Tax day at home! Also the anniversary of when we bought our house in Portland. Here in Bali, it is going by without much fanfare:)

Yesterday we arrived on the island of Nusa Lembongan. WOW! We met a German girl traveling alone on the ferry ride over and she told us she was staying at the hotel attached to World Diving which was recommended by Lonely Planet. As we arrived into the beach on the 'ferry', we saw the dive shop just about 100 yards down the beach. We got off the boat and were immediately surrounded by locals wanting to sell us accommodations, carry our bags, or otherwise extract rupiah from us. We politely told them no thanks and walked to the dive shop with at least three locals in tow who were sure if they hung around long enough we would need help with 'something'.

We walked to the dive shop and inquired about lodging and diving. Turned out there was only one room available, but they could add an extra cot so the three of us could share the room for the night and then the next day they would have another room available. We agreed this would work, tossed our bags in the room and headed off for a cold beer and to sort out the diving the next day.

The owners of the dive shop, John and Sue from the UK, showed me around the operation and we set up a few days worth of diving. We then went to have some food at the restaraunt where we met a family from Switzerland, sort of:) The wife, Theresa, is actually an American, and her husband Tony, who also has an American passport, but is from Lebanon, and their two daughters who I think were both born in the US, but live in Switzerland and one is going to University in Canada next year. It was all a bit confusing, especially after we had gone through a few beers and a pitcher of 'The best of the best'. A mixture of Arak and other fruit juices and Sprite. It tasted like tequila poppers we have had in Mexico, but we were sipping these, not shooting them! After an evening of drinks and a day of diving with them, we exchanged information and we were invited to visit them in Switzerland later during the trip. It wasn't on the itinerary, but that hasn't meant much so far:)

Last night, about an hour before sunset, the beach in front of our bungalow was suddenly alive with locals filling boats with seaweed which had been laying in the sun drying when we arrived (the stench is overwhelming). Seems seaweed is a huge cash crop on the island and we watched them loading it onto boats and taking it back into the water and laying it on racks underwater. It's part of the growing cycle and apparently it goes on all the time. I got some photos, but they don't do justice to how much activity was taking place. There were literally hundreds of small boats along the beach loaded up to the point of sinking with seaweed.

Today I did some diving and Val did some snorkling. Most of the sites have strong current so the dives are done as drifts. The snorkeling as well. The diving was spectacular. Huge healthy soft corals lined every surface. Not much in the way of large fish, but there were plenty of small to medium size. Truly the coral was the show. We did two dives and I got some pretty good photos. Afterwards, we had lunch and said good-by to our new friends. They are heading back to Bali now and then back to Switzerland in a few days. Maybe we'll see them again, but if not, it was fun to meet them and it was great to see other travelers who appreciated the diving as much as I did.

We're pretty sure we're going to spend a few more days here and then head back to Bali at the very last possible minute to avoid time in Kuta or Denpasar before we head off to Singapore.

Take care and we'll keep you posted.

Val and Eric