On Board MV Mermaid II
By Lothar. Filed in Indonesia |
I should have studied our dive boat’s itinerary more carefully before booking this adventure to the Komodo Islands! Now Gabi and I are laying in our cabin and experience constant movement in all 3 dimensions: Mermaid and our bed are pitching, rolling and yawing through the swells of the Flores Sea. Today is Saturday 8/8 and we had a nice flight on Garuda Indonesia from Yogyakarta on Java to Denpasar on Bali. Along the way, we also spotted the volcanic peak of Bromo jutting out of the clouds.
We are being shuttled from the airport to our dive boat and cast off around 6:30 PM. We are 18 divers and 16 staff on board. 7 of us are German speaking from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all the other divers are from Japan. The Captain and boat crew are from Thailand, the dive masters from England, Belgium, Mexico and Indonesia. Everybody seems very nice and we have our first dinner on board while the boat is already under way. The first night takes us from Bali along the north shore of Lombok and Sumbawa to Pulau Moyo, our first dive site tomorrow morning. Gabi and I each take 100mg Dramamine before dinner and have to retire to our cabin at 9PM, unable to keep our eyes open any longer! As Gabi and I are rolling around the bed in a synchronous ballet, choreographed by Mermaid II plowing through the swells, I seriously begin to wonder if coming on this trip was a good idea. It is not the perfect storm, but the constant motion makes sleeping very difficult. My towel on the bathroom door swings from side to side like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. I better close my eyes, in order to avoid having to see my dinner for a second time. We actually survive our first night on board without any of this happening. We also learn that our boat will be cruising for four out of seven nights. What situation did I get ourselves into? I should have read the fine print!
Monday, August 17th 2009 at 8:54 pm |
Haha – glad you made it through okay!