Excursion "Trip to Gili. Snorkeling" or work on clamps)
We booked an excursion the day before, right on the beach of the Senggigi Beach Hotel, bargained for a long time and had fun, agreed on a price of 600.000 thousand for the whole day. I already knew then that a public boat ticket costs 100.000 per person one way. And we, in addition to personal transport, also received equipment. Therefore, the price satisfied me more than)
Another thing bothered me - we had never tried snorkeling before, my daughter really dived in goggles, and I had never even put my head into the water in my life. Moreover, I am a poor swimmer and I am very afraid of water when I cannot find the bottom.
I fell asleep with anxiety and a cowardly hope that something would prevent us from going to those terrible Gili. )
And in the morning a thunderstorm began! So real! Rain lashed the thatched roof like someone was beating a drum. Lightning lit up one by one and the bubbling overhead was no longer childish. We ran out to the balcony on a hot, wet morning, the rain had subsided and looked quite our way, even with us it can be stronger. It dawns quickly in Indonesia, as it actually gets dark, and soon it was completely dawn, the sky covered with clouds became visible, and I seriously hoped that we were not going anywhere.
But while we were having breakfast, the rain almost stopped, the sky brightened and only dripped a little with small droplets, my daughter looks into her eyes with hope and I decide to go. It's still wet to snorkel, so can this light rain stop us? )
We came to the beach 40 minutes earlier than the appointed time, but our uncle was already waiting for us. The rain intensified, then stopped. The clouds were approaching quite frightening. I started to hesitate again.
-What if it rains? What if there are waves? What if there is a storm? The boat is small! I'm afraid!
But we are loaded into the boat and we are going.
At the last moment, it turns out that another person is traveling with us - a very young guy, about 18 years old. Probably it was not the best idea) The tension is getting thicker, but the captain does not try to communicate, his English is worse than mine and there is no one to calm us down. The boy is just doing his job.
The clouds are low, the waves are high, the spray is flying in the face. Terribly terrifying.
Such a trip for an inexperienced user is a very dubious pleasure. The boat, very similar to a fishing boat, only bigger, with wings characteristic of Indonesia for stability, flies through the turbulent ocean. Immediately fear borders on panic. The waves shake the poor boat like a piece of wood, the movement resembles a roller coaster - up, down, up again, the water is already just dousing and very quickly you become wet and sticky, the bottom of the boat is flooded with water. But then you catch Zen and plunge into happiness completely. You and the ocean
An hour passed, the sky became lighter, the sun's rays began to break through. They approached Gili Meno very close, but did not moor, dropped anchor. The sun is shining there.
The captain gave us equipment and said, let's snorkel.
We put on vests, fins, masks, clamp the tubes with our teeth and go down into the water. And a new panic begins. It is not clear why, but water gets into the nose, eyes and mouth, we flounder, spit out water, try to stick our head into the sea, but again we spit. We climb into the boat with the firm intention to send everything away and hang out on the beach until the evening.
We meditate sadly and try again.
We pull the masks tighter and again - descent down an uncomfortable ladder, immersion in water, we panic-climb back. My daughter is not prone to repetition - she tries to get around the problem - she dives in her goggles, without fins and a vest. I am frustrated sitting in the boat. I really want to, but even more scared.
The captain does not know what to do at all, most likely he has not yet been in such a situation.
We make a common decision to moor to the shore and think)
While we are mooring, we enviously observe a group from a neighboring boat - we unloaded in formation and snorkel everything calmly.
The boat approaches the shore and I understand that I can’t send everything because I’m extremely interested. My daughter is laying down on the beach, and I am hard at work learning to snorkel. I put on my uniform, tighten the mask even tighter, bite my pipe harder and learn to breathe underwater, looking at the grass near the shore.
I do not see anything interesting, but I am proud that I managed to overcome my fear and was able to dive.
After about twenty minutes, all this bothers my daughter and she pulls me in search of food.
A couple of steps from the place of our landing we find a cafe. The food is not very tasty, it was cooked for a long time, but the views are pleasing and the surroundings are pleasant. Beach - broken corals, white-white, you can hardly swim there without slippers.
We had lunch and decided to go around the island around the perimeter. The idea was like this - we go, then the horse-drawn "Ferrari" catches up with us and takes us further. While we were eating, three of them drove by.
We go, we go, we go, we go, but there is no Ferrari, we are already tired and you will not return back and there is no strength to go forward. Walked for a long time.
When we reached the location of our "ship", the captain was already chewing on his shorts). We walked for about an hour and a half.
We load and sail to Gili Air. There, without mooring to the shore, we landed in the water, in the company of already snorkeling people, and immediately everything worked out for us.
I don’t even dare to convey the full range of my feelings! The heart beats frantically, you breathe like a button accordion - on full furs, but through a small tube. I can't say that I saw too beautiful fish there. But I saw them for the first time in my life!
The underwater world is fascinating, the fear finally disappears when you are immersed not only in body, but also in soul. You feed the fish with bread, they swim under your stomach, they are so different - blue, striped, yellow, gray, small and large. They are not afraid of you and you stop being afraid of them.
It's a wonderful experience! And a step in self-improvement.
