After a few aborted plans, we settled on Bali again to celebrate our wedding anniversary & Carols birthday. Same flights & same hotel as for 2007 - keeping it really simple!

It was nice to be greeted with 'welcome back' when we registered, & soon we had settled in & were out on the beach.

So, what can we write that's different about the hotel? The food & drinks were the same (i.e. good), staff continuously friendly & helpful etc. We again managed to avoid the cabaret performances, but the band did recognise us. The traditional thatched roofs of the beach huts & garden restaurant had been replaced with new 'thatching'. Otherwise, no noticeable differences.

The weather was good to us, with only 1 storm which was during one night. On the Sunday of our visit, the wind was very strong, so lounging on the beach (on sun beds) was a tad on the cold side, and we were sandblasted with very fine grains being carried by the wind. After an hour or so persevering the conditions, we went inside to read.

On departure, we did find we had to pay a departure tax of Rp150000 each (just under GBP10 each) - somewhat of a surprise as it wasn't mentioned until we'd got past the ATMs & money changers.........

What did we do? Apart from some sunning, we set out on 2 days of diving, notching up 4 more dives each. First was to The USAT Liberty Wreck at Tulumben on the north coast & the second at Amed, slightly to the east of Tulumben, each being a 2.5 hour drive each way. (We did decide that should we visit again for diving, then we'd stay nearer to any dives sites that we wanted to do, before traveling back to Benoa or Nusa Dua for relaxing).

Tulumben:

We had heard about the ladies who carry dive kit from transport to the beach, but it didn't really sink in what they did till we saw them. They carry kit on heads, shoulders, under arms, in hands.......Our dive kit (at the time of this holiday) weighs 10.6kg. One lady carried that bag on her head, on top of a plastic crate containing BCDs & regulators. She also had a full tank of air on one shoulder (& unfortunately we lost the photo to prove this).

We dived with Yos (owner of the dive company) & Julian, a guest at another of his resorts, who was from the Philippines & had run his own liveaboard boat for many years. The 2 dives were both shore dives; however, the shore was of black cobbles and dipped steeply. Due to the strength of the waves, we had to walk in (tripping over rocks as we went), then put our fins on while trying to stand in waist deep water. This is the approved method for the conditions. The wreck is located only a few meters off the shore, so after descending, a short swim got us there. We were amazed with the navigational skills of our Dive Master - each time we surfaced within feet of our entry point. Getting out of the sea was 'entertaining'. George managed to turn turtle when the waves caught him, while Carol was pushed to her knees, gaining 5 cobble-size bruises down her shins (& again made a mental reminder to buy some shin pads.....). Refreshments were provided by Pura Mashuri restaurant, which also had a freshwater hose for rinsing down, & toilets.

Amed:

Just the 2 of us diving with Ame, our Dive Master. Although the dive sites were not too far from the shore, they were too far to swim out to, so we set off in a local boat. Above the sites, we lowered ourselves into the water, put on our BCDs & tanks, & descended from the stabilising booms. To get out, we removed our kit at the surface, finned upwards & climbed into the boat. First dive was around an area where artificial reefs are being set up - concrete blocks shaped like Stonehenge pillars, stacked to resemble pyramids. These are being colonised. Second dive was along & about 1/2 way down a wall. Our base was the Divers Cafe, where we had lunch. It has toilet & freshwater shower facilities. We noted that as we've dived this year, the boats have become progressively smaller.....expect to see us on logs or surfboards next!