Wakatobi

We did a lot of research to find the perfect place for muck diving. Well, first, what is muck diving: It's diving and exploring sediments like sand and other natural debris and searching for weird and wonderful marine creatures. It's unlike reef diving where the environment itself is pretty.

The Palagian, a liveaboard located in Indonesia, offered exactly what we were looking for. The dive yacht is 115 feet long and offers room for 10 guests. The yacht is a part of the Wakatobi Dive Resort in South East Sulawesi.

Each dive is different and we were lucky to have captured some incredible pictures, such as below anemone fish, trying to hide.

Anemone Fish

Flatheaded Crocodile Fish

Nudibranch

Sea Urchin

Pygmy Sea Horse

Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Lion Fish

Decorator Crab

Napoleon Snake Eel

One night we stayed in a bay where we could hear the muezzin call to the daily prayer. In the morning kids were having fun watching our bubbles when we surfaced from our early morning dive.

Before and after our stay on the Palagian, we spend some time on Bali, which is a very charming island with many temples and other ancient structures. We stayed at the Beach Hotel in Nusa Dua, built in a traditional style.

The fountain had beautiful stone carvings demonstrating what local artist are capable of producing. It was very peaceful.

Our private driver Katut took us around the island and this gave us a unique perspective of many local customs he explained in details. He showed us rice patties on the way to Kintamani, which is a village at the edge of a large caldera.

Kintamani

On the way to the rice patties we stopped and tried Luwak coffee beans, and I still prefer a nice espresso.

Rice Patties

Ubud has lots to offer, a dense forest, temples and macaques. I was more interested in the local architecture, whereas the monkeys were more into how can we annoy those visitors.

When exploring Bali, it is highly recommended to see a traditional Bali dance performance, where like in a western theater, an entire story was told. In this case it was a mythical tale with demons etc.