I'm not so much a cat person but I do really like snorkelling.
In advertisements for Gili Meno Island they brag, "Tropical Paradise: no motor vehicles and no dogs." This advertisement is not to deter dog lovers rather I think it is because the rest of Asia is so over populated with stray dogs. Gili Meno though is over run with cats! I think most of them have loving homes, although the shortened tails some of them sport make me wonder otherwise. I don't have an issue with cats, in fact as a kid I much preferred them to dogs but these Indonesian cats are another matter. These cats are just way too friendly, for my liking.
Most of the restaurants have little covered cabanas, where you can recline for lunch (it's very relaxing). And for most meals we have been joined by a feline companion to molest us with his company. These cats have no manners, no fear and no respect! They rub against you, attempt to sample your food and help themselves to your pillows. No amount of shooing, swatting or gesturing deters them from staying. All things considered they are a pretty minor pest, fairly cute and relatively clean. The place we rented our scuba gear from yesterday had twin three-week-old black kittens. It brought me back to my childhood, when our slutty cat seemed to pop out a new litter every few months. Oh, the funny things that remind you of home.
Snorkelling is very popular in the Gili's because of the coral that is so close. N and I have gotten quite into it the last few days. You can rent equipment (mask and flippers) for $2.50 a day, almost anywhere! It's pretty great. When the tide gets low on one side of the island you just walk half an hour to the other side where it's still high and good for swimming. The water is the perfect temperature, like a bathtub after you've sat in it too long. And the ocean is lovely and calm most of the day. There are periods where the wind picks up and it gets rough but then you can just move to a different part of the island.
We were quite thrilled yesterday to discover how fun it was to go snorkelling. We had briefly tried it in Africa N liked it but I had ended up with a mouth full of water and really hated the mask on my face. Here the masks have something to prevent splashing water getting into the breathing tube, which makes a big difference.
It is only about a 50 meter swim out to really cool "coral gardens". The swimming is very easy with flippers. The water is so salty you just float along the the surface.
I thought to myself when we first got out yesterday, " I'm in real life Finding Nemo!" There is an amazing variety of tropical fluorescent coloured fish, huge schools dancing and spinning around. And today we found the ship wreck that we had heard about, from the tour places. I really wish I was about to take pictures down there but maybe it is more fun just enjoying God's wonders in the moment.
Today N and I were in one spot and I saw this interesting fish that I had seen from a distance yesterday. From far away I had been worried it was an eel. Closer up it turned out to be a foot long skinny transparent/silver fish with a long pointy nose, kind of like a mini sword fish. I got within about a meter of it and it just disappeared. I stuck my head up to tell N, who was standing a short distance away, about it and it was loosing his mind with excitement. "A fish just jumped right over you!" He was thrilled that he got to see it!
Tomorrow we are planning to take a boat to another one of the Gili Islands to do some more snorkelling. It will be our last day.
On a side note: My glasses broke today (not sure how the arm just randomly fell off) so we kind of need get into a bigger centre and see if we can buy me some new ones. We saw glasses for sale on the street, lenses included, for $15 so now I'm just kicking myself for not buying a second pair there for fun! (For now I have contacts but with my dry eyes can only where them about 6 hours...which is kind of a short amount of time to have sight)
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