First Underwater Look at Bali

 After three days inland in the temple filled rice fields of Ubud, Heidi and I headed to the coastal town of Tulamben to meet up with our friends, Phoebe and Erica, and to get our first taste of diving on this trip. Tulamben is a small fishing village where a huge U.S. military transport ship was beached after being torpedoed. A subsequent earthquake caused by the 1963 eruption of nearby Mt. Agung volcano shook the wreck back into the water where it lies today. The deepest part lies down slope about 110ft, whereas the top part is only 15ft below the surface. It is a beautiful place to snorkel, and easy to get to being only 50 yards from shore, but the real beauty is in exploring with scuba. 
Phoebe and Erica inside the massive wreck of the US Liberty in Tulumben, Bali

Tiny pygmy sea horses can be found 100ft down while huge bumphead parrotfish rest at night in the shallows next to the wreck. Brightly colored nudibranchs can also be seen on the wreck, but it is almost impossible to find them because they camouflage in with all the vibrantly colored soft coral that has colonised the shipwreck.

  More pictures and stories will come from this amazing underwater world...when I get to better internet. I am currently on a small island off the coast of northeast Sulawesi...far off the beaten path. It took be four days to get one picture uploaded to the blog.

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