Dolphin disappointment

We had set the alarm for 0540 for the 0600 start to go dolphin watching.  We waited on the beach at the appointed time.  Many boats set off before us but we seemed to be the last to get going.  It was about a 30 minute ride offshore and the sea was calm despite fears of tsunami from the earthquake near Palu, Sulawesi.

I counted about 80 boats like us were all headed out, aiming for roughly two locations.  After a brief time with the flotilla, our boat went out on a limb.  With no success with dolphins, we returned to join the others and managed to see brief glimpses of dolphins surfacing near us.  In the distance, I got glimpses of more dolphins surfacing.

After about 1h30, we had had enough of disappointment.  But I didn’t want to be the first to return after having been the last to set off.  We allowed ourselves a little more time before telling the boatman to call it quits.

Speaking to some people later, they did have a pretty good showing of dolphins yesterday.  For me, even if we had seen more, it wouldn’t feel the same with some 80 other boats around!  But fortunately for us, we have seen playful dolphins following our boats at times.  And when it is unexpected, it is also better!

We had breakfast back at the hotel after 0800 before preparing to move to our seaview hut/villa.  Once moved, we made full use of the front balcony for a couple of hours.  The wind came up and it got too windy for us to remain there; what a waste!  The grass/leave material wasn’t wind-proof and the air-con couldn’t keep the villa sufficiently cool till the evening when the wind died down.

It was getting too late for us to do any exploring after our spot of chilling.  We wrote the day off.  Kim would have a massage later and I spent my time planning for 2019.

With the noon heat, we chose not to walk to the main road but to a nearby beachside place.  It was just OK.  So for dinner we returned to Mr Bean’s for their ayam betutu and strawberry shake (made with real Balinese strawberries).