Trawangan Island, Indonesia...
This was our first full day on the beautiful island of Trawangan. We had banana pancakes and tea, which would become our regular, supplied with the room, breakfast for the next 5-day. The weather was sunny and calm and we decided to go snorkeling a little later on in the morning. I thought I might get hungry, so I bought a local brown paper bag meal for 5o-cents. It consisted of a meal-size quanity of rice, a few noodles, a chunk of spicy fish, tofu and vegetables. I ate it with my fingers and it was quite messy but delicious.
1st Snorkel trip of the day...
We started snorkeling at the far end of the beach at the beginning of the channel between Trawangan Island and Meno Island. The visibility was excellent. I would guess 60-feet or greater. We spotted a variety of marine life, including squid and a unicorn fish amidst the other more regular tropical fish. We also experienced minor stings from some type of jellyfish. Very minor, more like mosquito bites.
Then we started seeing large, slow moving sea turtles. They are truly calming and mesmerizing. They did not seem to be noticibly disturbed by us and I followed several of them, watching one as he made a long ascent to the surface for some air. We saw four of them during this snorkel and each one was quite beautiful and peaceful. It is amazing how graceful these large creatures are!
The channel between the islands has a deeper, mostly sandy bottom and the color of the water in it appears a very deep blue. We experienced a farly strong current that moved us along the channel towards the center of town.
We had lunch at a local restaurant and ended up sitting next to Patrick, who we had met on the ferry the day before. I had an excellent honey fish curry that I shared with one of the local felines. The cat hardily approved of the choice, as did I! It came with rice and a small salad and cost about $2.00 US.
2nd Snorkel trip of the day...
We rented mountain bikes and bicycled to the other side of the island to a beach near Halik Reef. We swam towards the reef and encountered a steep trench and stayed slightly inland from it. There were a series of coral heads and hundreds of fish. In areas it was quite deep but still very clear. The experience was like being in a huge aquarium.
3rd Snorkel trip of the day...
I liked the first area we had gone to better, so later on in the afternoon we returned there. We encoutered a couple more turtles and I had some awesome views of the turtles body coming up in a vertical position for air backdropped against the deep blue water. I could surface and see the turles head poke out of water for a breath and then see him descend again. It was very cool!
We also saw more unicorn fish, giant puffers, 3-moral eels inhabiting the same coral head, a lion fish and more squid.
That evening we encountered the Canadians that we had met in Fiji, saw again in Auckland, New Zealand, ran into at an Internet cafe in Ubud, Bali and now found eating at one of the local restaurants in Trawangan! We just can't seem to lose them nor them us! We had dinner with them and a few drinks and caught up on our similar experiences in Australia, even though we didn't end up meeting in that country. The food available in Trawangan, like Bali, often covers Indonesian, Chinese, Thai and western food. This evening I chose the Red Curry with Chicken and rice.
The local beer is Bintang and a pink bottle goes for about $1.40 US at a restaurant.
We had a full day, a good meal, and some beer and retired early, about 10:30 pm.
This was our first full day on the beautiful island of Trawangan. We had banana pancakes and tea, which would become our regular, supplied with the room, breakfast for the next 5-day. The weather was sunny and calm and we decided to go snorkeling a little later on in the morning. I thought I might get hungry, so I bought a local brown paper bag meal for 5o-cents. It consisted of a meal-size quanity of rice, a few noodles, a chunk of spicy fish, tofu and vegetables. I ate it with my fingers and it was quite messy but delicious.
1st Snorkel trip of the day...
We started snorkeling at the far end of the beach at the beginning of the channel between Trawangan Island and Meno Island. The visibility was excellent. I would guess 60-feet or greater. We spotted a variety of marine life, including squid and a unicorn fish amidst the other more regular tropical fish. We also experienced minor stings from some type of jellyfish. Very minor, more like mosquito bites.
Then we started seeing large, slow moving sea turtles. They are truly calming and mesmerizing. They did not seem to be noticibly disturbed by us and I followed several of them, watching one as he made a long ascent to the surface for some air. We saw four of them during this snorkel and each one was quite beautiful and peaceful. It is amazing how graceful these large creatures are!
The channel between the islands has a deeper, mostly sandy bottom and the color of the water in it appears a very deep blue. We experienced a farly strong current that moved us along the channel towards the center of town.
We had lunch at a local restaurant and ended up sitting next to Patrick, who we had met on the ferry the day before. I had an excellent honey fish curry that I shared with one of the local felines. The cat hardily approved of the choice, as did I! It came with rice and a small salad and cost about $2.00 US.
2nd Snorkel trip of the day...
We rented mountain bikes and bicycled to the other side of the island to a beach near Halik Reef. We swam towards the reef and encountered a steep trench and stayed slightly inland from it. There were a series of coral heads and hundreds of fish. In areas it was quite deep but still very clear. The experience was like being in a huge aquarium.
3rd Snorkel trip of the day...
I liked the first area we had gone to better, so later on in the afternoon we returned there. We encoutered a couple more turtles and I had some awesome views of the turtles body coming up in a vertical position for air backdropped against the deep blue water. I could surface and see the turles head poke out of water for a breath and then see him descend again. It was very cool!
We also saw more unicorn fish, giant puffers, 3-moral eels inhabiting the same coral head, a lion fish and more squid.
That evening we encountered the Canadians that we had met in Fiji, saw again in Auckland, New Zealand, ran into at an Internet cafe in Ubud, Bali and now found eating at one of the local restaurants in Trawangan! We just can't seem to lose them nor them us! We had dinner with them and a few drinks and caught up on our similar experiences in Australia, even though we didn't end up meeting in that country. The food available in Trawangan, like Bali, often covers Indonesian, Chinese, Thai and western food. This evening I chose the Red Curry with Chicken and rice.
The local beer is Bintang and a pink bottle goes for about $1.40 US at a restaurant.
We had a full day, a good meal, and some beer and retired early, about 10:30 pm.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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