July 19th: Banjuwedang and Menjangan

Saturday was our delayed snorkeling visit to Menjangan Island, which is a tiny atoll off the northwest coast of Bali. It is the main reason we are in this part of the island. I mean, Naya Gawana is a nice resort and all, but the key thing here is: beaches without being over-touristed, and a snorkel spot. Luckily we were able to reschedule our snorkel to Saturday; it was originally supposed to be Friday and we weren’t going to make that happen. But Saturday dawns lovely and we were physically ready to get back out there.

Snorkeling was a blast. I don’t have underwater photos, because even with a phone envelope and the fancy pixel phone underwater mode, the vast majority of amateur underwater photos are just kind of unremarkable. Instead, i just remember the stuff I saw, and will relate things to you. I saw:

• Turtles, both Green and Hawksbill

• A sea cucumber

• Like a million fish

• Sponges

• Quite a lot of coral

• A very large fish (probably a grouper) hiding in a coral formation; was probably like two or three feet long.

• Sea squirts

• Brittle stars

• Blue (!) sea stars

• Gigundous clams

• No crabs, lobsters, shrimp or crustaceans of any kind

• A goddamn octopus

I was super-excited about that octopus. I have been informed that we have in fact seen an octopus in the wild before, on our honeymoon, but I don’t remember that. It was also my first time ever snorkeling back then, so I had a lot going on at the time. It was just chilling out, right there. I freaked out, got Chrissy’s attention and gestured frantically  until I got a thumbs up from her.

The snorkeling was pretty simple. The boat would drop us off, we’d drift in the current while our guide picked up plastic from the seabed (he didn’t point much out, or help us name things) (to be honest, not the best guide) (he also smoked on the boat). Eventually we’d get to the boat (which had moved) and get back on. Then they’d motor elsewhere. I barely needed to use my flippers, unless I saw something really cool (like an octopus, just sitting there, changing colors to hide as I watched it) and needed to fight the current.

After our last such cycle, we landed on Menjangan Island and had lunch on the beach. We’d both pre-ordered the fried noodles. Indonesian fried noodles (mie goreng or bakmi goreng, the “goreng” part is fried and there are a couple of kinds of noodles; nasi goreng is fried rice) are pretty fantastic, there’s some variability in the noodle type and what goes in, but it’s usually a little bit sweet (from a sweet soy sauce) and really just appetizing. I’ve had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (not all on the same day). The rest of the day was pretty chill, just relax and enjoy the breeze.