One thing I haven’t done enough of since I arrived in Bali is being in the ocean. Apart from my surfing lesson, I hadn’t really used the beach and the sea at all. So when it was suggested that I go to a small island east of Bali with really good snorkeling opportunities, I couldn’t say no.

It’s morning on my last day on Nusa Penida. It’s snorkeling and then back to Bali. We set off from the hostel around 10. We’re a large group of 38. Down at the harbor we get a small piece of paper where we waive our right to complain in case a shark eats us, and get handed flippers, maybe, and a snorkel. We’re split across 3 smaller boats and sail off.

There are 3 planned stops, and the first is 20 minutes away. Suddenly, while we’re sailing, someone shouts “Manta manta” and the boat stops. Someone points at a big brown lump in the water a few meters from us. From the top of the boat it looks like a big stinging jellyfish, apart from the fin sticking up. People gasp and take a ton of photos. I think to myself that this was probably the Manta Ray we’re going to see today.

We arrive at our 1st of 3 snorkeling spots. Before the engine has even stopped, people are pointing and shouting “Manta manta” again. People throw their gear on in half a panic and tumble over the railing. I’m of course among them. A little way from the boat a Manta Ray is swimming around at a calm, quiet pace. It’s maybe 10 meters away. With flippers it’s no problem to reach it, and I catch up with it. It’s a huge animal with a wingspan a bit bigger than mine and a large body. It glides quietly through the water with its big mouth wide open.

I follow it a little, but stop after a while so as not to get too far away. After it has swum off, I get a proper look around and see all the other beautiful fish and coral reefs. We’re in deep water with 6-7 meters to the bottom. I have decent control of my snorkel-diving technique, but after 3-4 meters I get an earache from the pressure, so I stick to the surface.

Up at the surface I get my bearings. I’m fairly alone, but there’s a big group not too far away, and they’re swimming after something. When I get over there, I can see a group of 3 Manta Rays swimming calmly around the tourists. I spot our guide in his wetsuit. He has a GoPro camera with him and shares the photos he takes of us. He’s busy filming the others from our boat as they swim right up close to a Manta Ray.

I circle around the group to get a better view of a Manta Ray. As I do, one of them turns toward me and swims in my direction. It swims almost right into me before diving down beneath me with just a few cm to spare, so I can feel the water shift. I could have reached out and patted it, but I have a ‘look, don’t touch’ policy when it comes to wild animals. There’s a small fear when such a big animal comes right up close, because you don’t quite know what it might do, but they seem peaceful and have just been circling around a bunch of tourists, so the fear settles again quickly.

After my little encounter I swim back toward the boat. I’m fairly alone in the water now. If I look up I can see the boat and people, but underwater it’s just me. Out of the corner of my eye something big is moving. At first I think it’s one of the other tourists, but as it passes over me, I see the fins and the long pointed tail. A large Manta Ray has swum up alongside me with very little distance between us. I ease off the pace a little and let it pass. As it passes me and gets a few meters ahead of me, it makes a turn in the water back toward me. Quietly we swim across each other two or three times. As we pass each other, we both make a little turn back toward one another.

Out in the shadows of the water I can see 2 other silhouettes coming toward us. It’s 2 more Manta Rays. I’m now alone in the company of 3 large animals swimming quietly around me. I glance briefly up over the water’s edge and spot that I’m only 20 meters from our boat. Back under water I swim quietly in small circles together with the big animals. One of them swims right up close to me, while the other 2 keep a bit of distance. After a while I decide to stop while the fun is still good, and swim back to the boat.

I’m the last one aboard the boat. There’s plenty of good talk about the experience. Everyone saw the big Manta Rays. One girl had gotten scared and climbed straight back onto the boat shortly after getting in. I probably should have been a bit more careful too. I had taken my precautions about staying close to the boat, but I was still maybe a little too bold. They’re wild animals after all. Still, the experience was absolutely amazing.

I was actually ready to sail home from there. But we had 2 more stops before heading back. There was still good snorkeling left, so when we arrived at our Crystal Bay, I was still one of the first ones in.

The water at Crystal Bay was roughly the same depth, with big chunks of rock scattered around, teeming with fish. Many of the small, colorful fish stick close to the bottom, so if you want to see them up close, you have to dive down after them.

As I swim around, I see our guide with the camera chasing something a bit further away. He seems very absorbed in it, so I swim closer. He’s found a sea turtle and is filming it very determinedly. We swim with the sea turtle. I take several dives down alongside it and swim with it. The sea turtle is about a meter long. It swims nicely close to the bottom at a completely calm pace. The guide circles around it several times and gets photos from every angle.

After a while I look back and see that it’s no longer just me and the guide. More and more people gather and follow the sea turtle. I get a bit self-conscious about the number of people chasing the little animal, so I split off from the group and explore some of the other parts of the bay. The area is super beautiful, and I relax around the boat until we move on.

At the last bay it’s only 3 meters deep, but on the other hand there are lots of small schools of fish. They swim around doing their best to dodge the tourists. Some of the boats that are moored there toss out a bit of food to attract the fish, so the tourists can get right up close to them.

My feet must be built differently from everyone else’s, because I can’t wear either sandals or flippers without getting huge blisters. I can feel that they’re pretty raw by now, so it’ll only be a short trip in the water.

From the last stop it’s only a few minutes back to the harbor. Here we’re dropped off and taken back to the hostel. I really enjoy snorkeling. It’s one of the activities I have a lot of good memories from and that pretty much always gives me a good experience. It’s beautiful and exciting down beneath the surface. The weightlessness and the different way of moving. The sense of the scale of the world that exists underwater makes me feel both small and adventurous. Can I dive down to that rock and maybe see something hiding from the sunlight? It’ll probably never get boring for me.

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