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Search Results for: scuba diving

• scuba diving: coron shipwrecks

  Posted at 8:33 am by jasminedesirees, on May 11, 2015

  This post is part love affair, part horror story, but that’s ok because it has a happy ending. While we were in the Philippines we decided to make the trip to Coron because we’d heard over and over again how amazing the diving is there, because there are several sunken ships to dive, a remnant of the Japanese fleet from WWII. We’d done one shipwreck dive in Bali, and loved it so much, that we were completely stoked to do it again.

  

  If you’ve been to the Philippines, you probably know already that things tend to work a little differently here than in other places. I’ve been diving quite a bit, in many different countries, and the safety standards are usually pretty much the same but after arriving in Coron, we realized that most of the shipwreck dives are supposed to be for advanced divers only.

  

  We thought we wouldn’t be able to dive them, but after visiting 4 different dive shops, all of them told us basically the same thing, that even though most of the wrecks were over 30M deep, and we’re technically only certified to dive to 18M, and we aren’t certified for wreck diving, that it wasn’t a problem, and that in the Philippines “we don’t have to follow the rules”.

  

  Now, let me stop and say that obviously, in the end it was my choice to go. Nobody forced me, and even thought I felt kind of uncomfortable, I wanted to try it so I went anyway.

  We were supposed to dive 3 wrecks, the Tangat, the Olympia, and the East Tangat. The Tangat was the first wreck, and it was also the deepest. Everything went smoothly for the first half of the dive, the wreck was amazing, and there was so much to see.

  

  I have to admit at this point that I am a bit claustrophobic, but it’s never been a problem for me before when I was diving. As long as I can keep moving in any direction at a constant pace, I never feel too boxed in (for me, as true as in life as it is in diving).

  This dive was different than any I’d done before because the water was very murky, and because we were down so far, and also so deep inside the ship, it was pretty dark, and we need to bring a flashlight with us to see anything.

  

  We were inside the ship, and our guide was moving very slowly, basically stopped, to play with some clams and other little fishes on the bottom of the deck we were swimming on. I started looking around, and saw our bubbles coming out of our mouths, up to the opening of the deck above, and when it hit the opening, there was an effect like a shimmering mirror, and it looked really neat.

  

  But as soon as I saw it, my stomach flipped, and I started feeling like a heavy weight was on my chest. I could feel myself starting to panic, but I tried to keep calm and kept breathing as normally as I could. Right then, our guide indicated to us that we were going to be going down another opening into the deck below, and I knew I shouldn’t do it, and indicated that I needed to surface.

  

  We were down at least 35M, and at that depth you have to take your time to go up, and take decompression stops so your body can get rid of the excess nitrogen from breathing compressed air under the pressure of that much water. Our guide was totally great about it, and started getting us out of the ship and back up slowly to the surface. I felt better as soon as we were out of the wreck, even though we were still down pretty deep, but thought I better go up anyway.

  

  I went up and hung out on the boat for a bit, while the rest of the group (there were only 3 of us) went back down and finished the dive. After lunch and a surface interval, it was time to do the second dive. I wasn’t sure if I should do it, but I talked to the guide, and we made an alternate plan for if I was feeling uncomfortable going into the wreck.

  We started descending to the Olympia, and I was feeling good about it, but the visibility was really bad, and as soon as we got to the entrance to the first deck of the ship, I started feeling claustrophobic again, and had to come up almost immediately. The second time was actually worse than the first time, we were down about 30M, and I really started to panic.

  

  I couldn’t breathe, I was hyperventilating and crying into my mask. I had to force myself to stay where I was and keep breathing normally, even though a big part of me just wanted to go up as fast as possible. The 3 minute safety stop was probably the longest 3 minutes of my life. Needless to say, I skipped the third dive.

  In a way I’m kind of glad it happened, just because I always wondered how I would react in an emergency situation as a diver, and I think I handled it pretty well. If I hadn’t been able to keep calm and force myself to follow the procedure, it could have been really bad. It also gave me a brand new respect for people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, because that was definitely not fun.

  

  So the moral of that story is, I’m probably never going to be a wreck diver, and enclosed spaces and I will never be friends. But if you are in Coron, and you are certified, definitely make it a point to dive some of the wrecks, because I was down there long enough to see how amazing they were.

  Posted in Philippines, travel | 5 Comments | Tagged coron, philippines, scuba diving, shipwreck, travel, wreck diving, wwII

• scuba diving: the great barrier reef

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on November 3, 2014

  When I was trying to decide what I wanted to write about the experience of diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, I was going to start with talking about how it’s been a dream of mine since I was little, since before I even really understood how scuba diving actually worked.

  I probably thought it was some combination of magic/mermaid technology, but the idea to do it was there.

  
  
  

  And then I realized how many of my posts from this trip have started with that, and I got to thinking about how lucky I am to have had the experiences I’ve had, not just the ability to travel and see the world, but going to school, moving away from home but still being able to see my family regularly, marrying the person of my choosing.

  
  
  

  Just thinking of all of the things that I dreamed of doing when I was a kid, with no reason in the world to think that I couldn’t do exactly what I wanted, if I could find a way to make it happen.

  I’ve always known, but it has been reenforced with my recent travels, that a lot of people never have even a tenth of the opportunities I have had, and that lots of children all over the world grow up without the belief that they will be able to one day make all of their dreams come true.

  Just something I was thinking about.

  
  

  So anyways, the GBR. We had been in Cairns for almost two weeks looking for jobs by the time we went diving.

  It was quickly becoming apparent that we weren’t going to be getting jobs immediately, we’d been talking to other travelers who had been in Cairns for four months before they were able to find work, and we were toying the the idea of returning to Byron Bay, but the thought of being in Cairns without going diving at the GBR was completely unacceptable to me.

  
  

  So even though it was very expensive (nearly three times more than what it cost to dive for a day in Indonesia) we decided we had to do it. We’d also heard horrible things about coral depletion and pollution in certain areas of the reef, so we wanted to be sure to pick a dive boat that would take us out to the outer reef.

  
  

  We were not disappointed. We didn’t see nearly as many exotic fish as we had been seeing in Indonesia, but we did see a shark, and the coral was nothing short of amazing. It went on for miles each way, and in certain parts it was almost like skyscrapers on either side of you, but instead of buildings, it was coral.

  The pictures aren’t the greatest (but I did see that GoPro now has coloured filters you can add to get the colour to transfer better from underwater) but I wanted to share a few anyway.

  

  Posted in Australia, travel | 1 Comment | Tagged Australia, diving, gopro, great barrier reef, scuba, travel

• scuba diving: komodo national park

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on September 18, 2014

  The absolute best part about Indonesia for me was the diving. We’d heard over and over again that the diving there was amazing, and it couldn’t have been more true.

  These pictures don’t really do it justice, since they were taken on a go-pro with no flash, but I wanted to share some anyway. In reality, the water was crystal clear, and the colours of the fish and the coral were vibrant.

  

  

  

  

  We stayed on the island of Flores, in Labuan Bajo, for 5 days, and we were diving 3 dives per day for 3 of those days. When we first signed up to do it, I was worried that it might be a lot, considering the boy had only been diving once before, in Thailand.

  

  

  

  It turned out that my worry was completely unfounded, he loved it, and by the end of the third day, I was so sad that it was over that I wished we would have done at least one more day.

  

  

  

  I tried to explain to him how spoiled he was, that some of us got certified in Zihuatanejo, Mexico where you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you. He got clear turquoise waters, thousands of different kind of fish, sharks, turtles, and manta rays.

  

  

  

  We dove with Komodo Dive Center, out of Labuan Bajo, and I would absolutely recommend them. They were very professional, their food was great, and their staff were very knowledgable and fun.

  My favourite dive sites were Batu Bolong, and Crystal Rock, but we did nine different dives at different sites around Komodo National Park, and all of them were pretty amazing.

  

  

  

  We are already planning our next trip to dive in more of Indonesia’s gorgeous reefs, and I seriously can’t wait.

  

  

  Posted in Indonesia, travel | 6 Comments | Tagged diving, fish, Indonesia, komodo, komodo national park, manta ray, padi, scuba, shark, travel

• pelagic free diving aka swimming with sharks

  Posted at 2:41 pm by jasminedesirees, on July 9, 2015

  In honour of Shark Week, I’m finally sharing my experience free diving with sharks off the North Shore of Oahu. We left from the boat harbour in Haleiwa. It was a pretty small boat, they most they can take is 6 people. It was $140 each to do it, and then $75 to do a ride along.

  

  I wasn’t scared when we signed up, I kept pushing everyone in my family to agree so I could call and book it, but as it got closer I was absolutely terrified, I had nightmares the night before. The one thing I held onto ferociously was that this was an accredited, insured business, and if everyone that went ended up getting eaten, they would probably get shut down? Right? RIGHT?!

  

  When we were getting on the boat, there was the most adorable British family getting off, and they had just done what we were about to do. They all told us it was an amazing experience, and they appeared to still have all of their limbs intact, so I was slightly comforted by that. They took us out about 3 miles off shore, apparently it’s a place near the crab traps so a lot of sharks hang out there hoping for some scraps, but we didn’t see any other boats.

  On the way out, our guide told us about the different types of sharks we might see, it’s not called a shark dive because sometimes they see dolphins, whales, and other types of animals, but predominantly it’s sharks. It changes every day, but the earlier group had seen Galapagos sharks, and Silty sharks, which are very rare. They also see Tiger sharks and Hammerhead sharks, but we didn’t see either (sad we didn’t see a Hammerhead, SO GLAD we didn’t see a Tiger.) They haven’t seen a Great White there in over 10 years.

  

  Once we were almost to the spot, our guide started briefing us on what was going to happen. He would get in the water first, and then if the sharks didn’t seem agitated,  he would have us get in, two at a time.  Then he started telling us about shark behaviors and hierarchy. The closer sharks are to the surface, the higher they are in the hierarchy, so as snorkelers, and closest to the surface, we needed to assert our dominance.

  In order to do that, we had to stare the sharks down. He told us if a shark thinks you can’t see it, or you aren’t paying attention, it will come closer to investigate. But if you stare it directly in the eyes, it sees you as more dominant and won’t come closer. And then he gave us big flippers to “make us look bigger”. And that’s when I decided there was no way in hell I was going.

  

  But somehow I ended up in the water. My sister and I reluctantly agreed to go first. He told us to enter the water the same way we would be in it, with marks and fins on, because sharks remember behavior, and if something changes, they get curious and come closer to see why. He told us to slide smoothly off the back of the boat, which we did, and right away we saw at least 5 big Galapagos sharks swimming around.

  To be totally honest, I freaked out a bit. I couldn’t catch my breath in my snorkel, so I kept having to lift my head up to try to breathe, but then I was scared because I couldn’t see them when I did that. It only lasted about a minute though, I got my breathing under control, and started to watch them swim around.

  

  They had told us not to splash, and not to swim with our arms, which was nerve wracking in itself. I had my arms glued to my sides the whole time, but I was paranoid at first that I was splashing a lot with my feet without realizing it. It was very deep there, about 675FT, so once we were in the water all we could see was blue from all directions. And then all of a sudden a shark would swim out of the blue.

  At one point there were at least 15 big sharks swimming under and around us, and our guide was like “there’s a lot of them, so stay together”. And I was like, yeahhhh NO PROBLEM BUDDY. What he said about the sharks was really true though.

  

  If one was swimming towards you, and you stared it directly in the eyes, it would turn and swim away. I noticed though that if one was coming up behind you, and you didn’t notice it right away, it would swim closer until you turned around and stared at it, and then it would swim away. I don’t know if that’s true of all types of sharks, but it was definitely true for these.

  Most of the sharks were pretty chill, you could tell they were as scared of us as we were of them, but still curious. There was one that was kind of a dick though, he was pretty big, and would swim right at us full speed and then veer away at the last minute. The closest any of them got to us was about 6-8 feet, which feels pretty close when it’s a 10 foot long shark.

  

  My sister and I were in there about 20 minutes before our guide decided to let my dad and brother in, and once they got in, a few of the sharks left. They were probably intimidated by all of our large flippers. But there were still always at least 5 of them swimming around. We got brave after awhile, and just started to swim around, and dive down a bit.

  As scary as it was to get in (we all agreed that was the very worst part) after we were in there for awhile, watching them swim around was actually veryyyyy relaxing. Like the fish tank at the dentist’s office, but with more teeth. Our guide had told us what to watch out for in the body language of the sharks that indicates they are going to attack, like rapid jerky movements, arched backs and downward pointed pectoral fins, and we didn’t see anything like that.

  

  After about 45 minutes, I started to not feel very good. At first I thought it was just because I had been so nervous that my stomach was in knots, but then I realized I was getting sea sick from floating around in the open ocean for so long. We were almost done anyways, so I got back in the boat.

  Now this is the part of our guides cautionary tale that I almost could not believe. He said he sees about 80% of people do this, which was mind blowing to me. He said a lot of people get out of the water onto the platform at the back of the boat and then sit there, dangling their flippers in the water for awhile before they get into the boat.

  

  After everything we had just learned about shark behavior, curiosity, and splashing, that was about the last thing I ever would have done. I literally log rolled my whole self out of the water onto the metal platform at the back of the boat. I scratched myself all to hell but you know what? Worth it.

  All I kept thinking was, I just had this completely amazing experience, and I accidentally still have all of my limbs, now let’s keep it that way.

  

  I’ve been scuba diving for years, and I’ve seen sharks many, many times. But there was something about it just being us and them, no fish, no reefs, nowhere to hide, that made it so much more exhilarating.

  I’ve always been pretty scared of sharks, and after that experience I’m both more and less afraid. On one hand, it’s hard to see them as terrifying killing machines after an experience like that. Most people that get bit are in murky water, or are splashing around like a chubby baby seal, and they are curious. Unfortunately, they don’t have hands. If they come to see what you are, they have to use their mouth to investigate.

  

  On the other hand, I had no idea how many sharks were around us while we were sitting in the boat. I couldn’t see any until I got in. So knowing how often they are probably around when you don’t know they are there is still pretty scary.

  

  All in all, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, and I’m really glad I was able to do it with my family. I would encourage anybody to do it, especially if you have a fear of sharks. You learn a lot about them, and develop a whole new respect for these amazing animals.

  Posted in Hawaii, travel, USA | 3 Comments | Tagged free diving, Hammerhead sharks, Hawaii, North Shore, Oahu, pelagic, shark week, sharks, Tiger sharks, travel

• diving yo-257: hawaii

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on June 4, 2015

  On the morning of my sister’s grad (and the first day I wasn’t working from Oahu) we decided to go diving. Oahu isn’t really know for its diving, but there are a few cool places to go, and one of them is the YO-257, a shipwreck straight out from Waikiki Beach about a mile (? I think? I’m really terrible at judging distances).

  

  I went with my sister and brother, who are both certified, even though he had only gotten fully certified the day before. I was really nervous, because even though I’ve been diving so many times before, this was going to be the first time since the incident in Coron, and it was also a wreck dive.

  

  

  Also, it was very deep, more than 100FT, so no easing back in with some nice shallow reef dives. Go big or go home. Or, go big or have a panic attack and die. It’s definitely one or the other.

  The day didn’t start out so well, my dad was sick so he didn’t come with us, and then we got to the boat, and our captain was sick. Like puking off the side of the boat. He said he had food poisoning, but it looked a little bit more like JD poisoning.

  

  

  

  We got out to the dive site, and there were two other boats there already. The current was really strong that day, so in order to dive the wreck we needed to anchor to one of the ropes, and follow a lead down to the boat. Since there were already two boats there, we ended up having to sit for almost an hour before we could go in.

  During this time, it started storming. The waves were pretty big, and it was absolutely pouring. We had to sit in the boat with our goggles on to keep the rain out of our eyes. It was pretty funny, but as our captain said “anything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong today”.

  

  

  Eventually we got in, and started heading down to the wreck. We saw a turtle right away, so I tried to take that as a good sign, even though I was still pretty nervous. We weren’t going in the wreck, just around it, so I was feeling OK about things, but our guide kept stopping our group (5 in total) to take pictures. I’m fine underwater, but I have to keep moving, if I sit still too long I start to feel claustrophobic and panicky.

  And since I was closest to him, he would stop me first, put me where he wanted the group, and then round everyone else for the pictures while I sat there. I have never had that happen on a dive before, usually you take your own camera to take pictures of what you see, and maybe you get someone to take one or two pictures of you, if there is something really cool you want a picture with.

  

  

  The pictures we got were pretty cool, but still I didn’t like stopping so much. The other thing that wasn’t helping was that there is a commercial submarine that leaves from the Honolulu Harbour that takes big groups of people underwater to look at the wrecks. Our guide told us to watch out for it, and told us the driver would hit us and wouldn’t care, but we didn’t realize how close it would get.

  

  

  We were swimming along right on the bottom, and all of a sudden our guide started gesturing and making loud noises towards my brother. We turned around to look, and the submarine was less than 10 feet away, headed straight for him, so we had to hang out on the bottom until it passed. It was an electric submarine so it made the most horrifying, ominous whirring noise, which isn’t helpful when you are already feeling unsettled.

  

  

  Anyways, the wreck itself was pretty cool, there were actually two different ships down there, and we all came out unscathed. I think I would have been scared of any dive just because of what had happened on my last dive, so I’m glad I got it out of the way. Get back on the horse, or something like that.

  We ended up skipping our second dive because we had to wait so long to go in for our first one that we would have missed grad if we’d done another, which was kind of the whole reason we were there, so that probably would have been frowned upon by our parents.

  

  Posted in Hawaii, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged Hawaii, scuba, scuba diving, travel, yo-257

• seattle: everything else

  Posted at 8:22 am by jasminedesirees, on December 7, 2015

  A few more random snaps from Seattle.

  We took an underground tour of the city, which was actually really interesting, and it started in a bar, which was useful since I am extremely claustrophobic and spending almost two hours underground would likely not have gone so well if I hadn’t been a little tipsy to begin with.

  We rode the ferris wheel, visited the Space Needle, and had the most amazing breakfast at Biscuit Bitch.

  I got a biscuit with jam and mushroom gravy, so I could try a couple different things. I don’t even like jam, and I wanted to put some of it in my hair to save for later.

  The mushroom gravy was so good I just drank it after I ran out of biscuit. I would do it again, too.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Posted in Seattle, travel, USA, Washington | 0 Comments | Tagged Bill Speidel, biscuit bitch, exploring, seattle, space needle, travel, washington

• tips for traveling in the philippines

  Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on May 20, 2015

  

  Our time in the Philippines was not very long, but it was nothing short of amazing. I learned a few things during our travels that I wish I’d known before, so definitely wanted to pass those tips along. You can also check out my tips for traveling Australia, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.

  Night Bus: We flew from Manila to Puerto Princesa on a late evening flight, and we had two choices. We could either spend a night in Puerto Princesa, and give up a full day of our travels to a bus ride, or we could suck it up, and take the night bus. We’d been told by a few people that the night buses were dangerous, not so much for the roads or the driving, but because of muggings and violence. I felt like the information we had gotten wasn’t very accurate, and was mostly driven by fear, as we didn’t really hear any specific stories of things that had happened, so we decided to go for it. Our experience was completely fine, we had no problems at all, and we were able to see a lot more in a short time because we didn’t waste our days on the bus.

  ATM: One of the things that is definitely good to know, is that there is no ATM in El Nido. If you are traveling there, make sure to bring enough cash to last you for the whole trip, because running out of money there would not be good.

  Boat to Coron: As I mentioned in this post, we took the boat from El Nido to Coron. The boat on the way there was amazing, nice and big, two levels, lots of room, with Wi-Fi. On the way back we had a tiny, one level boat, and we were squished in there for the whole 8 hours.It was $1500 pesos per person, each way. There was definitely no W-Fi. We left on a Wednesday from El Nido, and returned on a Friday. Make sure to check out the different options for boats, and take the good one both ways if you can.

  Diving Coron: Diving the shipwrecks in Coron is completely amazing, but there are a few things to be aware of. The wrecks are are very deep, starting at 30FT. The visibility isn’t great, it can be very dark down there, and you go deep inside the ships. Make sure you are a wreck certified diver and are very comfortable before you decide to go.

  Terminal fees: One other small thing to keep in mind is that there are terminal fees to fly out of airports in the Philippines. To fly domestic out of Manila, it was 20 pesos, domestic out of Puerto Princesa was 150 pesos, and to fly international out of Manila it was 550 pesos. Make sure you hold on to enough pesos to pay the fees at the airport when you’re flying out.

  I can not wait to get back to the Philippines, there are so many other amazing places I’d like to visit.

  While we were on our island hopping trip, one of our fellow travelers told us about a place near Cloud 9 Beach where you can swim in a lake filled with stinger-less jellyfish. STINGER-LESS JELLYFISH. It would be every Finding Nemo fantasy you’ve ever had come to life. I shall call you squishy, and you shall be my squishy.

  Posted in Philippines, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged coron, el nido, manila, philippines, scuba, tips for traveling, travel

• twenty eight

  Posted at 10:12 am by jasminedesirees, on March 16, 2015

  Yesterday was my birthday, I spent a great weekend exploring the San Diego area, sleeping on the beach, and eating cupcakes. I was thinking back over the past year, and how amazing it’s been, so I wanted to take a little time to reminisce, and share some of my favourite experiences.

  

  March 2014- On my birthday last year, we were on a trip to visit New York City for the first time, and it was everything I’d been dreaming of. It was kind of one of those spontaneous trips where you’re not sure if it’s really necessary, but you could do it, so we did, and I’m so, so glad. We also visited Niagara Falls, and got one of my friends married off in Toronto.

  April 2014- Last April, my sister came out to visit me in San Francisco for the first time, and we had the best weekend ever. We took a last minute road trip down to L.A. to spend a few days with my family. I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like, so driving down to meet up with them was kind of a no-brainer, even though we had to change a flight we already had booked, and rent a car in order to get there. We also went out to Phoenix for the weekend for the first time, not realizing then that we’d be moving out there in less than a year.

  May 2014- In May, we were well on our way to finalizing plans for our trip. We were spending as much time with family and friends as possible, and really enjoying our last few weeks of living in California, including a lovely day in Capitola.

  June 2014- In June, we spent a few days visiting my family in Montana, and then took off for Thailand, mid-month. I loved visiting Bangkok, the Floating Market and the White Temple.

  July 2014- In July, we moved down to the islands of Thailand, including Phi Phi and Railay, and then spent a couple of weeks in Cambodia, visiting Angkor. Ta Prohm was my favourite place in the world. We also spent a few days in Singapore, and visited the Cloud Forest, and the Supertrees.

  August 2014- In early August we finished up our last few days in Indonesia, including the most amazing time diving in Flores and trekking with Komodo dragons. Then we finally landed in Australia, hung out in Sydney for a few days, then started our road trip up to Cairns, and also, this happened.

  September 2014- In September we were still creeping around Australia. We visited Whitehaven, spent a few weeks working on a farm, and then a few more weeks hanging out in Byron Bay, and hiking to the lighthouse every day. This is still the most amazing graffiti I’ve ever seen.

  October 2014- In October, we made the decision that as much as we loved Australia, it was too expensive for us, so we headed back to Indonesia, to relax on the Gili’s, hike Batur, trek Rinjani, visit the beach of my dreams, and creep around in Kuta Lombok, and South Kuta.

  November 2014- In November we took a spontaneous trip to the Philippines (posts coming this week!) and eventually, made our way back to California.

  December 2014- In December, we spent as much time as we could with our friends and family in California, then packed up our stuff and moved to Phoenix.

  January 2015- In January, we spent a blissful week in Montana, made a quick trip up to Canada to experience the -40 weather and load up on ketchup chips, and then headed back to start life in Arizona.

  February 2015- In February, we finally got our furniture and got actually moved in to our new place, and then got to start exploring our new state with trips to Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and the Grand Canyon.

  Posted in exploring, life, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged Australia, birthday, Cambodia, exploring, Indonesia, life, nyc, Phoenix, Singapore, Thailand, travel

• gili trawangan

  Posted at 9:51 am by jasminedesirees, on December 16, 2014

  From Amed, we took a boat across to Gili Trawangan, the most populated of the Gili Islands. We bought our ticket the day before, they are sold all over in Amed, and just showed up that morning to get on the boat. It was about $5 USD per person.

  The boat ride was about an hour, and would have been lovely except for the wind. The waves were massive, and everyone on board was getting soaked. The woman sitting right in front of me had a brand new baby, he couldn’t have been more than a week old, and they were both getting drenched so we used our towels to make them a fort.

  
  

  We didn’t have a place to stay booked on the island because most of the smaller homestays don’t have an online presence, but we found a cheap, clean room within a few minutes just by walking around and checking a few places out.

  The very first thing we did once we dropped off our stuff was make a bee-line for the fruit smoothie carts, it was similar to Sanur in that you could get almost any kind of fruit smoothie for about $1 USD.

  I got mango and dragonfruit, and just laid on the beach pinching myself. These photos have not been edited or filtered, that’s just what colour the water is.

  
  

  There are no cars on Gili T, just carts pulled by donkeys, so it’s a lot of walking, but the island is so small that it doesn’t matter. There are bikes for rent all over the place, and you can ride around the whole island in like an hour and a half.

  The night of D’s birthday we took a donkey to the other side of the island to the Ombok Sunset resort to see the sunset, which is where the swing-set in the water is.

  There were a bunch of people lined up to get their picture taken so I kind of didn’t want to do it, but then a cloud came and covered the sun so everyone thought that was the end and started leaving, and right then the sun popped back out, and the sky was gorgeous.

  
  
  

  The donkey carts aren’t made for very big people, D kept hitting his head every time the donkey took a step, so we just ended up walking back.

  The main area in Gili T where the boats drop everyone off is actually pretty crowded, we were there in late October, coming up on the rainy season, and still it was very busy.

  There are lots of good restaurants on that side (try the butterfish!), and if you walk down to the Ombok (there are 2 on the island) on that side they show movies on the beach every night, and it’s pretty much perfect.

  
  

  But if you leave the main area, and head either way on the island, it’s a lot more chill, with some awesome beach bars, and a much quieter vibe.

  We had four days on Gili T, and honestly, that was enough for me. It really was so busy, and the diving wasn’t that great. I kept hearing that it was amazing, but then I was told that a lot of the people diving in Gili T are just getting certified, and so they don’t really have anything to compare it to, so of course they think it’s amazing.

  It definitely had nothing on Flores.

  
  

  I was talking to someone a few days ago who had been to Gili T 20 years ago, and he was telling me how unpopulated it was, how there was only 3 restaurants on the whole island, and they shared a generator, so only one of them would be open on any given night. I wish I could have visited back then.

  
  

  I would love to go back to the Gili’s though, there are two other islands, Gili Air and Gili Meno, which are much less busy, and more laid back, so that will be my next visit.

  
  
  

  One word of caution though, the Gili’s get their power from Lombok, so power outages there are not unusual, and wi-fi is kind of terrible, which is fine because that’s not why you are going to Gili anyway, but just something to be aware of.

  
  

  Posted in beach, Indonesia, travel | 4 Comments | Tagged beach, Gili Islands, Gili T, Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, island, scuba

• byron lighthouse

  Posted at 8:16 am by jasminedesirees, on October 13, 2014

  The Byron Bay lighthouse is up on top of a cliff, surrounded by the most beautiful turquoise water and green hills. We had just gotten into town, and were cruising around getting the lay of the land, when we saw signs pointing toward the lighthouse, and we decided to check it out.

  

  

  

  There is a walking/jogging path all the way up to the top from town, with offshoots leading to different beaches, and the most Eastern point of Australia, which is pretty close to the lighthouse.

  I was feeling kind of lazy after spending most of the morning at the hospital (I had touched some fire coral while diving in Komodo the week before, and my hands were a mess) so we drove most of the way up and stopped at the last parking lot before the top.

  

  

  

  As soon as I got out of the car I was besieged by this sweet older guy who was a hang gliding instructor, and was wondering if I wanted to try hang gliding off of a nearby hill, landing on the beach below.

  

  

  

  I’ve never been hang gliding before, or really had any urge to go, but the sheer beauty of the hills and the beach was kind of overwhelming, and I wanted to go as bad as I’ve ever wanted to do anything in my life.

  Unfortunately my hands were basically just decorative at that point, so I wasn’t able to take the leap, but we stood there and watched the gliders for a really long time.

  

  

  

  Then we made the last hike up the hill to see the lighthouse. If you know me, you know I kind of have a thing for lighthouses, and this one was stunning. The view from the top of the cliffs was amazing, and I could see surfers and whales enjoying the water down below.

  

  There is even a cute little cafe at the top, so you can reward yourself with an ice cream cone if you make it all the way up to the top.

  

  

  Even if you are just passing through Byron Bay, be sure to take the time to stop in for a visit, you won’t be disappointed.

  

  

  Posted in Australia, beach, travel | 4 Comments | Tagged Australia, beach, byron bay, lighthouse, travel

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