Dolphin adventure

Just as I was starting to have a deep sleep, someone knocks on my door, I knew I had to jump right out of bed, otherwise I would never wake up. I barely slept last night.The walls here are definitely all made of bamboo anywhere you stay! I could hear my neighbor, all night he cough, choke,and an aweful lot of sounds . Actually, it sounds like he has lung cancer, maybe that is why he is so miserable, maybe he is spending some quality time in Bali while he can, I don’t know but it sounded pretty bad, and he smokes like a cheminy. The ear plug didn’t do a thing! When the knock came, I was out of my room in 5 minutes, I had prepared everything. But we are waiting for two more people, Malaysian girls on holiday in Bali. One speaks English the other only Basa. I didn’t know but they can communicate with Indonesians because they speak Basa as well, she said it was like my French and the French from France, different but you get to understand each other. Her friend does not speak a word of English. I said to Made, but how are we going 4 people on a bike, no we walk to the beach my boat is just over there, ah! good! And his boat is really a 1 minute walk; he lives right on the beach. His young wife helps him push the boat into the water, it is a pretty big boat to push. It is dark and quiet, no different if its 6pm or 6am still no breeze. I am sure in the middle of the ocean the winds will refresh us. It’s the same type of boat as the Polynesian uses, a narrow and deep boat, with bamboo floaters on both side, keeping the balance of the boat, so if you stand you cannot tip the boat, this is kind of reassuring as I brought my good camera. When I sit on the wood planks my feet don’t even touch the bottom of the boat, it is narrow and deeper than a regular boat. He does have a motor, because the way the boat is made, the motor works almost horizontally, somehow it’s still has propulsion! It is a slow pace but at least we are making some grounds. We witness the sunrise behind the mountains, even at 6 o’clock am, it is not even slightly chilly, I had brought my towel, in case I need it to keep warm. No need here. For roughly 40 minutes we are just going forward, to my deception we are not the only boat going dolphin seeing, there probably another six or seven boats, same type of embarkations, but we are the lightest, as we are only 4. The boats are making circles when they reach a certain point in the ocean, and now the motor is on throttle, we patiently wait. I am not saying a word, instead I am starting to visualize the dolphins and not too long after, they show up.The bottle nose dolphins make their apparition. Two large school of dolphins, in front of them the Tuna jumping like crazy over the water. The dolphins would swim, play and jump than disappear, than our captain would watch for the tuna to jump and direct the boat towards that direction and not long after the dolphins reappeared! More than once, they came so close I wanted to jump in the water, Made said, you can’t swim here to dangerous, sharks. No problem the dolphins will protect me from sharks, no, no, you can’t swim here. I think they just think you can’t swim anywhere you don’t see the bottom! More than once the dolphins came under our boats, I took hundreds of photos, but it is a hard task you always miss the good shots as they are faster than you. One did a big swirl in front of us. We watch for almost an hour an half, at one point I didn’t want to film or take photos anymore, I just wanted to enjoy their presences, when you are shooting you can’t see them as good. I was so happy, I got overwhelm again, and felt tears of joy dropping down my cheeks. What a wonderful moment, a true natural experience with the most beautiful animal on the planet. I don’t say that because they are cute, because they are truly more intelligent than us, they are kind but when they need to attack to protect themselves they do, they are the only one that can kill the sharks if attack by them. The only enemies they have are the humans. I could talk about dolphins for hours as I am very knowledgeable of the subject. This moment was very special, since I know more about them, I refuse to swim with dolphins in a pool, it is a torture for the dolphins, in the nature they only function by radar, the radar they have is meant to bounced back to them to give them signals, except it is meant to be in the ocean, in a pool, the radar bounced back at them like a hammer on their heads, they live with constant pain, not to mention the lack of freedom, they are such playful animals, it’s a shame we do this to them, just in the name of money again. I used to go anywhere to swim with dolphins, but now, I will not encourage such a cruelty. There is a movie that I wish I had the name with me, so you can go and rent it. Because the Japanese are killing thousand of dolphins every year, this documentary had to be film with special equipment because the Japanese, have a police to watch anyone trying to capture this on film and throw them in jail. The killing is really sickening. The sea is red for a few days. The people that film the documentary had tremendous courage and bravery, and I wish everyone would see this video, because more people would want to do something about it, just like me. There is also, another carnage you can see on internet, just” google” slaughter of the dolphins in Danemark on “you tube”, you can see these students that kill every year,l hundreds of dolphins just for fun as an initiation challenge. They kill all the dolphins for no reasons; the video is live and brutal. It makes you wonder how such a thing still exist in 2010, even so, why no one does anything, how come nobody is trying to stop these students from such a terrorist act! Since the Japanese have been exposed, I no longer buy anything from Japan, and I have not eaten in a Japanese restaurant since. Except for a Miso soup at the JFK airport and some California roll which is not sushi. Until they completely stop the carnage, I will keep boycotting.

I feel so bless, and I am so happy I came here to see the dolphins and my wish came through. It was even better than I expected, as they came so close I could have an eye contact, and they did look at us, we are one of the few boats that the dolphins came so close. They were so close I couldn’t get a good shoot, as I had switch my lens for close up from far away. They were so close, the camera could not focus, just a big blur. I had switch lens, since so many people told me you see them from far away, I thought well at least I will get a good shot from far away! I didn’t try to touch them, I didn’t want to scare them away, what would I’ve given for it! They were so playful and so elegant, they seem to be gliding on the water, effortless. I saw one underneath our boat, that had his belly up and looking at us from underneath, I thought that was pretty cool. Their belly is white. I could off stay here and sit for hours, it was so peaceful and a rare, precious moment. As we return, it is so hot, I leave my feet drag in the water, the water is so good here, really warm even in the very deep. We say goodbye to the dolphins, who are also moving on with their journey. Then we are heading to the snorkeling spot, as we approach the area, we can see the fish underneath the boat, lots of them and plenty of colors. The snorkeling was amazing, as I seen things I have never seen anywhere; a fluorescent blue starfish, the true giant shell that hides a pearl inside, and a few fish, I don’t even know their species name! Now I understand why everyone on the beach was selling pearls, they must be real, I better find out! But sadly, they must be exploiting the abundance of the shells, and one day, we might not find pearls anymore in Lovina, as they seem to be no rules either. Made does not know it, but I have return to the sea, everything he had dive and collect to give me. I know he meant well, but I could not kill something just because its pretty and I should take it home. Than I saw something on top of a rock moving, it was curled up like a snake, I went to get Made to ask, he said no,no, no snake here, than he dives down with just a mask and a tube, as I watch, the” snake” retrieves and as it retrieves, it reveals its beauty, it’s the giant sea shell, probably with a pearl in it! The mollusk opens its jaws wide enough for Made to put something in it, the sea shell is not letting go, I dive down to check it out, the sea shell will not let go and will probably turn that piece of coral into another pearl. It is a beautiful shell, never seen one alive, it is hiding very tight between two big coral rock and no one couldn’t touch it without tools and I hope no one touches it. It is tuck away so tight, you would need to seriously damage the shell to get to it. I am glad I didn’t try to touch it and get my finger stuck in there, the shell is tight lock around the piece of coral Made inserted. 5 or 6 kinds of fish follow me, everywhere I go. Sometime, nibbling on my hands, even ,if I have no more bananas left. The coral here is not impressive and almost colorless, but the fish are amazing, many varieties and so many beautiful and colorful varieties, you rarely see so much diversity in one spot. I saw the entire cast of Nemo’s and more. Many fish I have never seen. The girls are too afraid to swim and stay in the water holding on to the bamboo, still from there they can see a lot. Made brings me back a beautiful red shell, as we climb the boat, the girls drop the shell by accident into the water, so Made went down again to look for it, and he did find it. I asked him if it was alive and he said no, this one really look like it wasn’t, it had some green moss and something that looked like rust. He said when it’s alive, there is something living in it, and you can see it. So we put the shell on the bottom of the boat this time. Few minutes later, one of the girl is screaming saying the shell is walking, and it is. Made grabs it, it’s a funny mean looking crab that has the same legs as a black widow spider, in a burgundy color, same color as the shell, also has antenna’s and the cute eyes of a crab, I couldn’t get a photo because my camera was already put away. I sure wish I had an underwater camera, I could off made stunning photos. The water was clear and so warm. I could off stay there hours. Going back the sun is so hot, I use my towel to protect myself, and even in the water I could feel the heat on the back of my white t-shirt. On the way back, I can’t believe the morning I just had, not too often you have sensational days like this. I will keep this moment for the days life is not so kind and I will vision myself here again. A keepsake forever and I hope more people find moments like this in their life, it is so important. And as I am writing these last few lines, I am reminded that not all moments are good, as they just slaughter a pig in the backyard in front of me, writing about these happy moments, I have to stop because I can’t see, but sure can hear his distress, this is not a normal scream, and as I stand still so does the chickens in the garden here, the hog as a slow death and his trying to hang on to dear life so bad. He is suffering, his cries are unbearable. As I stay still, unable to keep writing, I feel something cold on my legs, it’s a small gecko, even the geckos are different here, they climb on you, but I must say there was a mosquito on my leg, that is why he crawl on me. I didn’t get bite once since I arrived in Bali, at the hotel there is always a natural coil burning in a coconut shell, also they had a natural solutions there. Many resort fumigates their grounds, here in Bali, they just make sure each body of waters has tons of fish. One day I asked why so many fish everywhere, and the answer was mosquito management! As for the poor hog that will be a feast for a few families here. At least here they are humanely raised. Pork is the national dish, suckling pig is famous, and everyone here is getting ready for Nyepi day, Nyepi is not the day they eat, is a matter of fact many will fast that day, and will not speak a word, but the biggest celebrations of the year is tomorrow.
Speaking of Nyepi day, for the first day, I will have to skip a day on the blog. I knew we had to keep silent, and a few more things. But we received notice, that at a certain time, the power will be complety shut off, leaving the hotel (back to Ubud) in the dark. Flashlights will be supplied, and no one is allowed on the street. I had hope to walk just to get a feel for this very unique occasion, to experience silence, but they will be an actual Police patrolling everywhere, to make sure no one brakes that rule. Tomorrow I was going to download the blog about my return to Ubud, and the evening of Nyepi, but they will be no electricity, the entire country is shut down. I will give you more details later about Nyepi. It will be very interesting to read. I really feel like I going through a new year, I can’t say again, because I didn’t really have a New Year this year! In the mean time, let’s see if telepathy can work all the way here. I need everyone to pray for me, that my lap top does not let me down, I still have lots of works to do, it’s been giving me a hard time for over a week, often it will not power up. I think the heat is even getting to my computer! All I need is another 10 days, please don’t let me down.