Water Sport Dilettante

Bali is renowned for its surfability, and since I left Qatar the first time in '06 I've meant to come and try it out. It helped to finally make it here, but after a failed attempt (the beach where I went to try surfing hosted a cremation ceremony just moments after I rocked up, at which point a Balinese woman told me how she'd injured herself in these very waters because you're not supposed to swim in them), I started to wonder. Did it really matter all that much?

Then I met this guy John, who agreed to show me how to surf if I'd help out his yoga practice. That seemed, in my best surfer girl speak, like a rad plan. Or would it just be totally awesome?

At any rate, then he starts texting. And calling. And generally getting a little too enthusiastic for my liking. Finally I agree to meet him here in Ubud just to chat and he doesn't show, but P does. P is another surfer I met who offers a lesson. He's not interested in yoga. Even better. At last I managed to peel my lazying self out of Ubud for Seminyak. It was time to learn to surf. Then I got the Bali kiss.



That's right, an enormous burn from brushing up to the blistering hot tailpipe of a motorcycle.

"Don't go anywhere near the water," people said.

How could I not?

Besides, I was interested in P for more than surf lessons, though he turned out to be a wonderful instructor. I got up on that board every time out, though I only spent about a half hour to 45 minutes in the water. More than that and I started feeling weird about the blister bursting. It did not.

So I decided to go scuba diving.


Thanks to my scuba partners Niky and Jeff, seen above, I drove on my own Northwest through Bali and saw amazing jungle and seascape.




The visibility and underwater life here is incredible. We saw angel fish, trigger fish, sea lion, blowfish, black tip reef shark, brain coral, crazy bright blue starfish coral thing, ginormous grouper, beautiful beautiful.

On the drive home at one point I looked up and it appeared I was riding under a bowl full of stars.

And, dully enough but true, the blister has kinda deflated but not really burst. It's not hot or itchy or painful to touch.

Things with P fizzled quickly too. So what have we learned from all this?

Just fucking do it.