Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text:
Français I am reconciled with Lovina Beach ! Thanks to two nice little dives, a traditional ceremony in front of the sea and a splendid sunset.
Diving with Spice Divers
The Lovina reef is certainly not spectacular. It has suffered from dynamite fishing and from the heating of the water. But to dip your fins after a few months without diving, it is perfect.
It is a gently sloping reef, covered with coral clusters and some barrel sponges, which goes down to a sandy bottom. In addition to the usual tropical fauna (angelfish, butterflies, parrots, etc.) and numerous lion-fishes, there are many interesting animals. Including a turtle, which crossed our path from a bit far, during the first dive!
My divemaster guide, a young Balinese from Lovina who calls himself Luxman, finds me two ghost-pipe fishesI saw a lot of seahorses, these species of seahorses with spikes, rather shy, and some nudibranchs. I have plenty of time to flash around and adjust my buoyancy, as I am the only customer!
We will make the second trip with a Dutch instructor, Johan, who has even more eye for it: he will find us in the stride a beautiful green and fleshy Javanese moray, a squilla (Manta-shrimp), kind of big green shrimp with globular eyes at once scared and curious. We meet a school of razor fish swimming down the head, another of small catfish grazing the sand.
On the way back, when the boat docks, I see from far away people gathered on the beach, in front of the dolphin monument. Some of them seem to be walking in the water. It is a ceremony, as there are many in Bali.
Traditional ceremony on the beach
Quickly, I jump out of the boat and head towards them, with my camera still in its case, without even taking off my suit, because already people are going up towards the big tree that borders the dolphin place. I arrive at the very end.
I point my camera at the people sitting there wearing sarongs. Everyone stares at me with round eyes, then nods and smiles. I must look funny, in my still soaked black suit. I realize that I still have my mask around my neck!
The men wear the traditional turban. The women wear embroidered openwork tunics. A guy in white officiates in the middle of the group and the baskets of offerings. He seems to be saying prayers, shaking a bell.
A teenager explains to me in broken English that it is a ceremony for the dead, so that their souls can join the Gods... At the end of the prayer, the guys pose with their sarongs and musical instruments, delighted that I am taking their portrait!
Sunset on the beach
I end this very pleasant day sipping a banana lassie on the terrace of Sea Breeze Cafefacing a splendid sunset. In the shadow, an old lady, with a sarong around her waist and bare breasts, is washing in the sea, in the old way. It is the small black silhouette that we see on the right on the photo.
That's how good I am tonight: I even made friends with a sarong seller, who apologized very nicely for constantly coming to the charge with her junk to sell and promised not to come and bother me anymore.
Three busloads of Javanese, probably Indonesians from Jakarta, arrived for the sunset. Muslim women in headscarves are not good customers, they don't buy sarongs, only food, complained my new girlfriend, shaking her head with a sorry look. These tourists do very organized tours. We drop them off on the beach for half an hour, and once the sun goes down, they leave again. The girls with arms full of necklaces rushed anyway, to try their luck. "Sunset price! » launches again a seller of souvenir notebooks ... I'm tired.
Tomorrow, I'm going even further west, to Pemuteran, with Spice Miscellaneous, to dive around the island of Menjangan, of which I was told many wonders. I plan to stay there for a few days. The underwater world is said to be among the most beautiful in Bali!
