Glass bottom boat and anniversary

Yesterday we went snorkelling on a glass bottom boat. The wooden boat was pretty basic with a couple of glass boxes covered in algae which prohibited much of the view. And I wasn't impressed when we were more or less crammed in with 50 other people, but all was forgiven after we arrived at our first snorkelling site. We were diving in the middle of the ocean between two Gili islands, drifting with the current. We followed our guide, who was an expert at spotting turtles on the sea bottom that I couldn't spot. He would then dive down 20 or 30 feet to nudge the turtle, who would slowly swim away. What a thrill to swim with the turtles. Sometimes they would swim to the surface to catch a breath, and one time John was able to touch one and then swim along with it.

We went to two locations before lunch and two places in the afternoon. At two locations we searched and found turtles, who rested deep down on the seabed. The other two times we saw some spectacular coral and fish. The coral was more varied in shape than at our last snorkelling trip in Thailand. Whereas much of the coral in Thailand reminded me of big brains, here near Gili most of the coral was more like crisis-crossed miniature trees, in varied colours from pink to deep purple. It was more like the coral I've seen on documentaries. John was getting good at diving, and liked to swim down into the coral canyons to get a better look at the fish underneath the coral.

This morning, before we checked out of our hotel, we met our neighbour. He is Canadian from Toronto, two months into a year long trip around the world with his two sons, aged 8 and 10. It was sad to hear that his wife had passed away two years ago. He and his two young sons were retracing some of the places his wife had visited when she did some travelling years ago. It was interesting to hear his travel plans. He had already been to Australia and New Zealand to visit family, and planned to visit much of south east Asia before moving on to Africa and Europe.

We certainly enjoyed our time on Gili Air. It is a very small island in the early stages of developing a tourist trade. Some things are rudimentary, but that just adds to the charm for the most part. Catheleen and the kids especially will miss the many cats we met on the island. In front of our hotel room in the bushes we meet a tabby mother cat with a kitten. The kids would coax the kitten out of the bushes to pet it, much to the nervous dismay of the mother. The sales approach here was always low key, and I liked the international feel where the tourists came from everywhere. Nothing against Australian Legian and Kuta at all, but I do like to see a mix of tourists from all over.

We took the fast boat today from Gili Air to Candi Dasa this afternoon, on the east coast of Bali. The boat was more choppy this time than when we took it to Gili Air. On this trip the bow of the boat would occasionally become airborne and then come down in a teeth shattering crash. Catheleen and Elizabeth enjoyed their time on the top of the boat, watching Bali appear in view through the mist. John and I preferred to be below.

We're now in our new location, more of a resort than just a condo rental. It's very nice though with nice views of the ocean and easy access to the pool from our rooms. We took the room above and the kids are in the room below. It's more of an older crowd here than at out previous locales. We got a kick out of the '80's music they were playing at the pool this afternoon.

So today is our 19th wedding anniversary, and we've had a great day today, spending time with each other and the kids. Thank you Catheleen for 19 wonderful years and here's to many more to come, full of adventure and wonder I'm sure. I love you very much.

Here's are the kids at lunchtime on our snorkelling day, happy they found a big sea shell.