Diving at Menjangan Island

I woke up early that day. I could have slept an hour more but I was not tired anymore - I was excited 😆

An associate of the diving centre picked me up at my hotel with a scooter and drove me to the „New Tirta Diving and Snorkeling Lovina“ office 🏠 to choose and fit the equipment. Only wet suit and fins though - the rest was already prepared. 😎 Besides me, there were only 4 Indian guys who went on their first dives that day. The majority of participants for the tour went snorkelling. 🤿
Not much later we entered the minibus 🚐that took us to a small jetty close to Menjangan Island in the north west of Bali. I was really lucky with my guide Gustavo. He explained everything to me that I needed to know that day (hand signs 👌, how to put on the equipment, how to use the SPG etc.) and instilled confidence in me that I would be fine - even after 5 years of not diving. Then it was time. I sat on the brink of the boat and made my back roll entry into the water. 💦 There is always this short moment when you hit the water and your natural impulse is to hold your breath (so that you don’t inhale water). In scuba diving you have to remember that you can breathe 🫁 and act against your natural instinct. So did I, before I emerged from the water and inflated my BCD. Then I waited for Gustavo to join me in the ocean 🌊 so that we could start our little adventure for that day. What followed was simply one of the most relaxed and beautiful dives I have experienced in my life. It seems diving is like riding a bike - you don’t unlearn it. 😁 And the fish 🐠 and coral 🪸 at the depth (approx. 18m) we dived were high in quantity, quality and variety. I even saw a big turtle 🐢 and was able to touch it while it was just laying there on the ground. It is not possible to describe my experience down there in words. But looking at the pictures and the one video I uploaded here you might get a glimpse of an impression. After 45 min the first dive was over. I felt happier than ever 🥳 and discussed with Gustavo what we have seen. He showed me some of the photos he made and I showed him my GoPro videos.
Then we had lunch 🥪 on Menjangan Island before we went into the water for the second dive. Needless to say, that the second dive was also incredible. The only dives that remotely compare to the ones of this day were in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 and those were under much more difficult conditions (in the middle of the ocean and therefore strong currents). What a great day this has been. I am so glad that I went for this diving tour. It is certainly one of the highlights 🙌 of my Indonesia trip.
After the second dive we drove back to 1.5 hours away Lovina. Back in the hotel, I was tired but happy and spent the evening (re)watching the photos and videos of the dives. Gustavo and I have produced over 600 of them that day. Unfortunately, I can only share a few with you here. I definitely had a hard time to select the ones for this post. 😅😎Read more