Sunbathe, dive. Sunbathe, dive.

I alluded before to the fact that I needed some down time. Partially that's because of the crazy amount of travel I've done recently and partially it's because I know I have a crazy amount of travel ahead of me. When my friend Will joins me in Australia, he's only going to have a limited amount of time before he has to head back to his new USCG base in San Francisco. The plan is to fly into Perth, spend a couple of days there, and then fly to Cairns in northeastern Australia. From there, we'll (somehow) make our way to Sydney from where Will will fly back to the States. Here's the thing. If you've ever flipped through a Lonely Planet guidebook, you may have noticed that they give sample trip itineraries. The OZ LP designates a 6-8 week time frame for the Cairns-Sydney portion alone. Will has about 3 1/2 weeks. So, uh, yeah. It'll be crazy. No worries, though. Once he leaves, I'll probably turn back around to spend more time in places and do them "for real."

Anyway, for now, that down time consists of me doing one of two things: sunbathing or diving. Oh, okay, there's reading and eating and a few other not so strenuous activities thrown in there, too, but that's about it. Gili Trawangan (GT) beaches were perfect for relaxation and now I'm in Senggigi. I'm staying at a place called Pondok Siti Hawa where I have a bungalow that's practically right on the beach. It has a porch where I can read and listen to the waves crash, and an open air bathroom (so cool! well, until I hung my towel up to dry and it got drenched in the downpour we had this afternoon). The best part is that I totally have the beach to myself so it's really peaceful. There's no diving here in Senggigi, but I did get two dives in while I was still on GT. I saw LOTS of sea turtles which was just amazing and I also saw cuttlefish. The neat thing about these guys is that their skin changes colors to camouflage themselves and/or to communicate. Watching it happen right in front of my eyes was awesome.

In a day or two I'll leave Senggigi for Padangbai where I'll be able to do more diving. Then I'll head back to Bali for my last few days in Indonesia. Sunbathe, dive. Sunbathe, dive. :-D