I, personally, didn't really enjoy the beaches in Bali. Although I'm sure there were sandy beaches available somewhere...I had the misfortune of always finding rocky beaches. Very annoying and very uncomfortable on the feet. I was picking little tiny rocks out of my shoes all day.

But, if you make it past the rocky beaches, beautiful seas await.

Scuba Diving

The first thing on my schedule was a scuba diving trip. Since I had never done it before, we had to sign up for a package that included scuba diving training in a pool plus a supervised dive in the ocean. I guess this is a good time to mention that I am a terrible swimmer. I'm not going to drown if you throw me in a pool...but I certainly won't win any metals.

If you've never gone scuba diving, and are iffy about things related to water...then this will be a very uncomfortable experience and I don't recommend it. I'm glad I got it off my bucket list, but I won't be trying this again.

That being said, I'm glad I had great teachers who made sure I could breathe safely underwater in a pool setting before taking me out to the ocean. Out of all of my friends, I was the only one having a hard time. The diving instructors noticed that and didn't give me a hard time at all. They made sure I felt comfortable, and when we did end up going out into the sea they stayed next to me the whole time. But I was so focused on my breathing that I didn't really take the time to enjoy it. Oh well, can't win them all lol.

The day we went was not very clear, but there was still enough visibility to check out a cool shipwreck. I was so busy trying to stay alive that I didn't take any pictures of it haha. But if you ever go to Bali, check out the USAT Liberty Shipwreck at Tulamben.

Snorkeling

Snorkeling in Bali was something I absolutely loved. Just about every where I went, you could rent some gear either from vendors on the beach or your hotel. My favorite spot was in Amed. The damned rocky beaches were still there, but once I got passed them it was all crystal clear seas. There were beautiful reefs and plenty of fish, turtles and....eels (be careful.)

I brought my underwater camera with me and tried to put a short video together. I think you can really see how clear the sea was in this video.

River Rafting

I think river rafting was the most fun I had while in Bali. It was just dangerous enough to give me that adrenaline rush I needed, but not life threatening haha. While I was in Ubud, I signed up for this river rafting adventure with some friends. I think one of the really memorable things about this was that we had to hike down a short path in order to reach the river....barefoot. Oh yes, I got my feet right in that mud. The whole time I was just thinking...please god don't let me step on a bug. But, I managed to make it to the raft without any encounters. The river water was SO refreshing on a hot Bali day.

Don't expect to stay on the raft the whole time. The river has its calm parts, but the rapids WILL get you and your whole raft lol. Fear not though, swimming through them is simple enough as long as you follow instructions and position your body correctly. If you don't follow instructions, you're probably going to end up with a few bruises from the rocks. Shoutout to my hard hat, thanks for keeping my skull from cracking.

And, this doesn't really count as a water adventure....but make sure you watch the beautiful sunsets at least once. If you can catch them while out on a boat, even better.

With Love,
˜Jay