Snorkelling in Amed.

11.11.11

We had arranged for Ari to pick us up and take us to Amed

about 3 hours away. About 3/4's of the way there we stopped

at Tirta Gangga, a beautiful water palace built for the

regional sultan to relax in. It is set amongst green

rice fields and on the site is a small temple at the base

of a 200 year old Baboban tree and the source of the spring.

There are beautiful pools with fountains and carp. We had a very

amusing guide who crammed in as much Australian 'lingo' as he could

and asked if we were clear after every sentence!

Half an hour of driving later we were on the stetch of coast known

as Amed, which is a 15-20km stretch of villages, one of which

is called Amed. Ari took us to a few different guesthouses/

homestays before we found one in our price range that was

located away from the beach but only a 3 minute walk and right

near the coral reef.

Again the black stone beach was deserted apart from fishing boats

and local people, with the odd tourist snorkelling. We had a

really good fresh fish lunch in a warung on the beach and

then hired some snorkelling sets.

I hadn't snorkelled for about 10 years and at first I felt a

little bit panicky until I got used to just breathing through

my mouth. But I soon forgot all about this when I got to

reef which was only a few metres off shore. The sheer numbers

and different type of fish was amazing and there were so many

different varieties of coral. I saw 'nemo' type fish, sholes

of tiny electric blue fish, stiped yellow and blue fish, large

fish that looked like a huge razor, giant blue star fish and

fish that were about 1 foot in length and different shades of

pale reds, blues and yellows. It was definately a highlight

of our time in Indonesia so far.

This evening we went to a different warung. I had fish in

Balinese sauce (lemon grass, ginger and chillies) steamed in

banana leaves with rice. I'd had chicken like this before,

and both time it was delicious. We decided to try Arak, the

palm wine for the first time, so ordered 3 shots. The shots were

huge - 2/3s of a wine glass. First taste, it was disgusting!

So we piled in fresh lime and topped it up with sprite. It got

a bit more bearable! By the end of the glass Martin was quite

enjoying it - I still wasn't convinced!! But we kept the

warung owner entertained watching us trying to drink it!

As we were sat having our meal there was a huge storm, which

was amazing to watch. Each time the thunder made us jump

and it was frightening watching the fork lightening strike.

It's not something you really experience very often in the UK.

I couldn't believe how loud the thunder was.