Since day 1 at Blue Season Bali I’ve felt at home in the company and here on this great island of Bali. The time is flying by and I’ve been working as a marketing intern here for almost a month already. My arrival at the busy airport of Bali still feels like yesterday. I guess the saying “time flies when your having fun” really does apply when you have a great job and life around it. Working in a friendly team with people from all over the world, having flexible working hours, participating in different company activities and being able to join on dive/snorkeling trips every so often all make my job that much more enjoyable.
In this blog I want to share the experiences I encountered whilst joining my first boat trip to Padang Bai. The day before I went on this boat my boss surprised me by asking if I wanted to tag along the next day, without hesitation I replied ‘of course’. Before I knew it I was over at the dive center fitting fins and preparing my snorkeling gear for the next day. Even though I was born & raised on a Caribbean island and had lived there for 18 years, I never took the opportunity to get my diving certification (which I will be getting ASAP here in Bali), so on this trip I was the lonesome snorkeler amongst all the divers.
On Wednesday morning staff members and guests met up at the dive center at 07:00, after a short briefing we were on our way to Sanur beach in the nice air-conditioned bus. Blue season staff members had already loaded up all the dive gear on to the main boat so I didn’t even have to carry my own stuff! Because of the low tide this particular morning, we used a “taxi” boat to take us to where our Blue Season Bali boat is moored. The boat trip to Padang Bai took roughly an hour; the ocean conditions in the morning were very glassy so it was all smooth sailing from Sanur to Padang Bai. Fiona, one of the diving interns, briefed me on what to expect during this trip and where to find everything on the boat. I’m usually not quite the morning person, however sitting on a boat chatting with guests and other interns whilst enjoying the beautiful scenery, which Bali has to offer, was quite the way to start the day!
After the divers had completed two different dives at Temple it was time for lunch! After all the swimming and snorkeling I was starving and was happy see to my pre-packed lunch meal. I had a tasty sandwich accompanied with a delicious chocolate/banana cupcake! After everyone was recharged we set off to our next destination, Jepun. This site is situated right around the corner of Temple so within minutes we had arrived. The divers started prepping for their 3rd dive and I grabbed my snorkel gear to check out this new spot. Once again I was amazed with all the sea-life and how pleasant it was to snorkel across a shallow reef. There was a slight current so I drifted along the corals not moving a muscle whilst enjoying the little fish following me and taking pictures of my surroundings.Our first stop was at Temple, Padang Bai, named after the temple directly situated on the cliff in front of the dive/snorkeling spot. The sun was shining, the water was crystal clear and the divers all seemed excited to go on their morning dive. The divers were all keen to jump, so before I knew it they were in the water ready to explore the depths. I stayed on the boat at first and chatted with the captain to find out more about where I had to go for the best snorkeling. After receiving the insights from the local captain I prepared my gear, grabbed an underwater camera and dove off the boat to explore the corals and underwater life of Temple. Coming from a Caribbean island I’ve seen my fair share of sea-life but I was pleasantly surprised to see how different the fish and corals were here compared to my hometown of Curacao. Temple is a great spot for snorkeling as the corals and fish are situated between 1-5 meter depths, therefore making it very easy to see everything from up-close. I went snorkeling twice at this same spot and practiced my underwater photography skills on the wide range of colorful fish & corals.
After swimming back to the boat, I enjoyed some fresh watermelon and had some laughs with the guys from the boat crew. I watched the captain do his best to try catching a squid, which seemed to be hiding in the shade of the boat. The sun was really doing its best, so every so often I would jump back in the water to quickly cool off. After the divers came back from their 3rd dive everyone took a moment to relax. The divers were tired and so was I, we were now heading back to Sanur and I decided to sit on the front-deck of the boat for the journey back.I brought along some music, so I plugged in my earphones and listened to some of my favorite music whilst working on my tan and once again enjoying the scenery. The boat trip was coming to an end and I couldn’t get the smile off my face, it really was an amazing day. All of the interns and guests seemed to have enjoyed their trip as well, I guess now we’re all looking forward to the next one!
