Lovina

On Wednesday morning, I crossed the whole Bali island from Canggu on its south coast to Lovina on its north coast. It was a 2.5 hour taxi drive through what I would call a representation of the Balinese terrain.
In Lovina, I stayed at a nice hotel with bungalow style apartments and a big pool 🏊 Of course, I had to jump right into the pool after my arrival 😎
In the afternoon, I walked to the dolphin statue and was chased down by sellers for all sorts of things (Sarongs, bracelets, dolphin tours, snorkelling tours, fishing tours, diving tours … you name it!). Despite my anxiety about diving for the first time again after 5 years, I booked a tour for my third day in Lovina. I also booked a dolphin tour 🐬 for the next day. After all, this was the reason why I came to Lovina 😅 The pickup was supposed to be at 6 am. So, I went early to bed in the evening and set my alarm for 5.45 am ⏰

When the captain came knocking at my door the next morning, I woke up in panic and afraid that I have overslept. But it was only 5.40 am - 5 min. before my alarm would go off. Well, I was certainly awake after this little shocker 😅
Nevertheless, the dolphin tour was really good. I got to see another sunrise 🌄 but this time from the sea 🌊 I see an above average number of sunrises these days - already 2 within not even 1 week 😎
After a while of searching we also found dolphins 🐬 Lots of dolphins! It was not easy, but as you can see I was able to capture some of them on my photos. 📸 on our way back we briefly stopped at a popular snorkelling spot. The water was so clear that we could see the 5 meter deep coral 🪸 even from the boat 🚤. Our captain threw some cracker crumbs into the water and many little striped fish 🐠 showed up. Obviously, this was his upsell opportunity but since I was going on a dive tour (which included snorkelling) on the next day, I was not compelled to book the captains snorkelling tour.
When we returned from the dolphin tour, it was only 8 am and I had plenty of time to go to breakfast 🍳
Initially, I thought I would rent a scooter 🛵 that day and explore the area of Lovina but then I still had this diving tour on the next one. I won’t lie. I was pretty nervous about diving so soon. 😬 So, I spent almost the whole day at the pool instead - recapping the Open Water Scuba Diving knowledge by watching YouTube videos to be as prepared as possible. After watching the first videos, I realized how little I still knew from my certification courses back in the days and that made me even more nervous 🫣😅 but I kept watching and I got a better feeling about it again. 👍 It is really a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge for scuba diving. So, I guess the best way to keep it, is to dive regularly. That day I made a promise to myself to go diving again when I am in Mexico 🇲🇽 And I also thought about learning free diving. It seems so much less involved and you can do it almost anywhere (and without equipment). 😎
In the late afternoon, I walked around in the neighbourhood of my hotel and watched the sunset. 🌅 Other than that, I went to bed early that day and I refrained from drinking alcohol 🍺 in the evening to give my body the best chance to be as relaxed as possible for the dives 🤿 on the next day.

My next post will be dedicated to the dive tour since there are many incredible photos and videos of it. Stay tuned!Read more