Yesterday we left Ubud and climbed into a small van, known as a Bemo, and headed off to Tulamben. This is a very small village along the north-east coast of Bali. The only thing that has this town on the maps is that there is a wreck of a WWII American ship 'Liberty' right on the beach. Well, its actually in the water, but its no more than 30 feet from the water's edge. People come here to dive it and that's exactly why we're here.

We arrived in the early afternoon, after the driver had to stop and ask a little girl if he was on the right road to Tulamben. Apparently he doesn't get asked to come this way very often. We came into town, and I use that word loosely since there is one road and a few shops on it. He asked us where we were staying and when we told him we didn't know yet, he got a look of utter confusion on his face. Why would you come here and not know where to stay he was thinking? We assured him it was OK and had him drop us off in front of a restaurant. We took our bags and went in to have lunch and decide on our plan of action. While eating a great lunch, the waiter was very helpful in telling us about the place we were thinking of staying. In fact he told us since this is the slow season, not to pay more than 50,000 rupiah a night (about $5.60). We thanked him and called the guesthouse (yes, we have a cell phone again and it's very affordable here). We booked our room and walked over.

When we arrived, to our surprise, there was even a dive shop at the place. Turns out they will rent me tanks for $8 each and then $5 for refills. They also throw the weights in for free. For 5,000 rupiah they will provide a 'helper' to carry the tank the 500 meters to the dive site and back. There is also a 10,000 rupiah a day fee that goes to the village. I'm not exactly sure what that fee does, but I'm not going to argue. I get to dive all day long for under $10 a dive after paying between $30-$50 everywhere else along the way. I'm in diving heaven! I'll let you know how it is tomorrow.

One more thing we have on our agenda today. This is going to be fun!!!!! Last night, we met a mother and son next door from Australia. He is getting married today to a Balinese woman in a traditional Hindu ceremony. We have no idea why, but he invited us to the wedding, which he said is going to be a huge affair and the whole village will be there. This is too good to miss. We hope they'll let us take photos and not be offended.

Stay tuned and we'll fill you in on how it goes.

Eric