Bali Diving - Mola Mola

As I finished editing the video clips from our Bali Diving Trip , Part 1....it brought back nostalgic memories and I decided to post a blog on what happened that day .

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I swore after I got sea sick at Manta Point that I will never ever dive at Nusa Penida again...after struggling with icy cold waters, suffocation from wearing 3 layers of divesuits, suffering leg cramps, nausea underwater from being swept to &fro by the strong undertow currents..... I decided enough was enough and broke surface after less than 15 minutes of diving. Our own dive boats were nowhere to be seen and I was really miserable, getting sicker by the seconds until another kind boatman signaled that we could board his boat instead to rest first. He probably took pity after seeing my poor pathethic green "pucat" face and I promptly thanked him by vomiting on his boat....sorry lo.

I knew poor hubby was damn frustrated about not being able to film the giant manta rays. And Kenneth surfacing with his fantastic tale of being circled by 3 gentle giants didnt improve anyone's moods. I was not confident that I wouldnt get sick again during the 2nd dive when everyone sought to swim with the sunfish aka mola mola around Crystal Bay .

I looked at the choppy seas and decided to opt out .

The boatman dropped me off with a lunch box and towels......brrrrrrr I had to wade to the beach in icy cold waters again!!

At the beach that was fronting a temple, I spent the next one hour talking to some Balinese kids aged ranging from 8-12 years. One boy who was holding 3 strands of necklaces made from tiny seashells made it clear he was trying to hawk them to me. I told them I will have no money until the boat come to pick me more than 1 hour later and this same boy with doleful dark eyes solemnly nodded his head, went a short distance to squat behind me....presumably to make sure he will be able to close his sale when the boat arrived. wow, I remembered thinking that the boy will grow up to be a supreme salesman one day in future!!!! The rest of the gang dispersed behind the temple walls, I assumed to go home for lunch as it was nearing noon then.

I opened my lunch box and gestured for the boy to share it with me....it was nothing fancy, just simple Balinese fried rice with 2-3 small local dishes....but it was divinely delicious to my taste buds. I thought the boy would be interested in the rice.....no, to my surprise he only fancied my small green apple . There we were, one older and one younger....2 strangers sitting contently side by side sharing a simple meal....I have to admit I have never met anyone who could wolfed down plain mineral water straight from the bottle and made it seemed so heavenly tasty. I remembered too how I thought my sons should see this and then maybe they'll better appreciate their charmed life in urban KL where anything is readily available everywhere.

Somehow with many hand gestures between us , the boy & I cemented our sales agreement where I consented to take his 3 strands of shell necklace off his hands (oh I cant remember now for how many rupiahs....I just wanted to help the boy anyhow). Imagine how aghast I was to see the other children scrambling out from behind coconut trees and pillars ...all running towards me with outstretched hands holding unlimited loads of more necklaces!!!. Aiyoh, how did they know that I was finally agreeing to buy? And where did all the unlimited merchandise suddenly came from? Previously they were all empty handed, only this young boy had the 3 strands for sale. Hahahaha, I realized I was about to be "scam" by small kids!!! Hahahaha. This is getting highly entertaining I thought!

Well, I managed to appease everyone by agreeing to buy a final maximum number of 20 strands necklaces!!!

As I prepared to board the boat when it came to pick me up....I asked the children my final question as to where did the shells come from. They pointed to the black volcanic sands that were being churned up and down by the waves. OMG, the sands were actually made up of millions, trillions of broken shells. It made me smile then and now again as I recalled that day....it was indeed a most pleasant morning spent with locals whom I would otherwise never have encountered if not for my sea sickness earlier in the morning.

As the tide was higher when my dive boat came, it posed a minor problem for the small kids who would'nt be able to board the boat without getting wet ..I told them I would swim back with the money but there was no need at all for even this. Suddenly one adult appeared , smilingly introduced himself as the father of the whole gang.....proceeded to roll up his trousers and promptly boarded the boat with me to collect the money for the children. I hoped the children got their fair share's worth of the money. It was really a most fascinating and resourceful gang of beach vendors...smile.

Did my dive buddies succeed in their pursuit to catch glimpses of the mola mola? Definitely. They oohed and aahed, goo goo gaa gaaed and happy like sotong expressed their joy of successfully catching glimpses of and even swimming very near to the gentle beasts....the mola molas who came up annually from their natural habitats otherwise inaccessible to divers because it was thousands of feet deep down below. The mola molas are in season here because of the colder temperatures in the seas around 16-18 degrees celsius. The mola molas came to sunbathe and for the cleaning stations to get rid of their skin parasites. It is supposedly very rare and there's no guarantee divers will fulfill their wish of diving with mola molas, some stories were told of divers who were unsuccessful even after 3 successive years of coming to Bali.

The boatman therefore expressed his deep felt sympathies for my unfortunate miss of such a wonderful opportunity.

Truth be told, I'd rather be sitting there with the children.
Come next year, when we plan another trip to Bali and my hubby wants to dive with the mola mola again.....hmmmmm, I'm not so sure if I'll join him...maybe I may prefer to meet the gang of children on the beach once again, who knows? smile.

After all, thanks to my hubby's superb videography skills...I'm kinda diving with the mola molas vicariously while editing his video clips. I've enjoyed it tremendously...to those of you who dived and saw the mola molas with Eddie....may this video bring back fantastic memories of your dives. For those of you who have not seen mola molas ,,,,,,sit back and enjoy the next 3 minutes too.