Snorkelling with turtles in Amed

It is our last full day in Amed on the east coast of Bali, and it begins with a tasty hotel breakfast. It is partly cloudy and 28 degrees. On the table is a bowl with a pink base, topped with strawberries, banana slices, cashews, coconut flakes, granola and a mint leaf, and next to it a glass of a light brown drink with a green straw.

Afterwards we go snorkelling with some locals. On the beach, traditional outrigger boats, called jukung in Bali, lie on the dark pebbles. Two Union Jack flags are painted on one of the boats. A jukung is built of wood or resin and usually has an outrigger on each side that keeps the boat balanced. Nowadays the boats run on an outboard motor.

In the water we see sea turtles, corals and lots of fish, and we even discover an underwater temple. One of the turtles glides just below the surface through the deep blue water, and it is the one in the cover photo of this post. Six of the seven species of sea turtle live in Indonesia, among them the green turtle and the hawksbill, and all of them are protected there. We see turtles twice more while snorkelling on this trip: Six at Nipah Beach on Lombok, and three big ones off Gili Meno and Gili Air.

Off Amed the reefs lie close to the shore, and many of them can be reached by swimming out from the beach, without a boat. In several places people have set figures and structures on the seabed so that corals grow on them and marine life finds a habitat. In Jemeluk Bay, for example, local residents placed seven figures on the sea floor with the support of the Coral Reef Alliance. Some of the corals along this coast lie less than a metre below the surface, and quite a few have already broken off because someone stepped on them. When snorkelling you therefore stay fully afloat, so that neither your feet nor your hands touch the corals.

After snorkelling, the locals invite us to their home for a beer. For dinner we go to a local restaurant in Amed, and the food is very good. Everything is served on a banana leaf: Opened leaf parcels with a yellow filling and herbs, tomato wedges, a salad of fine strips with carrot and a yellow sauce in a small bowl made of leaves.

Tomorrow, after four nights in Amed, we continue to Ubud. Because of the suitcases, a driver takes us there by car, just as on our arrival in Bali.