We were so itchy to dive again. Our last dip was last November. That's why we quickly nod to make trip to Ujung Kulon, ironically for….snorkeling. people change. So do budgets!
For whatever reason I till today don’t (want to) know, we almost cancelled this trip. But it’s said, when you say a wish, the universe will speak back to you. We said our wish and it replied. It speaks in language we dont understand, anyway.
We packed things into Sena’s car. Sena, empty navigator’s seat. Rian, moi. Ocha, Ricka. We pick Audy who was still hanging out with her friends, watching Mark Ronson DJ-ing. And then off we went. It was almost 23.30.
Sena drove like pro in the dark of the night. Opa Rian was our occasional navigator (as he often fell asleep). The rest of us slept like babies. We reached Sumur at 06.00.
Sena drove like pro in the daylight, on the bumpy road (most of the road was as ugly as in April 2009, when I went there). Three ungodly hours later, finally, we made it to Andre’s place.
It is situated in a bay. a long long white beach, trimmed with coconut trees. When the first time I passed the area was in April 2009, I thought, it’d be lovely to spend some time here. And now here we were, at the very bay. By the sea. at the foot of a green hill.
We ate fried bananas and dough-with-vegetables (bakwan sayur, sans the bak of course) and drank tea too sweet. It was a good breakfast and little did we know that the real breakfast was served in the kitchen table. Anyway there's always room for the real meal. So we ate a load before going to the beach.
Soon as we reached the snorkeling spot near Pulau (?), we plunged. Only Andre and Rian plunged deeper. They dove. Andre acted as buddy divemaster. Rian was “the traitor” for only he, this time, had more money for diving!
It took less than half a minute to know we—snorkelers—were unwelcomed. We were stung by unknown creatures. All over our bare skin! What is it? Hey, did you get stung?
Visible to eyes were millions of mini jellyfish-like creatures. It is slightly bigger the size of a mung bean, transparent and has butterfly-like wings. We at first tried to ignore the attack as the underwater reefs are beautiful and in good shape. The fishes are big and beautiful and seemingly edible. But we were stung mercilessly. Only Ricka was safe because she wore wetsuit. Oh itchy itchy itchy!
I could have ignored them if they din sting my lips! At last we gave up, waving crazily to the boatmen to pick us up.
Minutes later the divers surfaced. We then ate lunch and some delicacies. The latter were soft, apricot and poppy seeds infused cheese from Australia with biscuit imported from Norway. A good tasty yummy combination. The baked good was labeled Buy 1 Get 1! Did I happen to mention that there was no expiry date on the biscuit’s packaging? Perhaps it was expired. But, being 10 miles away from the mainland, who cares?
Across, we saw a boat doing a mysterious thing. Its men jumped into the sea, wearing masks and handing hoses in hands. Some others operated an ugly looking machine. They're poisoning reefs to harvest fish, said Andre. We approached the boat and Andre spoke to them softly and they left.
While divers were having their second dip, we dipped to the second spot, hoping it is a sting free spot. it was. Some corals have been broken, supposedly from bombings. Some colonies showed signs of bleaching. It is a sad sight but fortunately, some shows recovery. I spotted a big trevally, swimming alone. I guess it is taking a leave of swimming in school. I chased it until it disappeared in to the dark blue water.
We surfaced, crawling to the white beach of Pulau (?), a tiny island that shows major signs of abrasion. There were only plastic rubbish, a leguminous tree, many trailing plants and some mangrove. Then we swam back to the boat.
We returned to the mainland and ran for shelter because the sun was mercilessly hot. We ate much and being, exhausted, fell asleep quickly only to wake up and eat dinner. Yay! life's good at the beach.
We later had some talk and tea on the front porch, asking silly questions like, what do young people here do on Saturday night? What do they regard as entertainment? How they date? How can they, far from anywhere, manage to live happily? Young people here take 3 hrs motor ride to Sumur to watch (mostly) dangdut concerts and to buy DVDs.
It was a nice weather and we went walking on the beach, asking whether turtles still lay eggs here on the beach. they replied no. after some nice sitting on the sand, we went back because it rained. We then slept well.
In the morning we woke up and took a walk to the beach again, only further. I regretted we din wake up earlier to hike up the hill to see a waterfall. On the beach, we saw these two big trees, standing sturdy and thriving in the water. Those must have been a kind of false mangroves. We then rushed back because we had to--eat breakfast and pack things.
We ate fragrant rice, fried noodle, braised eggs, fried sambal, and kerupuk. We then packed and bid farewell to Andre, the boatmen, and the hosts.
We went to the nearest neighboring village that surprisingly has a very smooth road. We went to a local crafts workshop, managed by WWF, and bought these rhino figurines.
A holiday too short, we sighed. But it was fun. And now we’re already itchy to go back again.
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