Michael & Yuhui – Our Life Journey

Day 2 – Dive #12 at Liberty Wreck, Tulamben, Bali

After the first dive at Drop Off, we had a quick lunch at the resort and chatted a bit about where the others had dived. I was the newbie in the group with just 11 dives so far (the others were in their 20++ region). I was anticipating the next dive since it would be my first wreck dive, the USS Liberty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

http://www.divetheworldindonesia.com/bali-diving-sites-liberty-wreck.htm

The best conditions to dive at Liberty would be in the early morning where the visibility would be much better. Since we were doing an afternoon dive, Komang mentioned that it would definitely be cloudier. However, since we were here, it was worth a visit even if it wouldn’t be in its best glory

Finning around, we caught sight of some great looking corals and also some moray eels as it hid themselves in the sand. As we rounded the 120m long wreck, we were supposed to go underneath the ship and come out on the far side. Komang has also mentioned that at least 100 psi before attempting this since it could get a little tricky if one panicked. Well, I gazed at my gauge, it looked good, and I finned after him as he brought us in. The initial feeling was definitely weird (this being my first time) but you soon get used to the ship being so close and also notice quite a few varieties of coral and fishes swimming about.

Komang suddenly stopped and pointed, asking me to take a photo. Just 3 meters ahead, a grouper (not sure if it was a peacock grouper)! Not being prepared, I forgot that the conditions were a little too dark and the camera mode being on auto, a flash strayed and all I got was a photo with a smudge of the fish and a lot of backscatter (above, right). Lesson learnt, always be prepared and in the right mode!

Moving out of the belly, we finned about a little more, taking in the wonderful view of the corals growing off the wreck. Amazing how a disaster grows into such a beautiful sight underwater. The highlight of the trip was when Komang pointed out a sea fan (gorgonian) and gestured I should take a photo. Being almost in the low 50s, I couldn’t control my buoyancy enough to take a macro shot so had to hand it over to Komang. He took a couple of beautiful shots of a pygmy seahorse as it hung itself to the branches. Truly amazing what the underwater world offers in sights!

As we were heading up, Komang suddenly stopped and started scratching his upper body. Both Pam and I were curious what he was doing since it attracted a LOT of fishes around us. It was pretty funny the way he mimicked an ape and the fishes just swarmed around. We later asked him the reason and he said the fishes had been trained that when the action was performed, they thought there would be food! So even when his pockets were empty, they just played along

The afternoon ended sooner that I liked… Wish had more time and more dives to check out the sights but alas, it was time to head back to Kuta. Thanks to Bali Hai for the wonderful dives and Seraya Resort for having such a beautiful cozy place by the beach to enjoy some wonderful dives.