• ScubaStevens
  • Sage Stevens
  • ScubaStevens
  • Sage Stevens

SEA Sabbatical

6 weeks in Southeast Asia for our work sabbatical Read more
  • Trip start
    November 22, 2024

    Pre-travel planning

    November 14, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    While we wish we could travel light, it's not happening. We sorted and weighed our dive bags and gear and our necessities are 20kg each. I suspect we will end up traveling with a total of 60 kg, accounting for clothes, camera gear, carryons, etc.Read more

  • Headed to Bali

    November 25, 2024 in Hong Kong ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Checked out of the hotel at 5 am and navigated check-in and a shuttle bus to our flight to Bali. Starbucks was the only place open at 6 am. No plastic cups, lids, or straws🌎

  • Bali

    November 25, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    The hardest thing about traveling has been the lack of caffeine to try and counteract jetlag. I've had only 2 coffees since Friday morning.

  • Day 1-3

    November 25, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Finally made it to the hotel! Only 30+ hours of travel later. My highlights of the first few days were the privilege of getting to fly Polaris and the brief stop at a coffee plantation. The plantation even had a irl lowak which made me jump.Read more

  • First day of diving

    November 27, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We did our first three dives of the trip out of Pemuteran. They were three dives and the water is 30c/86f. Really too warm for diving when the air temp is 32/90. They served us a typical Indonesian lunch on the beach between our second and third dive, and it was nasi goreng and mei goreng, and they always offer hot tea and hot Balinese coffee. It rained at the end of the third dive, and the temp is a bit more comfortable than yesterday.Read more

  • Bali Hinduism

    November 29, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    The island of Bali is majority Hindu, and we have seen a lot of Bali Hindu religious expressions. Most homes and businesses have their own temples and light incense in palm baskets filled with flowers and sometimes candy. The statues are wrapped in cloth to keep the spirit within. The umbrella symbolizes protectionRead more

  • Muck diving

    November 30, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    The dive company drove us to a muck site, Puri Jati, about 45 minutes East of Pemuteran. We did two really long dives, 110 min and 80 minutes. We saw all kinds of macro critters and will try and post some video..we saw mimic octopus, cuttlefish, nudibranch, eel, flounder, shrimp (several kind), teddy bear crab....
    We were surrounded by rice fields.and temples.
    Read more

  • Welcome to Ubud

    December 2, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We took a ride over the mountains and thru the middle of Bali, with a stop for coffee and a view of some twin lakes. We are now in Ubud, which is a tourist destination and very different from Pemuteran in terms of business and western influence. The best news is our hotel has the perfect drying space for all our wet dive gear. Plus a trundle bed!Read more

  • Ubud Monkey Forest

    December 2, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌩️ 30 °C

    We have arrived in Ubud! We are letting our gear dry in the hotel (it’s a little musty). We then grabbed lunch before we headed to the monkey forest. There, we saw a temple, a few monkeys, and I faced my fear of caves (it was actually a tunnel so doesn’t really count). Peep the baby monkey too!Read more

  • A Day of Sightseeing in Ubud

    December 3, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    HOT TO GO! Sun is out.and it is warm 🥵.

    We visited the Royal Palace, walked through the side streets, stopped for cold drinks and air con when we could find it, and then wandered up to some farmland just on the edge of town. One of the most interesting things we did was purchase a fresh coconut from a farmer, Nyoman, "the coconut man". He told us how he prepares his fielda by composting the older rice stalks, and uses burnt coconut husk ash as fertilizer. He uses the coconut shells as fuel instead of wood.He grows rice, and also has coconuts, vanilla beans, pineapple, lemongrass, and citronella. I stole a photo of him off Instagram and you can see a video here https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6SZCeopHC9/?igs…Read more

  • Bali to Jakarta

    December 3, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 27 °C

    The hardest part of today was saying goodbye to Sage. She is staying on in Ubud for a few more days before flying home to go back to work 🥺. We are so lucky to be able to travel and dive as a family ❤️❤️❤️❤️.

    We had a short flight from Denpasar DPS to Jakarta CGK on Garuda Air. Spacious Airbus 330-900.
    Read more

  • Layover in Jakarta

    December 3, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    2 hrs in the CGK Jakarta airport and then we board our flight to Sorong SOQ. They have these amazing loungers in the "rest area". My new favorite airport.

  • Arrival in Sorong

    December 4, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Landed after the over night flight. We were waiting in line to check into the hotel behind an Australian who had the 2018 skipping championship China backpack!

  • A visit to the mall

    December 4, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 30 °C

    We are spending today and tonight at a hotel in Sorong and get on the dive boat tomorrow. Sorong is a port city and quite industrial. Most of the tourist top 10 recommendations have just 1 recommendation, which is to go diving in Raja Ampat 😆. So we went to the SAGA mall instead for lunch with air con, and we bought a few supplies. (I did not buy the corn candy or lickables, but always fun to see what the rest of the world is snacking on)Read more