diving gili T

Coming here from Sembalun, I've been in a haze of culture shock the past 4 days. Sembalun was mountainous, cool, and extremely Indonesian - void of tourists, the only non-Indonesians being us few volunteers. Gili T is beachy, hot, and built for bule ("boo-lay" means foreigners in Bahasa Indonesia). Fortunately, I didn't come for the company of a crowd I haven't yet had a chance to miss, I came for the diving, and my, has that been worth it! My first order of business upon arrival was to sign up for my advanced diver course. I decided I may as well get the next level of PADI certification while I'm here, so I signed up with Blue Marlin, a semi-famous dive shop, the one considered to have started it all on the island. The dive family there made me feel right at home, which is only natural. I can't exactly explain why there's such comradery amongst divers, though I could muse that it's because we all feel we are in on this big secret together, all of us part of a story that "you just had to be there" for. Those who blow bubbles together also eat together, drink together, laugh together... So, for several splendid days of underwater adventure I was a member of the Blue Marlin family. Mad fun was had both below and above the water. Highlights?

• Diving again, it's been too long. I remember again why I love it so much, and how addictive it can be.
• A cuddlefish, up close and personal.
• The biorock reef, healthy and growing. I want to see some biorock in the Caribbean. Everyone who dives the Gilis pays a tax which goes towards the biorock and keeping the ecosystem here clean and alive. It's such a small price to pay to see soooo many fish!
• Breathing nitrox. It lived up to the hype, I might be hooked.
• The full moon party, on the beach, around a bonfire... which had nothing on Koh Pahngan, to be true, but was great fun nonetheless.
• Seeing the Blue Marlin family in togas (or as close as you can get to togas on a small island in Indonesia)