Diving at Gili Trawangan

Day 4 — Beautiful Meno Wall

Last night the power stayed on and we slept soundly. Our lodging is about 300 m in from the main street. Heading to the main street for breakfast, someone was selling bananas by the road. Lots of children around.

We found a diner where it was hard to tell whether it was open, and looking at the menu outside, the prices were reasonable, so we went in. It had a garden and didn't look very commercial, but the breakfast of bread, coffee and a fruit cocktail was just right. And the weather was perfect. A beautiful blue sky.

This morning was another pool dive. We practised all sorts of basic techniques: buoyancy control, what to do if your mask or regulator comes off, and so on. Of course our cameras couldn't get wet, but the instructor took photos with a camera in a waterproof case. I once went snorkelling in the sea, and remember it being very awkward, with water getting in. But breathing through a regulator was easier than expected, and I didn't swallow much seawater.

The waves were calm. In the afternoon, open-water training again. Our destination by boat: Meno Wall.

On the signal, into the sea. If you can't equalise properly your ears really hurt. Today Yamabe was off form; he couldn't clear his ears without straining hard. Ooi, on the other hand, seemed to have got the knack, and could now clear his ears without pinching his nose.

We gradually went deeper. The almost weightless feeling was pleasant. On land the heavy tank weighs down on your shoulders, but underwater you don't feel its weight at all. You forget you're carrying it.

On the seabed was a huge wall. This is Meno Wall. This wall, which seems to be made of coral reef, appeared to be home to countless fish. I don't know much about fish, so I had no idea what any of them were called, but I could tell that a great many kinds lived there. This photo was taken with an underwater camera borrowed from the instructor.

This is the familiar Nemo. It really was playing hide-and-seek in a sea anemone. They seem to like particular anemones with tube-like tentacles like this. It never tried to come out.

Fish so beautiful you can't stop looking. To think that fish like the ones I've seen in tropical-fish shops were swimming so leisurely in the wide ocean.

Found a pufferfish! Was it feeling poorly, or is it just that kind of fish? It stayed still on the seabed. Its blue eyes are distinctive.

We found something like a black haze on the seabed, and getting closer, we saw it was a gathering of small fish. Seen from a distance as they move, they look just like a big fish swimming. Maybe this is how they protect themselves from predators. Apparently they're called zebrafish.

A small fish came close. A transparent fish; you could see right down to its bones.

We met a moray eel too!! Its teeth were very sharp; put your hand out and it looked like it would bite. This one had blue eyes too.

After about 40 minutes underwater, we surfaced.

After a hugely satisfying dive, as we headed back to our lodging, people in a square were preparing something. It looked like a ring for martial arts.

When we came back to the square after changing, they were doing a martial art where fighters hit each other with shields and sticks. It seemed to be a festival day. In this sport, on the referee's signal the fighters close the distance and then just keep striking each other with sticks, but we couldn't work out how the winner was decided. When the fighting heated up, the bout seemed to end straight away. I think each bout lasted under a minute. What was interesting was how the matches were decided. It was like village against village, with a team in each corner, taunting each other with an air of "You come out next!" "I'll take you on!", and the matches got decided with a "Bring it on."

It was a little cloudy, but in the distance we could see Mt. Rinjani on the main island of Lombok. Apparently you can climb it on a guided three-night trek for a little over 10,000 yen, which really tempted me, but we had to give up because of time. It's Indonesia's third-highest peak, after Puncak Jaya in Papua and Mt. Kerinci in Sumatra, about the same height as Mt. Fuji.

Bought a bracelet while out walking. Haggling is a keyword everywhere in Indonesia. Even when you haggle, the other person rarely looks unhappy. If anything, they seem to enjoy it.

The sun was setting, so to a restaurant. Today we ordered an omelette and curry rice. The curry wasn't that spicy either; it was completely European-style.

To the next day