Skip to main content

Day 10: Snorkeling, Reefs and Day 2 Karaoke

We began the day at 9 after breakfast. After the usual logistics, we took the boat to a snorkeling spot. The water was incredibly clear and beautiful.

Unfortunately, due to a hangover from the previous night's drinking, I was feeling mildly nauseous and uncomfortable with the whole water and boating business.

Once we got to the snorkeling area, Adriane and Daniela did diving, while the rest of the crew did snorkeling.
I had my life vest on, and was excited to try out snorkeling. Once I jumped in the water, I knew I had made a mistake. I panicked, held my breath and was terribly scared of being in the open sea with nothing to hold on to. I have never been so terrified in my life. For some reason, my whole body refused to relax, even though I was not sinking, I could not breath. I flailed my arms around and screamed for help from those around. Andrea tried encouraging me to just relax, but I was in flight mode. One of the guides held me and motioned for the boat to come round and pick me.

Once I was back in the boat and tried to understand what had happened, I could not figure it out. This reinforced my fear of water, drowning and especially open seas. This was the most terrified I have been, probably second only to the other near-drowning experiencing that I had while at Starch when the swimming coach had the sense to require us all to jump from the deep end with no prior swimming experience.
The team came up for a break, after which we went to another snorkeling spot. I remained on the roof of the boat, enjoying the breeze, view and the solidity of a wooden boat. I thought to myself how much I would like to have the courage to get into the water, and how much it scared me that I had not learnt to swim at the ripe age of 28. I vowed to take up swimming classes and be a proficient swimmer by the end of 2018, my only resolution in the new year.

The Shack
We had the rest of the afternoon off, after lunch, and I took the time to catch up on sleep and nurse my hangover. I slept till dinner. After dinner, we did a review of the Bali leg of the trip, and discussed our learnings etc.


Afterwards, as promised we headed to The Shack to catch drinks. This time, the place was already crowded with people and the local band was already playing. The squad was much bigger this time: we lost Wardah and Jess from the previous night, but added Jackson, Adriane, Yitong, Renuka, Tom and Daniela Tizabi. We also had Jake, Zack, Andrea, and I from the previous night. Everyone was stoked to drink the palm wine. On the other hand, I dreaded drinking any of it because I was still nauseous from the previous night.



The team performing
I ordered Bintang and encouraged everyone to drink loads of the palm wine shit drink. Moments later, we were all up and dancing and singing along to the band. It was a whole lot of fun and we left the bar at midnight where we bade the guys at the bar goodbye. What a night!
Labels:
Location: Bunaken, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analyzing a carry trade proposal: Short USD, go long on bitcoin

I recently completed an assignment for an International Economics Policy class which entailed designing a carry trade. A carry trade is a financial transaction that involves borrowing (short) in a low interest currency, and lending (go long) in a high interest (yield) currency. For instance from Bloomberg 's rates for bonds, this would involve borrowing in Swiss francs (rate is -0.15 percent) and lend in New Zealand dollars (rate is 2.83 percent). All else remaining equal, the carry trade would yield a rate differential of 2.83+0.15 = 2.98 percent. Note: this is an unusual case where the interest rate we are borrowing from is negative; usually, this would involve subtracting the first interest rate from the second. For instance, borrowing in Japanese yen (0.04 percent) and lending in Kiwi dollars (at 2.83 percent) would yield 2.79 percent as profit. My carry trade in this case involves borrowing in USD at a rate of 2.33 percent, and buying bitcoins. But, what, you may ask, is the...
Post a Comment
Read more

On thinking

Why do I believe what I believe? Why are my values what they are? Where do my thoughts come from? Are my ideals 'mine'? The question of thought, is a complex one, not least because thinking is so difficult. Many of us do not think, we take the thoughts of others and use them as the foundations, walls, or thatching of our mental structures. But we rarely think, and deep enough on important matters anyway. Thinking involves the admission that we do not know, an admission coming from a place of humility that we are ignorant and could do better. It does not, as is usually thought, have to be from a place of knowledge, even though knowledge can inform thoughts. If it was, then we would not necessarily be thinking, but just reorganizing previously known ideas. It begins with asking the question, why. Why do we go to school? Why do we marry and have children? Why do we work to earn money in order to buy things? Why do we elect leaders? Why do we go to places of worship and perfo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Americans don't fart

I have been in the US for 8 months now, and not once have I heard anyone fart. You know how you enter a lift (elevator) when someone is leaving it, and they have this embarrassed look because they know what they did? It does not seem to happen here. In my boarding school days, evening study was a time of unusually increased farting especially on days we had meals with beans and/or cabbage for supper. We considered it normal, and it was so common, we could tell by the smell, which of our classmates had farted. I know what you are thinking, "Gross". And I understand that. Farts ahead Apparently, farting is a normal biological function of the human body, just like sweating, salivating etc. In fact, "holding it in" may lead to bloating, discomfort and even abdominal pain. It could also indicate an impending problem with one's gut. Scientists also think that smelling one's fart could be good for your health! Who knew! Bottling up is an issue when it ind...
Post a Comment
Read more