We returned to Bali after our quick weekend in Singapore and headed to Nusa Dua to meet up with our friends Matt & Galina. It’s an area of beautiful beaches on the very southern tip of the island.
It’s also near Bali National Golf Club, and I headed out Monday afternoon for a round. It’s a very nice course, and was in good shape, though there were some flooded areas from very heavy rains the day before. I had hired clubs and hit the driver really well, finding 10 of 13 fairways (half is a good day for me normally) which was very helpful on a course with plenty of trouble beyond the margins. Unfortunately, with hired clubs, I don’t get the best fit and didn’t hit the irons well. Score could have been better but it was good fun to get out and hit a few.
The 6th was a lovely par 3 up the hill.
And the 17th had an island green (and construction on a new hotel in the background). Yep, I hit the green and made a par.
Back at the end of December, while in Seminyak, I did a 3-day SCUBA course and became PADI Open Water certified. Matt’s been certified for years, so we went to Tulamben (just north of Amed) on Tuesday and did two dives at the wreck of the US Liberty. (Leena and Galina enjoyed a beach day.) The USS Liberty was a troop transport ship that was damaged in WWII and scuttled on Bali when they realized they couldn’t make it to Jakarta for repairs. An earthquake (I’m guessing associated with an eruption) in the 60s tumbled the ship into the ocean. It’s a shore dive; the wreck is just 50 meters off shore. After 50 years in the water it’s got coral all over it and plenty of fish around it. We did some fun swim through passages on various parts of the wreck.
I added to my certification by doing a Deep Water Adventure dive on the first dive, going beyond the 18m I did in the Open Water course. We went close to 30m deep. I also dived on Nitrox, and completed my Enriched Air Certification.
We headed back to Ubud for a couple of nights to meet our friend Sandy. We caught a taxi to check out a temple called Elephant Cave. I had to don a sarong.
Our taxi.
The taxi driver talked us into a second stop: Tegenungen Waterfall.
From Ubud, we (including Sandy) headed to Sanur, another beachtown in the southeast of Bali.
After six weeks in Bali, we headed to Perth on the 31st of January.