Don’t worry Borut Strel, DiveKupangDive is not your next swim
tour competitor! I’m in Kupang, in West Timor Indonesia for work. I’m here for
ten days staying at T-More Hotel (T-Less
I called it) working at the nearby university. I only move between the hotel and
the University. At every moment in the near distance I can see the turquoise tropical sea without the
means to get there. It was not possible to walk, there are no taxis and the
psychotic bemos manned by crackers teenagers are not an option. The hotel
advertises a company that runs diving and snorkelling day trips. Salvation at
hand! I’d been in Kupang over a week and no swimming. By this stage water was the priority and
concerns I usually have about boat trips (toilets) disappeared from my head. I booked in for Sunday and I started to get excited.
The organiser, Donavan, an Australian turned Kupangese picked me up at
7:30 on Sunday morning fag in mouth. We
drove to a small street stall where I had gave him the trip fee (cash) so he
could then go and buy breakfast takeaways for the skipper. Hmm… is this normal
practice? It’s water Lindy, forget it. Arriving at the jetty we waited for the
two other trippers to turn up, a lovely Javanese couple who had learned to dive a few months
ago. I stood on the shore trying to guess which of the boats would be ours.
Yes, it was the scabby one that looked like an asylum seeker vessel that plies
these waters between Indonesia and Australia. No seats, and certainly no toilet!
It’s water Lindy, it’s water.
Aside from us three trippers there was Donovan, his ten year
old son and two boatmen. There was no waiver to sign, no insurance, no warnings
about the dangers of ocean swimming. It’s still water Lindy. We headed off
towards the nearest island, Monkey Island and anchored off the reef. Sadly we
passed swathes of floating rubbish as we chugged along. The three divers kitted up, leaving me and the
ten year old. Hmm.. ‘If I get into trouble……?’ ‘The boatmen they can’t swim but
the boy can’ replied Donovan. Right. It’s
water. I jumped it. Oh did it feel good!
It was wonderful! Said son followed me, a lovely lad but a poor swimmer and a
crap snorkeler. He needed help a couple of times. I lent him my magic floating
flippers which helped a bit. I wasn’t charged any extra for babysitting.
services. But the snorkelling was very pretty. I saw lots of fish normally
found in a heated aquarium. Certainly not seen in Sydney or, dare I say it, British
waters. I saw sea cucumbers, beautiful blue starfish, clown fish, flying fish
and some lovely coral. I got rid of the voluminous wetsuit given to me and
spent an hour snorkelling and swimming. I then went for two more snorkelling
swims and I have to say although not awe inspiring it was lovely.
On the divers second dive I watched and waited for the divers
to come up, they were 15 minutes late and a storm was brewing. It was at this point
I reviewed the wisdom of my decision to do this trip and I started to woryy about
what if…. But up they came, the storm did not happen for a couple of hours and
we reached port safely. I really enjoyed
the snorkelling but I don’t think DiveKupangDive is not quite ready for exacting
German tourists.
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