Lombok, Indonesia Part 4: Diving The Alas Strait and Blongas
I’ve written about my newfound paranoia about food (see last post), but I’m happy to report that I woke up the next morning without suffering any ill effects. Perhaps my new found paranoia was a bit overblown and I can go back to my love of eating something just because it looks good.
I haven’t actually told you about the other reason I came to this part of Lombok: the diving. After having done a lot of diving off Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida, I’ve always been curious about the diving in Lombok and Kuta was a good place to base myself.
I booked 2 days (5 dives) in two different areas of Lombok. One was the Alas Strait between eastern Lombok and western Sumbawa and the other was Blongas in southern Lombok. It was relatively easy to find a dive shop in Kuta to dive the Alas Strait but operators who dive Blongas are far and few between but I got a tip from a dive shop to contact a company called “Wild Scuba Indonesia” which didn’t have a physical location but promised to take me diving if I could find my way by 9am to a Google maps pin by a mosque about 90 minutes away from Kuta. Sounded a bit suss but heck, I wanted to dive Blongas and the company gave me the contact information of 2 other divers staying in Kuta who would be interested in sharing a ride.
Day One: Alas Strait – Telong Elong
Arranging the Alas Strait diving was relatively straightforward and the dive shop shuttle van picked me up at 9am. After about a 90 minute drive through the hills and winding roads, we descended down to Telong Elong, a sheltered bay where over 1,000 families cultivate shrimp and lobster.
Visibility wasn’t that great on either of the two dives I did there but I can always find something, in my case, a dog nosed puffer, to focus on. Plus, a day diving is better than a day sitting landside and I always enjoy the sensation of floating weightless in a column of water and watching the sea life.
Another thing that made up for the so-so diving was that it was Indonesia’s Independence Day. The dive guide brought an Indonesian flag underwater and unfurled it to celebrate. I captured some video of it below.
Day Two: Wild Diving Blongas
I don’t need to do the Alas Strait again but Blongas? Heck yeah, I’d go back.
Blongas diving is known as “wild diving”. Diving this area isn’t for the faint of heart as dive sites are in open water rather than sheltered bays with heavy swells and unpredictable currents. Only a few dive operators take divers out there and all require divers to have a minimum of over 100 logged dives and recommend 200. However, the reward for diving Blongas is that the sites are rarely visited with many yet undiscovered dive sites and known for its large schools of barracuda, manta rays and sometimes, even hammerhead sharks which I was eager to see.
I contacted Wild Scuba Indonesia via WhatsApp (the preferred messaging app here in Southeast Asia) and found a driver to take me and the other 2 Australian divers to meet at a Google map pin across a mosque. The driver grumbled as the well maintained roads gave way to the narrow pot-holed roads that I’ve gotten used to in the rest of Indonesia. Surprisingly, we were met at the “Google pin” by Jay, the British owner of Wild Scuba Indonesia who led us to his boat where the other divers were waiting.
Our group of 8 divers headed for our first site, the Manta Pot. I’ve seen plenty of manta diving Manta Point in Nusa Lembongan so I wasn’t super keen to see more mantas although the fact that I wouldn’t be surrounded by 50 others divers chasing the poor manta would be an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, we only saw 2 manta but they were the larger oceanic manta with wingspans of around 15 feet (5 meters) rather than the reef manta I was used to seeing. However, the Manta Pot should have been renamed the “Shark Pot” as we ducked into an overhang and saw a group of large sharks swirling around and one startled the group as it darted out between us.
The second dive was “wild” – wild in the sense that we dropped into a froth of swirling water and had to immediately descend to 60 feet (18 meters). Once there, we were rewarded with a rich array of sea life. While hammerheads had been spotted here the previous week, we were not so lucky. But I wasn’t disappointed with the other things that we saw on this dive.
As I looked down into the deep abyss that plunged down into the darkness, I saw an olive sea snake undulating below me. I’m glad that Jay, one of our dive guides, had talked about them during our dive briefing. He explained that they were extremely inquisitive and curious and that if one approached, we should stay still.
It’s a bit difficult to stay calm knowing that this species is one of the most venomous sea snakes in the world. Even being told that they have extremely small mouths and I was wearing a full 5mm wet suit and hood as well as dive boots didn’t exactly make me feel comfortable….. and then right behind it was yet another one swimming. Yikes!
The surprises continued – almost immediately after encountering the olive sea snakes, I looked up to see a huge school of barracuda above me. I’ve spotted a lone barracuda or two and sometimes a group of maybe ten of them but to see hundreds of them cruising by above me was mesmerizing.
With everything there was to see, I wanted to stay in the water for as long as my tank of air would last, even if the water temperature was a bit cooler for my tastes at about 72 F / 22C. Alas, after about 68 minutes, it was time to bid a reluctant farewell to the magical world below.
The third and final dive paled in comparison to the heart pounding dive we completed. By mid afternoon, both visibility and the water temperature had dropped so after about half an hour, one of the divers signaled that she wanted to come up. I was getting cold and not particularly keen to continue either so I finished my dive as well.
I didn’t get to see the hammerhead sharks – but it’ll give me a reason to come back to Blongas and dive these pristine sites again and maybe Jay will have discovered yet more sites to visit.
Finishing Up My Visit
I had one more full day in Kuta, so I immediately resumed my culinary adventures, this time without the paranoia that had accompanied me earlier in the week. Lest you think that all I eat is street food, I did make my way to a lovely Greek restaurant for brunch and spent the afternoon lounging by the pool before enjoying one last Indonesian dinner.
Lest you think that my entire diet consists of street food, I did make my way to a lovely Greek restaurant for brunch once I saw that they had shakshuka (see previous post) on the menu.
Lounging by the pool seemed like an appropriate way to end my six weeks in Indonesia. I arrived in July with a one-way ticket knowing I wanted to spend time in Nusa Lembongan. I’ve added Lombok to the list, eaten my way through local warungs, discovered my food paranoia was probably unnecessary and enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones.
Now it was time to move on.
My next stop? Malaysia. I’ll be starting in the city of Kuching located on the island of Borneo. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll find there but after Indonesia, I’m ready to find out and I hope you are too.
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Love,
Mimi & Jingles
Your incredible adventure is awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Jane for coming along the journey!
Hey Mimi!
I’ve loved all your posts! Also love that you’re hitting local spots vs all touristy places. Thanks for taking us along!
Thanks Lacy! Hope all is well. Yeah, the slow travel and “living” is sure different than a 2 week vacation. Good to see pictures of Josiah’s move to Texas. Keep in touch!