered for warmth. At this point, I knew the water’s temperature wasn’t the issue. My body was in rough shape from my activities the day before. Lessons learned, partying and diving don’t mix.
We cruised back to Bali, and were shuttled back to each of our hotels. I was exhausted and slept the entire ride. By time I was dropped off at my hotel, I felt fatigued and a massive headache coming on, and I went straight to sleep. Sadly I had to miss dinner plans with Will and Erin because I was out of commission, but I really enjoyed spending the day with them. Despite the Bali Belly and hypothermia, the mantas, sharks, and other wildlife was well worth it. Moving forward, I will be taking it easy and preparing my body better for diving. Lessons were learned indubitably.