Unda da Sea, Padang Bai Journey 2

bubbles escape from USS Liberty

Part 2 Two- Finish the Dive! 

I thought I would be more scared diving on a wreck but really it was fine. I expected it to be a big old skeleton ghost ship, graying among some ominous shadows. It was covered in plant life and fish darting and hovering around; life is harboring there. Chilled out fish, floated through port holes and door ways and fellow divers exhaled silvery bubbles in messy columns. It's a really popular site, but there was no groaning feeling of about how many people there are. Instead everyone watched out for each other and pointed to exciting things. The sun cascaded down in pillars on to the wreck-come-reef and reflected the emptiness of escaped CO2 from all these souls. 

I like diving more with each dive. It's only three years after my first dive and I am finally certified. What was even nicer was

coral and fish thriving on the wreck

seeing no

 rubbish at all. I saw a piece of bamboo, possibly a leftover gift to a shrine somewhere, but I have no problem with natural plant matter in the sea. I wonder if I should? It was a test of my metal going in to that shipwreck.

'I'm not going in there!' I thought but followed dutifully in to the cavern, still supported by big girders covered in coral and plants.

Grouper fish captured through a port hole. 

What was going to happen really? No ghosts were going to jump out, no great sea monsters were lurking beneath, and the erosion wasn't enough to be overtly dangerous. With Data on hand to guide me through I remembered I was in safe hands. As soon as he spotted a grouper fish, Data signaled for me to swim over to the creature. Snapping through a 'pot' covered port hole, forgetting for a few minutes where I was, the big fish sat there, seemingly enjoying the attention from these strange creatures. I could have stayed there far longer if the safety wasn't so important. Which it is.

After the first dive I asked Data if he still finds it as exciting as the first time. "Yeah! You always finding something new. You love it more each time." "Even on sites you go to all the time?" A nod. We're eating nasi campur out of lunch boxes, Indonesian bento if you will, passing the time on our surface break to rid our bodies of excess nitrogen. 

It was a weekend of firsts. First ever wreck dive, first pineapple pancake,Ozone cafe style Padang Bai, and tomorrow first ever white water rafting trip. To Ubud!