My first week in Bali started off with a couple full days on the island of Nusa Penida before I met up with Amy and Becca (two of my friends from England) in the beach town of Uluwatu and prioritized relaxing and socializing over heavy sightseeing & activities. Rain prevented us from being out as much as we anticipated, and although it’s never fun to be hindered by the weather, it did open up some cool doors for extended, intentional conversations which I’ve been missing.
LOCATIONS
- Nusa Penida, Indonesia (Dec 11 – Dec 14)
- Uluwatu (Bali), Indonesia (Dec 14 – Dec 19)
ACTIVITIES
Nusa Penida Diving
My day diving on Nusa Penida is the first day that I really wish I could have captured on video. It’s going to be a long time before I have a more memorable day of diving.
To start, it was just me and my dive guide, which meant that we got to stay down as long as I had air left. Two of our three dives were drift dives, which were new to me as well. They’re as they sound. You drop down to a coral wall or reef and let the current take you along. Minimal physical effort and we covered a surprising amount of ground.
The third dive of the day receives a solid silver medal in the rankings of all my dives thus far. About halfway through our drift, I saw a sizable sea turtle taking his lunch break and got to swim over and hover close to him for a minute. Throughout the second half of the dive, we saw three more good size turtles either swimming along or snacking. To be so close to them and watch them in their environment was incredible. The coral wall was also cool and there was a nice variety of other fish around.
But the first dive of the day, oh man.
Our dive site was to Manta Point, which, you guessed it, is known for seeing manta rays. I’d never seen one before and was hopeful. Even though places are known for certain sightings, you never know what you’re going to get, and I didn’t want to set my expectations too high. When we arrived, we heard that some other boats had seen some mantas but no indication of how many. About five minutes into our dive, we saw a little stingray, but no signs of any mantas. Minute by minute, my expectations were slowly dropping. Maybe others were the lucky ones and we weren’t.
Five minutes later and my regulator almost falls out of my mouth. In the distance swimming right towards me is a massive manta ray, its wings seemingly moving in slow motion. All of a sudden, I’m floating on my back watching it swim a few meters above my head. I spread my arms out and can tell that the wingspan of this ray is easily bigger than mine by several feet.
At this point, you could have pulled me out of the water, told me I’d never dive again, and I would have been okay with that. I’d seen a manta, and I genuinely think that cracks the top 20 list of the coolest experiences of my life. It still feels surreal. The only way I can describe their movement is majestic, and somehow the primary feeling that comes to mind about that moment is humbling. I was living in their world and all I could do was watch.
Ten minutes later, three more start swimming toward us, and that was the story for the rest of the dive. I was utterly in awe for 45 minutes watching probably two dozen manta rays swim over, under, and next to me.
As I said, it’s going to be tough to top that day for a while. I really wish I had pictures or videos I could share, but alas, I do not. Even if I did, I don’t think they would do it justice. So instead, you get a picture back towards Bali with Mt Batur in the background.
Nusa Penida Viewpoints
I spent the rest of my time on Nusa Penida driving around to different beaches and viewpoints. The cliffs are dramatic, and there are some tucked away beaches that require quite the climbs to get down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen beaches like them before and the water here is such a rich, deep blue. There isn’t much interesting to share about me driving around, so I’ll just stop there and get to some pictures. The pictures were taken, in order, at:
- Kelingking Beach
- Manta Cliff
- Temeling Beach
- Broken Beach (This week’s cover photo)
Uluwatu Cafe Hopping
It’s rainy season here in Bali, and one day it hit extra hard. It wasn’t a push through it to spend time outside day. Amy, Becca and I went to a coffee shop after a late breakfast and ended up staying there for over an hour just chatting as the rain poured down around us. After a brief stroll through a market in a break of rain, it started coming down again and we ran to the closest cafe we could find and re-settled down for a while.
We didn’t have much of a plan, and it ended up being a spontaneous day of good coffee and great conversations. We’ve covered all the basic ground of getting to know each other at this point, so it was fun having some extended time to dive deeper on some topics and start getting into the good stuff. I haven’t gotten to have a whole lot of these conversations on my trip, and I enjoy them so much more than the initial, surface level get to know you ones.
In the evening it finally cleared up for us to go out a bit and we got a chance to see a nice sunset over the ocean.
REFLECTIONS
Conversations Toward Relationships
I’ve had a lot of conversations with people in my two months of traveling. Like, a lot. More than I have had on a regular basis since college, maybe even more. I’ve mentioned it before, but there are times when I’ve grown weary of these conversations (yay being introverted!). They can begin to all feel too similar and frequently result in not much to carry forward.
I’ve begun asking myself what the point of these conversations are. Why talk to someone new? Why put myself out there when there’s a good chance it won’t amount to anything after a few days?
Sure, there is a tangible value to having loose connections and people to do activities with while traveling. Although those are nice, they aren’t compelling enough reasons for me. I’ve struggled to find a complete answer to these questions as I’ve thought about them, but I’ve been reminded of a piece of it after the last few days with Amy and Becca.
Conversations are necessary because conversations are the only way we move toward relationships, and being in close relationship with others is something we were made for. The kind of relationships where you don’t just know information about the other person, but you start being able to sacredly step into life together. It’s a privilege to be allowed into someone else’s life, to be a part of the joys and the sorrows, and get to stand by them as they stand by you. It’s a beautiful space to be able to know someone over time and watch them learn and grow. To know that they aren’t going anywhere, and neither are you. To have a space of honesty and trust, affirmation and accountability. It takes many conversations with many people to find ones that you really want to do life together with, and you never know when you might meet someone that turns into a dear friend for years.
I’d hardly say that after a week of time together Amy and Becca are my best friends. But the two of them have been for years. This week was such a sweet opportunity to watch the dynamics of that friendship and to be invited into that space with them. We haven’t gotten to step into a whole lot of life together, but some of our conversations were chances to dip our toes in those waters and I’m excited to get more time with them in Australia. They’ve reminded me of the conversations I get life from and why it’s important to have good people around you.
The Value of Verbal Affirmation
I want to preface this one by saying this is absolutely not meant to be a toot my own horn story. Just stick with me.
I’ve had several people reach out the past few weeks to share how something I wrote had an impact on them. It’s been encouraging knowing that in some small way I’m reframing an idea, challenging someone, or whatever else.
Without these bits of affirmation and feedback, I’d at times be left in a space wondering whether these newsletters or posts are worth it. Add enough of that time together and eventually it becomes less and less motivating to continue.
Little bits of affirmation can make such a positive impact on others. I often get caught in the mindset of “well this thing was so small” or “they probably already know this, so I don’t need to say anything” and miss out on opportunities to affirm someone else. Being affirmed myself has reminded me that if there’s something encouraging I have to share about someone, I should tell them. Why would I not?
I’ve seen the value of this play out in the context of work, friendships, and romantic relationships. Affirmation carries us forward and brings us closer together. It makes us more self-assured, and more effective in what we do.
So, my encouragement to you this week is to be generous with your affirmations. Don’t keep them to yourself. If you think of something, say something. Give them away to everyone (as long as it’s genuine). You might be surprised to see the impact of your own affirmations in others. I’d love to hear any cool stories that come as you do this.
BLOG POSTS
- Bullet Point Reflections
- Newsletter Archive – I’ve started migrating past newsletters to the website. If you’re new around here, or simply missed one and want to go back and check out any old editions, now you can! I’m not completely caught up yet, but they’ll all live on that page once they’re up.
NEXT UP
I’m wrapping up my time on Bali in the town of Ubud, and I’m very excited to head to Singapore on Monday for Christmas with Josh and his family. After that comes nearly a month in Australia. I can’t believe that’s only a week away and that 2025 is right around the corner after that. What a few months it has been, and there’s so much more to come!
As always, if you know anyone that you think would be interested in anything I’m writing about, I’d ask that you consider sharing this with them.
Thanks for being here, and Merry Christmas! Talk to you next week.
– Trevor