Written on June 19, 2021
This happened on Feb, 15 2020 Amed Bali
In the morning of our first full day in Amed, I packed up a few things to go on a snorkeling trip. Jill wanted to work on graduate schoolwork and bid me a sleepy farewell. Amed is a great diving destination because many of the dive sites are accessible from the beaches around the village. That day we went to a shipwreck with a few other SCUBA divers. I was going snorkeling with a partner whom the dive shop arranged. When I arrived at the shop I was greeted with a cup of coffee and a wet suit fitting. I’d brought my trusty mask and snorkel on our trip to Boracay and I was happy they were still in my bag.
We arrived at the beach relatively early but there were already other groups getting ready there. The guides got the SCUBA divers outfitted and checked while I had a seat under a tree to watch. The water was dark and the sky was overcast. Nothing was distinguishable from any other about this patch of sea from above water. The groups moved into the shallows testing their equipment. My guide, Wayan, and I moved into the water as well. It was cold relative to the air. The air was already in the 80’s. I forgot the chill quickly when I put my face in the water. It was a gravel bottom with larger rocks scattered about. Each wave brought the flat cracking of thousands of rocks rolling over each other. My eyes quickly settled onto the fish, they were everywhere. I remembered bright blue and yellow flashing around in schools that looked like paintbrushes flicking back and forth. The darkness of the surf-smoothed volcanic stones contrasted the fish perfectly.
Swimming out from the beach the bottom fell steadily and soon a dark shape rose up. It was the wreck of the USAT Liberty and it was covered in fish of all sizes. We were all swaying to the ocean swells in time to the music of this strange silence. There was little current parallel to the beach and I let it carry me along the wreck which also ran along the beach. The ship was not large and soon I began diving down to peer under and into the shadows below. I kicked my way down for a few moments then returned to the surface to catch my breath and regain my bearings. The variety, size, and colors of the fish seemed to go on and on. The water was clear enough to see 20 or more feet. With every turn of my head brought a new sight. SCUBA groups were out around us. Fish played amongst the silver bubbles that poured upward with their exhalations. Wayan shadowed me but mainly floated at the surface nearby. My wetsuit kept me warm and buoyant so the swimming wasn’t too tiring. I think he was glad to have an easy assignment. The water was warm and I continued poking around the wreck but I kept half an eye on Wayan. After I’d looked most of the ship up and down twice I was considering going around it a third time Wayan pointed to his watch and motioned to the shore. I gave him a thumbs up and we swam back to the beach. It was time to eat and I realized that I was starving. At the beachside snack shack Wayan ordered me a bowl of the best ramen noodles on the planet which I quickly slurped up, I wonder how expensive they were. Then, I sat under a tree and paged through a tropical fish book while eating a candy bar and guzzling my water bottle. The heat dried me and my swim trunks while the shade and sea breeze kept me comfortable, it was total relaxation. Wayan chatted with the other dive shop workers. I watched them smoke and look at their phones.
Group by group the SCUBA divers emerged from the water and removed their gear. The workers carried crate after crate of it back to each shop’s van. Eventually, we all piled back into the van, too, and went back to Amed. I found my way back to our hotel and took a long nap.
Beautiful post and video!