Gili Trawangan 9/12/2009 - 15/12/2009
Hoges in WA
I thought it would. However, that's a side issue.
Gili Trawangan 9/12/2009 - 15/12/2009
Flew from Perth Airport to Denpasar on an afternoon flight to arrive at just
after 6:30pm. Checked into Harris Hotel Tuban (the teabag and coffee people
run 3 hotels in Bali) for a short overnighter.
Ate at Bubba Forrest's Shrimp Bar in Kuta - a few San Miguels and a little
to eat. Pleasant company from the staff there who play up to the "Run
Forrest Run" and "Stop Forrest Stop" mini billboards on every table used to
attract the attention of servers.
Early on to the bus to Padangbai - like 6:30am the driver was there waiting.
Grabbed what breakfast we could and out the door. Around Kuta and Legian to
pick up a couple of others for the drive - two Russian females, graceless
and sour with no manners. 2 hours to get to PB and half an hour getting the
GiliCat loaded and we were off.
About an hour to Lombok (not to Bangca luckily) to a small jetty to drop off
a couple of passengers and then a quick trip back to GT. Trip cost from
Bali to GT is $USD60 each way. The cheap way is on the interisland ferries
but it could take you up to 11 hours if that's your pick. There's another
one from Benoa Harbour called Bluewater Express - will probably use that
next time as you get to sleep in a bit as there's no two-hours+ to get to PB
first. It's a 4 hour trip by water as it goes to Lembongan first.
We were staying in the villas attached to Manta Dive, as we were diving with
them. Cost $USD47 per day. Clean, neat, reasonably spacious, outside
shower/toilet area which also was quite spacious. Usually airconned but the
power goes out frequently as the genny overheats from time to time and needs
to shut down to cool.
Manta Dive is a very professional operation. The chappy in charge, Ben,
doesn't bark orders or try to look like he's running anything - he just gets
things done with a minimum of fuss. The other DMs are up to it also, and
they don't just wait to do stuff on the boat - they all get involved in
making the shore side run also. From a management study point of view, they
are great to watch as an object lesson in "smooth". My DM for my Padi
Advanced was an Englishman by the name of Adam. As with Ben, Adam is a quiet
organizer who just seems to get stuff done with an absence of loud noise
general all-round pleasantness. None of the staff I came in contact with in
6 days of hanging out the front or on the boats had any ego at all - there
was no big-noting, no claiming, no put-downs.
The dive shops on GT are very "country" specific, with a German operation, a
French one and in Manta's case, it is an English operation run with English
modesty and reserve. They have good gear and excellent staff. Their Indo
staff include a couple of DMs also - had the pleasure of diving with one of
them on my last dive - he was very good, very skilled and a delight to be
with. I know it was his backyard but he was also very observant and pointed
out 4 or 5 things I completely missed.
Dives were about $USD38 for what they call "fun dives". My course was
$USD275. (I certified 1/1/1980 under a different system that barely exists
now and was doing the Padi to make sure I had a ticket that would work
world-wide when my wife and I take off cruising next year).
My wife got a couple of dives in which was a real bonus. She developed the
dreaded breast cancer in March 09 and she's gone through the whole range of
excision, chemo and radio this year. She wanted some quality time and as
she still has a port under her skin for ongoing Herceptin treatment thought
she could only snorkel. However, it turned out better than we thought and
she came along for two good dives. I think her fun dives were -10% because
she was staying in a villa or maybe because I had booked a course or
something. Can't remember but the final bill for accommodation, dives, a
couple of meals in the attached caf� etc wasn't much to worry about.
I dived in boardshorts and rash vest with no boots either. Even on my 100',
I still only had them on and I was not cold at all. Entries are straight
off the wide side of the prahu. Your bc/tank is placed in a group with
whoever you are going with by the staff before you even get on the boat.
(which is only about 50' from the front of Manta Dive anyway). You are
responsible for your weight belt only and for rinsing your reg and BC when
you come back.
Exiting the water is weight belt up to one of the boat staff while you hang
on to a rope loop alongside. Second to go up is your bc and tank, then you
hand up your mask and flippers and step up the wide-runged wooden ladder.
Damn sight better than skinny-runged metal ladders that cut into your feet!
All the dive sites are within about 15 minutes of the shop. Hanns Reef is
two islands away on Gili Air and even that is not that far to go.
All diving is drift diving, as the main feature of the northern Gilis is
current. Lots. When you have finished, your DM simply sends up his
inflatable sock while you hang at 5 and the boat comes to you. I had
one-on-one with Adam for 4 of my dives and the system worked well. On my
100' dive, Adam's computer went blitzo and began continually resetting
itself. We got all the way down to within a few feet of the bottom and he
called it off. Slow ascent and up with the sausage - certainly surprised
the boat crew who hadn't expected us for another 20 minutes. Back to Manta
Dive (5 minutes away!) and then back out to Turbo Deep and back down again.
Breakfast was included in the tariff but at Manta's attached caf� it was
nothing special. Coffee was good, though (Lombok coffee is what to ask
for).
Dinner is a matter of walking up the main drag past any number of open bars
and restaurants. Most have seafood bbqs for not much - I had a whole bbq'd
squid and Carol had 6 large king prawns for about 60,000rp or about $USD6.
Throw in a couple of Bintangs for <$2 and maybe a side dish or so and you
get out for under $20 easily.
There are a couple of Indo restaurants that aren't on the main seaside road
that the Manta staff frequented and they had things like Nasi Goreng for
under $2 a meal.
There are no cars or motorbikes on Gili. Transport is by horse-drawn cart.
We hired one to go round the island - he said 100,000rp then tried on
200,000rp when we got back. I was going to give him 150 anyway so I just
chipped him gently for the attempt at rewriting the original contract and
gave him the 150. Interesting to see the mansions on the south side of the
island - these are substantial residences and certainly not cheap no matter
the price of labour. The driver referred to them as "man from English",
"man from Dutch", "man from German" so there's a smattering of nationalities
who have decided it's where they want to go to get away from it.
We went past a construction site of a 200-room hotel. One wonders whether
the needs of supplying that will see a change in transport modes on the
island.
After six superb days, back on the GiliCat and back to the mayhem of Legian.
I hadn't stayed there since 1983 and I was not at all comfortable (last
visit we stayed over in Sanur, or "Snore" as the Balinese refer to it). Our
hotel, Kumala Pantai, was superb but once you step out, you are in the
madness. The General who owns KP (and 5 other hotels) was there on our
first day supervising the installation of the last of 4 Chinese dragons on
the hotel exterior. Times have changed - not so long ago, it was illegal to
bring in anything written in Chinese to Indo and now even the Generals can
afford to let their roots come a little to the surface.
A Bali report is of no relevance in a dive report. Would I go back to GT?
Certainly, and will probably do so in the middle of 2010 as we'll be
boat-hunting in Florida in 2011. Use Manta Dive again? Certainly - enjoyed
their company as well as the dives. Excellent operation in all respects. My
original queries were very patiently handled by Anna, who actually resides
on Bali apparently. No grey areas in the q-&-a's I sent/got. Deposit
information easy to understand, terms of the accommodation, dives etc also
well explained. Compared to many of the dive operations here in WA, Manta
is head and shoulders above. My wife actually managed to get a photo of me
smiling on GT - and that's rare.
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mike gray
> I'm back and now recovering from the knee scrape - damn that hurts more than
> I thought it would. However, that's a side issue.
>
>
>
> Gili Trawangan 9/12/2009 - 15/12/2009
You write a damned good report! You should do it professionally.
esg
Hoges in WA
"mike gray" <omg...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:hvudnQjiVvil0KPW...@earthlink.com...
sunset......diving, surfing, eating, drinking.
I put 4 landscape photos on Scubaboard that go with the trip.
Hoges in WA
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Dan Bracuk
<tzhog...@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>Dives were about $USD38 for what they call "fun dives". My course was
>$USD275. (I certified 1/1/1980 under a different system that barely exists
>now and was doing the Padi to make sure I had a ticket that would work
>world-wide when my wife and I take off cruising next year).
I recommend presenting your original certification credentials as much
as possible. I have an ACUC card that's seldom recognized but always
accepted.
Hoges in WA
"Dan Bracuk" <NOTb...@pathcom.com> wrote in message
news:o4lsj5leb8ugcefvk...@4ax.com...
I agree with you where I can do so - unfortunately, my NQS card is
disintegrating and I don't want to get stuck with only my original
certification book.
I figured I could get PADI to accept the crossover while I still had
evidence rather than go through the ordinary Open Water when I had no
evidence.
Hoges in WA
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Dan Bracuk
<tzhog...@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>I agree with you where I can do so - unfortunately, my NQS card is
>disintegrating
Get it laminated.
Hoges in WA
> signature database 4736 (20100101) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>
Will do. Got one of those things at work. Keep forgetting we have it then
I remember and do half a dozen things at once.