7. Tulamben shipwreck snorkelling

After a leisurely breakfast, cos thats how Stewart, Sylvia and I do things, we had a car booked with one of the drivers at Bayshore, Putu to take us to Tulamben to snorkel on a wreck, the USAT Liberty.  We also thought we might go on to Amed if we have time and the inclination as the snorkelling is meant to be good there too.  The USAT Liberty  was torpedoed off the coast of Lombok, towed to Tulamben beach where she was put ashore and unloaded.  In 1963 Mt Agung erupted and washed the ship into the ocean, where it sits about 30m offshore on its side.  More info is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAT_Liberty

It was a beautiful drive through the lush tropical forests up into the hills and down again.  There was a  great view of Mt Agung  this day, quite clear at the top which is unusual.   We arrived at Tulamben about 11.30am.  The carpark was full of divers and snorkellers and their vehicles. Women were carrying dive tanks hands free on their heads which was impressive...locals of course, not the divers themselves...:)!  The beach is a smooth black pebbly (or in some places, rocky) beach.  There was plenty of activity in the water but once again the waves pushing into the beach looked a bit daunting!  Stewart decided to take care of our things while Sylvia and I tackled the deep blue!  He had after all suffered the most yesterday at Blue Lagoon! 

Entering the water is all in the timing for me .  Wait until a set of waves finishes and then go for it.  Im lucky in that I can walk on the rocks in bare feet without too much trouble...a misspent youth not wearing shoes unless absolutely necessary...not much different now actually...:)!  So with mask on and flippers under my arm off I go.  I didn’t do too badly but a couple of times when I stopped walking to prop against a wave, rocks were washed over my feet...ouchy!  I ended up with a couple of cuts on my feet but nothing major.  I pushed off as soon as I got into deep enough water and put my flippers on.  I headed back to shore trying to work out what I could do to help Sylvia in.  She was having a tricky time with the waves washing her backwards and forwards on the rocks.  She shooed me away as there was not really anything I could do to help so I just watched helplessly until she made her way in.  And she certainly did, such determination is to be admired...awesome work Sylvia.

As we swam toward where there was a group of snorkelers we couldn’t see anything!  Oh no, Ive dragged them all this way here and put Sylvia through the trauma of trying to get in, only to have her belted against the rocks and not see a thing...eek!  Suddenly, as we kept swimming, there it was!  Amazing, the hull of a ship, right there is 3-4m of water.  Loads of fish everywhere, big trevally and wrasse and parrot fish all swimming around the ship.  There were loads of divers as well and it was funny to see their  tanks under you as you were snorkelling along.  It was also funny to see enormous yellow and black fish ahead of you and realising, luckily before yelling out to Sylvia, that they are actually someone’s fins...too embarrassment!  We snorkelled along the length of the ship until it disappeared from view in the depths.    Diving down I got my first look at how a whole eco system develops itself on the side of a ship.  Coral and plants cover almost every inch of the ship and fish can be seen huddled together within the hull.  A lot of the fish were at our level, being pushed up by the divers.  After about 45mins on the wreck, the waves and the wind were picking up so we decided to head in.  Sylvia did a great job of getting out and soon we were on shore with our gear on being photographed as the intrepid snorkelers...!

Of course beer to celebrate was the order of the day and Putu joined us.

After a few beers and watching the activities around the place, we decide not to do Amed, as we expect the entry and exit will be difficult again and I think the first one may have been enough for Sylvia, understandably.  Putu suggests he takes us to a place he knows for a traditional Balinese meal. 

We stop at a gorgeous Balinesey looking restaurant built over a trail of fish ponds.  Putu orders for us and soon we all have before us a complete fish, steamed and covered in spices and salsa covered.  Accompanying this is rice, vegetables and a very spicy chilli salad.  Putu shows us how to eat with our hands (or hand as it has to be your right hand, which is tricky for me being left handed, although Im not sure how good it would be either way!).  Regardless of the trickiness in eating, silence fell over the table as we all managed to eat all our meals despite being shocked at how big they were when they arrived.  It was completely delicious.  Washed down with more beer of course.  The fish bones were all discarded into the gold fish ponds and they were very grateful!  Some of these gold fish were very big and when Putu was hanging his arm over the edge I told him I thought he might lose it! 

We arrived back at the hotel about 4pm and went our separate ways, exhausted, satiated and happy (not just because of the beer).  As usual about 8pm I started to get peckish but just wanted something small.  I was going to have it in my room but Carol and Bill were there with Brad flitting in and out (a bit grumpy tonight which he is not normally).  It didn’t help Brad’s mood when his tuna salad came out as a tuna sandwich!  So after a quick meal I called it a day and headed back to my villa for my last night in Candidasa.


Thanks to Stewart and Sylvia for the photos for this post as my camera battery went flat..doh!