The Bolter
Registered
So, heres a little factoid for you
The name Wakatobi is a combination of all the small islands surrounding the resort. Now I know why I couldnt find the island on any map when I was researching the trip!
WA Wangi Wangi, KA Kaledupa, TO Tomea, BI Binongko
As Im writing this I am sitting on the porch of our villa watching the golden sun fall behind the oceans horizon. Can you imagine? Ive got a couple hours of private time since my husband decided to go on our groups one guided night dive. I was debating the night dive all week but this morning I finally decided to sit it out. Most people here dont know Im The Bolter and Id like to keep it that way. Just listening to descriptions of night diving give me the willies. I will do it someday when Im more comfortable with diving. And Im sure well be back at Wakatobi in the future so Ill have another chance (at least thats what Im telling myself). I cant wait for my husband to get back and tell me how it went. Even he looked a little scared. Fortunately for him, hes taken to scuba like a fish in water.
Our first dive was to a site called Blade which has a series of sea mounts and with sand chutes between them. I think they named the site Blade because each mount is tall and thin like the blade of a knife. The site was an hour away by boat so we enjoyed the ride and watched the water that was so still it looked like glass. The highlight of this dive was the little orangutan crab which is covered with long red hairs giving them a fuzzy appearance like an orangutan. We saw large schools of yellow-tailed fusiliers, banner fish and angelfish.
I wasted about five minutes of the dive trying to identify a particular fish that was out in the blue about six feet away from me. It was black, kinda squarish and a little lumpy-looking. I couldnt make out its eyes, mouth, tail or fins. I didnt want to get too close so I studied it from a distance and watched it slowly move with the current. I later learned that my mystery fish was, in fact, a trash bag.
The highlight of the second dive was a baby lionfish, only two inches long. None of the photographers were willing to get too close to him because, although hes cute, he is a venomous critter. We saw dozens of nudibranches in a variety of colors and hundreds of beautiful batfish (the site is called Batfish Wall). My dive instructor also pointed out a tiny purple fish and wrote on her slate, Remember. The fish, which was about 1 long, was doing a jerky dance back-and-forth in a little sandy area in front of his hole. My dive instructor later told me hes a cleaner fish and what he was doing was advertising to all the fish that he was open for business. After about 15 seconds of this flitting/jerky dance a butterfly fish pulled in and the cleaner got to work. It reminded me of a car wash.
One of our fellow divers has a small resin Travelocity gnome she brings everywhere with her. She takes pictures of him at all her travel destinations and Wakatobi was no exception. There was much debate as to whether the gnome was water-tight and would implode if she took it on a dive with her. The consensus was that the gnome was solid and could safely make the trip. So, the diver bungied the gnome to her shoulder and took him diving. Once underwater they set him in the sand (wedged between rocks) and took pictures of him as fish passed by. I cant wait to see the pictures. One sad note: apparently some water got logged in the gnome and were going to discuss the situation at dinner to devise a plan to save the gnome.
Today was our last full day of diving. Tomorrow we will only be doing one dive in the morning and then we have to do land activities until our flight leaves the following morning at 7:00 am. As Im sure you all know, we need enough time to off-gas the nitrogen in our bodies before we expose them to the altitude pressure of flying. Instead of diving, the resort has offered to take us on a tour of the local village. Many of the employees at Wakatobi live on the island and they like to show you their world. The walk is a little over a mile which is no problem physically; its just the south-of-the-equator sun and heat that are considerations. We were asked to not wear tank tops or bathing suits on the tour. Its disrespectful to show your shoulders and your thighs in many parts of Indonesia. One of the guides said, We just ask that you respect the people of the island.
So, in between our morning dives and the night dive we decided to do a shore dive on the house reef in the afternoon. You can either enter from the shore or the staff will take you out in a taxi boat. We decided to enter from the shore so I could avoid having to do the seated entry from the taxi boat (Ive had enough adventure for the week!). So, after we geared up we watched the water and figured out the current was going from left to right. Right in front of the long house is a 100 yard stretch of the reef with a gully on each end. So, if the current is going left to right you enter by the gully on the left and let the current take you to along the reef and then you cut in at the gully on the right to exit the water. There is much less current in the gullies so this is very easy to do. If you miss the gully who knows where the current will take you (although the staff do police the area in taxi boats and you are required to bring a safety sausage in case of emergencies). Anyway
We entered near the left gully and descended to about 35 feet. The current, however, was not going left-to-right. It was going right-to-left. At first it wasnt so bad and we could easily swim against it but then it became more difficult so we decided to turn around and just play in the shallow water above the sea grass which was interesting but not what we were planning. When we got out of the water I asked my dive instructor how you know which way the current is moving. She said, You ask someone very knowledgeable from the staff. Its very difficult to tell just from looking out unless you know what youre doing. Then it clicked. I thought, Oh, thats why the dive guide jumps in the water to check the currents before they signal their groups to jump in. Obviously Im not the sharpest tool in the shed!!!
Later that night at dinner one of the dive guides working with a separate group asked us how our dive went. He said he saw us out there struggling and then giving up. It was a little embarrassing. Im sure half the staff were watching us and laughing. But, Ill bet theyve got even better stories about stupid things the guests do .
WA Wangi Wangi, KA Kaledupa, TO Tomea, BI Binongko
As Im writing this I am sitting on the porch of our villa watching the golden sun fall behind the oceans horizon. Can you imagine? Ive got a couple hours of private time since my husband decided to go on our groups one guided night dive. I was debating the night dive all week but this morning I finally decided to sit it out. Most people here dont know Im The Bolter and Id like to keep it that way. Just listening to descriptions of night diving give me the willies. I will do it someday when Im more comfortable with diving. And Im sure well be back at Wakatobi in the future so Ill have another chance (at least thats what Im telling myself). I cant wait for my husband to get back and tell me how it went. Even he looked a little scared. Fortunately for him, hes taken to scuba like a fish in water.
Our first dive was to a site called Blade which has a series of sea mounts and with sand chutes between them. I think they named the site Blade because each mount is tall and thin like the blade of a knife. The site was an hour away by boat so we enjoyed the ride and watched the water that was so still it looked like glass. The highlight of this dive was the little orangutan crab which is covered with long red hairs giving them a fuzzy appearance like an orangutan. We saw large schools of yellow-tailed fusiliers, banner fish and angelfish.
I wasted about five minutes of the dive trying to identify a particular fish that was out in the blue about six feet away from me. It was black, kinda squarish and a little lumpy-looking. I couldnt make out its eyes, mouth, tail or fins. I didnt want to get too close so I studied it from a distance and watched it slowly move with the current. I later learned that my mystery fish was, in fact, a trash bag.
The highlight of the second dive was a baby lionfish, only two inches long. None of the photographers were willing to get too close to him because, although hes cute, he is a venomous critter. We saw dozens of nudibranches in a variety of colors and hundreds of beautiful batfish (the site is called Batfish Wall). My dive instructor also pointed out a tiny purple fish and wrote on her slate, Remember. The fish, which was about 1 long, was doing a jerky dance back-and-forth in a little sandy area in front of his hole. My dive instructor later told me hes a cleaner fish and what he was doing was advertising to all the fish that he was open for business. After about 15 seconds of this flitting/jerky dance a butterfly fish pulled in and the cleaner got to work. It reminded me of a car wash.
One of our fellow divers has a small resin Travelocity gnome she brings everywhere with her. She takes pictures of him at all her travel destinations and Wakatobi was no exception. There was much debate as to whether the gnome was water-tight and would implode if she took it on a dive with her. The consensus was that the gnome was solid and could safely make the trip. So, the diver bungied the gnome to her shoulder and took him diving. Once underwater they set him in the sand (wedged between rocks) and took pictures of him as fish passed by. I cant wait to see the pictures. One sad note: apparently some water got logged in the gnome and were going to discuss the situation at dinner to devise a plan to save the gnome.
Today was our last full day of diving. Tomorrow we will only be doing one dive in the morning and then we have to do land activities until our flight leaves the following morning at 7:00 am. As Im sure you all know, we need enough time to off-gas the nitrogen in our bodies before we expose them to the altitude pressure of flying. Instead of diving, the resort has offered to take us on a tour of the local village. Many of the employees at Wakatobi live on the island and they like to show you their world. The walk is a little over a mile which is no problem physically; its just the south-of-the-equator sun and heat that are considerations. We were asked to not wear tank tops or bathing suits on the tour. Its disrespectful to show your shoulders and your thighs in many parts of Indonesia. One of the guides said, We just ask that you respect the people of the island.
So, in between our morning dives and the night dive we decided to do a shore dive on the house reef in the afternoon. You can either enter from the shore or the staff will take you out in a taxi boat. We decided to enter from the shore so I could avoid having to do the seated entry from the taxi boat (Ive had enough adventure for the week!). So, after we geared up we watched the water and figured out the current was going from left to right. Right in front of the long house is a 100 yard stretch of the reef with a gully on each end. So, if the current is going left to right you enter by the gully on the left and let the current take you to along the reef and then you cut in at the gully on the right to exit the water. There is much less current in the gullies so this is very easy to do. If you miss the gully who knows where the current will take you (although the staff do police the area in taxi boats and you are required to bring a safety sausage in case of emergencies). Anyway
We entered near the left gully and descended to about 35 feet. The current, however, was not going left-to-right. It was going right-to-left. At first it wasnt so bad and we could easily swim against it but then it became more difficult so we decided to turn around and just play in the shallow water above the sea grass which was interesting but not what we were planning. When we got out of the water I asked my dive instructor how you know which way the current is moving. She said, You ask someone very knowledgeable from the staff. Its very difficult to tell just from looking out unless you know what youre doing. Then it clicked. I thought, Oh, thats why the dive guide jumps in the water to check the currents before they signal their groups to jump in. Obviously Im not the sharpest tool in the shed!!!
Later that night at dinner one of the dive guides working with a separate group asked us how our dive went. He said he saw us out there struggling and then giving up. It was a little embarrassing. Im sure half the staff were watching us and laughing. But, Ill bet theyve got even better stories about stupid things the guests do .
