Snorkeling the USAT-Liberty shipwreck
Another active day of snorkeling before leaving Amed Hotel for return to home base in Sanur, Denpasar and also after leaving hotel with stop at the resting place of the WWll United States Army Transport ship the Liberty, torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1942.
Breakfast was excellent as usual before David and I walked about 1/2 mile down the beach to a big cove that had good reef activity and a government installed series of statues and stone temples under water as a tourist attraction and scaffolding for more coral growth. Asking a number of people about where these statues were, we never got an exact location, but using our finely honed navigating skills, following the snorkels and divers air bubbles, we launched into the water and started treading. We trolled about enjoying the reef and fish life, trying different spots and finally found the encrusted stone temple, not enormous but moderately interesting, and continued on working our way out along where the coral beds eventually dropped off precipitously into the deep dark void - very eerie. We could see many divers deeper down below like ghostly shadows and as far as I could tell there was not much but sloping gray silt to look at - not too interesting to me but enjoyed watching their bubbles rise from the dark and then illuminated as they rose up towards the surface light, like effervescent soda water. Not finding any signs of statues, we reversed directions and still could not find them before giving up and heading for shore and our return to hotel, packing up and waiting for Komang, our trusty driver. David thinks the statues were just a little further past where we got out of water but decided we didn’t miss much in any case.
We then said goodbye to our nice hotel hosts, Italian acquaintance Max, and Katrinkas’ friend Terra who was headed for Australia later in the day, drove about 40 minutes towards the next shipwreck, all the while the looming presence of Agung, the still smoldering volcano getting impressively larger.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Agung
We arrived at site of the over 400 ft. in length shipwreck, a very popular diving spot, I believe the largest of its kind in Bali, paid our small entrance fee and found our way to the beach near site, a little off shore. Again, following pointing fingers in the general direction, looking for divers and after swimming in choppy water further out then needed and a bit off, I turned and worked my way eventually to the beginning of wreck about 15ft. below me. It was impressively large, tilting on the sloping seabed towards the deep, again, hard to discern what I was looking at but eventually getting oriented. I followed along the length of the ship, which paralleled the shore line and getting deeper down from the surface as I swam along. The massive metal structures, some broken and twisted but much still intact and clearly defined, were covered with colorful barnacles, coral, waving plants and many large and small fish darting in and out of openings in the hull. The current was a bit strong and water a little rough, a bit murky as I continued my journey which seemed to go on forever and took a while to get to the other end. Cranes, booms, towers and various riggings and piping lay strewn in all directions giving me a challenge to visualize what the ship might have looked like intact - it was impressively huge. Getting to what I thought might be the barely detectable bow of the ship which was pretty deep down by now and barely visible, I turned around working my way back to the stern. I saw more sections from this reverse perspective and impressed how wide this cargo ship was, how some sections collapsed and folded towards the center while other parts fell outwards. Occasionally I would swim down as deep as I could to get a better look and hold on to parts, pulling myself along until I had to return to the surface - this is where the benefits of scuba come in and would have loved to explore around deeper down. I saw divers doing just that, some coming in and out of openings here and there, I was envious. By now I was getting pretty tired so headed to shore to patiently waiting friends and we continued on our way.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAT_Liberty
The two more stops we had planned, the famous bat caves and coastal sea salt producing facility, were put on hold for some other time - we were pooped after busy week. Instead, we stopped for dinner at nice surfing and yoga resort before continuing on, finally arriving home. It was an excellent trip, many new sights and experiences and good time with friends who are fully engaged with the culture and people of Bali- learned a lot, much to digest!
https://www.komuneresorts.com/gold-coast/
Breakfast was excellent as usual before David and I walked about 1/2 mile down the beach to a big cove that had good reef activity and a government installed series of statues and stone temples under water as a tourist attraction and scaffolding for more coral growth. Asking a number of people about where these statues were, we never got an exact location, but using our finely honed navigating skills, following the snorkels and divers air bubbles, we launched into the water and started treading. We trolled about enjoying the reef and fish life, trying different spots and finally found the encrusted stone temple, not enormous but moderately interesting, and continued on working our way out along where the coral beds eventually dropped off precipitously into the deep dark void - very eerie. We could see many divers deeper down below like ghostly shadows and as far as I could tell there was not much but sloping gray silt to look at - not too interesting to me but enjoyed watching their bubbles rise from the dark and then illuminated as they rose up towards the surface light, like effervescent soda water. Not finding any signs of statues, we reversed directions and still could not find them before giving up and heading for shore and our return to hotel, packing up and waiting for Komang, our trusty driver. David thinks the statues were just a little further past where we got out of water but decided we didn’t miss much in any case.
We then said goodbye to our nice hotel hosts, Italian acquaintance Max, and Katrinkas’ friend Terra who was headed for Australia later in the day, drove about 40 minutes towards the next shipwreck, all the while the looming presence of Agung, the still smoldering volcano getting impressively larger.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Agung
We arrived at site of the over 400 ft. in length shipwreck, a very popular diving spot, I believe the largest of its kind in Bali, paid our small entrance fee and found our way to the beach near site, a little off shore. Again, following pointing fingers in the general direction, looking for divers and after swimming in choppy water further out then needed and a bit off, I turned and worked my way eventually to the beginning of wreck about 15ft. below me. It was impressively large, tilting on the sloping seabed towards the deep, again, hard to discern what I was looking at but eventually getting oriented. I followed along the length of the ship, which paralleled the shore line and getting deeper down from the surface as I swam along. The massive metal structures, some broken and twisted but much still intact and clearly defined, were covered with colorful barnacles, coral, waving plants and many large and small fish darting in and out of openings in the hull. The current was a bit strong and water a little rough, a bit murky as I continued my journey which seemed to go on forever and took a while to get to the other end. Cranes, booms, towers and various riggings and piping lay strewn in all directions giving me a challenge to visualize what the ship might have looked like intact - it was impressively huge. Getting to what I thought might be the barely detectable bow of the ship which was pretty deep down by now and barely visible, I turned around working my way back to the stern. I saw more sections from this reverse perspective and impressed how wide this cargo ship was, how some sections collapsed and folded towards the center while other parts fell outwards. Occasionally I would swim down as deep as I could to get a better look and hold on to parts, pulling myself along until I had to return to the surface - this is where the benefits of scuba come in and would have loved to explore around deeper down. I saw divers doing just that, some coming in and out of openings here and there, I was envious. By now I was getting pretty tired so headed to shore to patiently waiting friends and we continued on our way.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAT_Liberty
The two more stops we had planned, the famous bat caves and coastal sea salt producing facility, were put on hold for some other time - we were pooped after busy week. Instead, we stopped for dinner at nice surfing and yoga resort before continuing on, finally arriving home. It was an excellent trip, many new sights and experiences and good time with friends who are fully engaged with the culture and people of Bali- learned a lot, much to digest!
https://www.komuneresorts.com/gold-coast/
Lunchtime for you I suspect. Heading to bed soon in our reality.
ReplyDeleteYou paint a lovely picture of a man getting comfortable with his surroundings. I wince when I hear of the hiking but glad you are getting so much ocean time. Salt water is your friend.
Chat this weekend?
Ciao intrepid traveler.