bird park

So, I have lots of photos to share! I am in Ubud, Bali right now and have been here since this weekend. Ubud is known as the cultural hub of Bali and is situated in the center of the island. Art galleries, boutique shops, and health cafés line the streets of central Ubud. About one and a half kilometers away lie beautiful rice fields and coconut groves that never seem to end. But before I arrived to the rice paddies of Ubud, I soaked up beach life with turtles in Lombok.

I was in the Gili Islands when I wrote my last post so I will write a little on my last days in the Gilis and diving. I now have 11 logged underwater dives, half of which are deep dives (over 18 meters deep). I’m certified to dive up to 40 meters, about 130 feet, anywhere in the world, and I look forward to taking this new hobby in other countries and bodies of water during the rest of my trip.

Being in the ocean day after day has significantly changed my perspective in life. Diving is an extreme sport (scuba diving and sky diving are the only two sports you need to be certified to do!) and I learned quickly there are absolutely no guarantees that a diver will make it out from the ocean alive. But, the ocean is a magical place–its own world, really. If one doesn’t explore such depths, then one does not get to see its treasures.

For me, the ocean quickly became a metaphor for life and I kept returning to it soaking up lessons. I take heed to the ocean’s unpredictable nature, its fickleness and dangers. Life is also unpredictable and doesn’t spare a single soul from its horrors. Yet, to be alive is simply an opportunity to experience grace. Whether it’s the grace of God or whatever one would like to call it, beauty feeds our soul. To feel and feed this beauty is what it means to be human on this planet. We must not be scared, but rather find the courage in our hearts to dive deeper and issue forth into the unknown sea. We must take risks and explore to find large rewards. This is what I learned from the ocean.

In my first deep dive, I saw a white tip shark on the ocean floor. His beady eyes looked at us, then he scampered away swimming deep into the sea. During my last deep dive in Gili Trawangan, I witnessed a big turtle slowly swimming up to the shimmery surface. He poked his head out of the water to get air, then he swam back down. I took some underwater photos, but they’re in a memory stick and I have difficulty getting them on my iPad so they’ll have to wait. But here are some photos taken above water of my last week in Gili Trawangan (and also Gili Meno, I spent a night at a friend’s bungalow and checked out the bird sanctuary!):

The sunset off the southwestern part of Gili Trawangan.