Our Last Days in Indo

We enjoyed the next few days diving much of Bali’s east and north coasts. Roy found some more nice fish and we finally made it to the town of Tulumben to dive the famous USAT Liberty wreck.

 The USAT Liberty was a United States Army Transport ship that was sunk during WWII. On January 11, 1942 the ship was enroute from Australia to the Phillipines with railway parts and rubber when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine about 10nm southwest of the Lombok Straight. A dutch deystroyer attempted to tow the Liberty into Port in Singajara, located on Bali’s north coast, but the vessel was taking on too much water and had to be beached in Tulumben so the remaining cargo could be salvaged. Later in 1963 earth quakes caused by an eruption of Agung Batur volcano slid the Liberty into the water where it now remains from 30-100ft of water. It was difficult to make out specific parts of the ship, but it was thrilling to see the gigantic hull and debris.

The wreck is now a marine preserve, so it was sight-seeing only,  meaning Roy was itching to have his speargun of course when we started seeing so many big fish. We watched a variety of snappers and jacks swim around undisturbed by so many divers, knowing that they could not be hurt. We were even lucky enough to see a large napoleon wrasse, approximately 80lbs swimming along the debris of the wreck. The blues and greens seen on the wrasse’s body were amazing! Unfortunatey Roy wasn’t able to catch a good photo of it. Siobhan was diving so great using her new skills learned in the freedive class and we had so much fun!

As our time in Bali was winding down, we decided to head back down south and over to another small island for a couple of days. The day we left, Roy was sure to wake up at sunrise and be out on the water to squeeze the last bit of spearfishing in. He wanted to bring fish with us down to Kuta and bring it to a sushi restaurant. Again, luck was on his side and he came back in with a small dogtooth tuna and a rainbow runner, both great fish to enjoy raw, and perfect sizes to transport with us in the taxi.

We made it back to Kuta that afternoon, and that evening were treated once again to a great sushi dinner!

The following morning Roy was off again at an ungodly hour to meet up with his buddy Nick for a surf. The swell was up and they said it was really fun. Siobhan slept in and took advantage of the time to shop!

The following day, we caught a small ferry boat over to the small island of Nusa Lembongan. It’s a quiet place and great spot to relax for a few days.

 We spent the time exploring on moto bikes, surfing and just chilling out. The main source of income for Lembongan is seaweed farming. Large plots of seaweed stretch out into the ocean and is quite to sight to see at low tide. It was interesting to watch as the men and women used long bamboo poles to push their way out on canoes in the shallow water to tend and gather the seaweed. It is sold and used for many cosmetic and food purposes.

We toured the Gala Gala Underground House, a complex underground tunnel that was dug out by a man named Made Byasa with only a hammer and chisel. 

Beginning in 1961 the house took 15 years to finish and it includes a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, meditation room and more. There’s even a water well. No one lives in the house anymore, but Made Byasa’s son now runs it as a museum.

We packed our bags and set off back to Bali. Our flight to Malaysia is tomorrow!