Backbends and Bubbles in Lembeh :)

Backbends and Bubbles in Lembeh :) 

Finally after months on the road I found myself traveling towards Lembeh, Indonesia where I was lucky enough to call home for 6 whole weeks. Such a special and beautiful island, in the middle of the Celebe Sea, full of magical experiences both personally and professionally. 6 weeks filled with fabulous friendships, yoga, diving, personal challenges and lots of life plans, dreams and lessons :) 

The thing that made me most excited about being back here was the possibility of sitting still for a while, and my only options being teaching yoga, doing yoga, diving, paddle boarding, SUP yoga or chilling out in a hammock! This tiny little island also made me realize how important it is to have close friends around you and the importance of sharing your life with these close friends! A good friend Karen had told me earlier into my travels that while you are backpacking you can be surrounded by a million people every single second of every single day, but still feel alone. SO true...absolutely nothing beats having friends around you to share life with, whether it's only for one day or more. Everyone needs time alone, but sharing is everything <3

The real purpose for my return visit to Lembeh was to teach yoga following on from my 500 hour yoga teacher training course in India earlier this year, and unofficially teaching Dani each day during my previous trip. I learnt to much about myself and myself as a yoga teacher during my time in Lembeh in July and August, and more importantly learnt that my customers and students teach me new things every single day. Easily the most satisfying part of my trip so far - and deserving of a separate blog entry to this one so check out the blog that follows this one for more details ;) 

Diving in Lembeh is such a rare treasure! Such a wonderful experience. It is just simply beautiful, the endless possibilities of macro never cease to amaze me. In the same way the peace I find underwater is just blissful! After just two days underwater I had spent time with the teeniest of tiny frogfish, flying gurnards, algae octopus, and all sorts of crazy Lembeh critters! Night dives became such a fabulous habit of mine very quickly after the first night dive absolutely blew my mind! Oh my god, amazing, amazing, amazing. Theresia, Imi and I were addicted and whenever the boat had space were sure to jump on. Even on days when I said no, not today I would find myself green with envy as the time approached for the boat to leave and I would grab my dive gear at the final second and say "ok, ok wait for me, I am coming" much to the boys amusement. I never once regretted my lastminute.com decisions to join!! Especially one dive where within 11 minutes of descending we had seen both a bobbit worm, a stargazer and a blue ring octopus! I mean seriously people, where else in the world does this happen? Ah smiles, smiles and more smiles. By the end of dive we had seen two different types of frogfish, 2 types of stargazers (who knew there were even two different types of stargazers in existence?!), coconut octopus, starry night octopus (so so cool!), ambon scorpion fish, flying gurnards, incredible nudibranch, and so much more I can't even remember! Incredible experiences underwater in the dark waters of the Lembeh Strait. So grateful for these experiences, and the fact that each of these dives was shared with special friends, and amazing customers :) Good times. 

Diving by day was just as incredible! We had awesome dives, day after day which brought mimic octopus (I found one all by myself too!), wanderpus octopus, blue ring octopus, loads of frogfish - including hairy frogfish,flamboyant cuttlefish, funky shrimp, the 3 different types of pygmy seahorses (bargibanti, severns and ponyohoi), critters galore including emperor shrimp, tiger shrimp, zebra shrimp, coleman shrimp, fingered dragonets, ambon scorpion fish, cool nudis, sepia cuttlefish, ghost pipefish, and so much more!! So lucky :) 

I can't believe that in the short time between my last trip to Lembeh and this current trip, I had forgotten just how happy diving and being on the water makes me! So good for my soul to be nearby, or under or in the ocean :):) 4 months without the water during my travels suddenly felt like an eternity! I won't let that happen again, ever!! 

It was so nice to be back amongst the boys - Doan, Rein, Geri, Sandy, Fenly, Hanny, everyone. Their energy is, as it always was, amazingly positive. Each day you would find them smiling and radiating happiness from their huge beaming smiles :) If you asked them how they were, they would say happy of course, why not as in why wouldn't I be? Life was a blessing each day an opportunity to smile and do what they loved and I adored that way of thinking. They would sing and whistle every second of every day and constantly making music! Some songs that stick in my mind are Pink - Just give me a reason", Leaving on a jetplane, and many many more! I realized during my time in Lembeh this trip how valuable those people with that way of thinking are to me, how important it is to surround myself with people with positive outlooks on life, positive energy and big dreams. Anything less than that is really hard for me to be around as I start to take on the negative feelings and vibes, I feel so much more sensitive to that these days. I am a lucky girl to have come to a place now in my life where I am recognizing more about what works for me :) 

During my time in Lembeh, I met some incredible people. The customers were so friendly and lovely, and many an evening or boat trip was spent swapping stories of our travel adventures, our pipe dreams and our bucket lists. My bucket list expanded yet again with a never ending list of new dive destinations to explore around the world. I wonder if I will ever be able to settle back into a normal life - well I guess I just need to redefine my own version of "normal life" hey ;) So many lovely people who influenced my world in more ways than they will know, sharing their life stories, pearls of wisdom and just endless amounts of positive energy. Each and everyone I remain in contact with, and am so happy to have met them. I truly believe we meet each person we encounter for a reason and we grow from each introduction and relationship in some known or unknown way. Very grateful for the wonderful people that I met during these 6 weeks. 

Customers aside, I made some wonderful friendships on this small island. An island, which when I arrived I felt a little anxious about having 6 weeks of alone time. I quickly realized that I would not spend a second alone, as I made such close friends so quickly in the DMT's and staff at the dive shop.  Theresia arrived a couple of days ahead of me and we clicked so quickly and easily it was lovely. We were often on the boats together, and built a friendship readily. Our daily routine quickly became morning yoga, breakfast, diving, lunch, coffee break at our imaginary coffee shop, followed by more yoga, cold bintang and dinner :) Good times! The coffee shop was a wonderful creation of ours, which grew from the need for real coffee and hiding away from people from time to time. Lembeh resort had a new table and chairs made from bamboo this time around, so we decided to call it our coffee shop and meet there each day to drink sachet coffee from the mainland, eat milka chocolate (generously donated by Theresia direct from Austria - yum!) and put the world to rights as we swapped stories, adventures and life plans. Imi arrived shortly after our journey began, also continuing her dive master training in Lembeh.  At 18, she was full of energy and ideas and life and a total breath of fresh air! She quickly told me she had never done yoga before and I gently encouraged her to come along and try it. More on Imi and yoga in the blog entry following this where I share my adventure of teaching in Lembeh more specifically ;) Imi was super confident and had so much energy for life, and was super passionate for diving. I don't know who was more excited about night dives in the end - her or me! I learnt a lot about life from this amazing girl, and she made me smile and learn to let go of a lot of things during our time together. 

Man did we celebrate the completion of her dive master course well... A night I will never forget, yet at the same time never remember entirely due to the copious amounts of palm wine the boys shared with us during the night! We sat together and pieced the evening together with the help of her canon camera, and through the photos Doan had taken during the night - over 300 photos! Doan became quite the photographer that night! There were drunken backbends, singing, dancing, and so much fun! So sad to see her leaving us earlier than we were due to leave. I will never forget hearing her screaming as she ran into my 'yoga shack' telling me "I CAN TOUCH MY TOES!!!!!!!" hahahaha!!! 

Ah happy memories.  

During my time in Lembeh I also had the pleasure of meeting Markko, a tec diving instructor who was based in Bunaken. He came to Lembeh initially to teach an introduction to tec diving to Imi. I was lucky enough to be invited to share in this experience, and got the opportunity to learn side mount diving - something that I expected to hate, and absolutely loved. I felt so streamlined in the water, and so calm and comfortable. Definitely want to try this again. You wear two tanks either side of your torso as opposed to one tank along the back of your BCD. It creates a shelf for your arms to rest and just feels so super comfortable in the water. Loved it. Luckily for me he came back a week or so later to do some tec work with Theresia, and teach her a rebreather course.  In exchange for attending each of my yoga classes, he offered me the chance to dive alongside them during her course using side mount equipment and increasing my experience. It was a fantastic opportunity, and Markko ran me through all of the skills and drills that would be part of a side mount course! I had so much fun, and it really increased my awareness of safety underwater and focusing on your body, position and breath. It was refreshing because diving comes so naturally to me now, that quite often I simply set up my equipment without pausing to think about how, roll off the boat, and swim along searching for critters underwater or simply just being underwater - something that makes me incredibly happy! My air consumption has become so good underwater that I don't need to check my gauge very often at all, I know I will exit each dive with more than or close to at least half a tank of air. So it was really nice to know that I had to change regulators every 20 bar, and had to focus on my breath and do drills underwater during each dive. It distracted me from my state of calm blissfulness on each dive, which much as I love that it is always good to learn and evolve in life :) In addition to teaching me side mount, Markko also set me off on the path of thinking properly about what I wanted next in life, where did my hopes and dreams take me and in what direction did I see my new version of reality taking me. For the first time in a long time I actually sat still and thought about what next, and amazingly it didn't scare me. I learnt a lot about myself during these thoughtful periods in Lembeh and for that I am grateful to him. I feel like my life is starting to take a shape and direction now, so watch this space for updates everyone :) Exciting times ahead, I can just sense it. 

Everyone joined in with the handstand challenge in Lembeh which made it so much fun! I had so much fun playing with my handstands during surface intervals on diving days! To begin with the boys just watched from afar and then suddenly I would turn around and they would be joining me in crazy handstands and sharing photo ideas with me ;) They all seemed to practice when I wasn't looking and would jump up into fantastic shapes with seemingly no effort at all and hold them for far longer than I was able! The benefit of being 18-20 years old and bendy and super strong!! Boat yoga became a really fun time and we shared many a laugh! My favorite handstand was the number 100 one which we spent so much time thinking through what to do until Doan randomly one day hopped up into a one handed handstand and I knew instantly that was what I had to do! Unlike him I needed a wall though! Markko helped me find the perfect spot on a small platform in the middle of the ocean during a surface interval, and we spent the entire hour trying to create the perfect photo which you can see below :) I did it finally! Now to work on not needing the wall or taking so many attempts to make it happen haha! Great selection of photos - some on the roof of moving boats, along the various beaches, in the gardens, in the yoga shack, underwater both regular scuba and then side mount. Even the customers were busy thinking of new ideas for me to try out. Love how infectious it quickly became :) 

My greatest memory that will always stick in my mind about Lembeh Days this time will forever be "I'm leaving, on a jet plane..." Perfect memories of the boys singing this everywhere we go. One dive the guide sang "so kiss me, and smile for me...." and jumped overboard, then came up singing "and tell me that you'll wait for me" and then the whole boat, customers included broke into full volume song! Brilliant!! Such a good days diving! 

Ah happy days in Lembeh, as always. I spent my days doing yoga, reading about yoga, practicing yoga, teaching yoga, paddle boarding, playing with SUP yoga, diving, reading, dreaming and planning about the future direction of my life, and planning future trips and thinking about dream dive destinations!! I really spent my time here focusing hard on learning more yoga and staying true to myself and working out what I want from life looking ahead. Amazing times :) Time really does fly...I have been backpacking for 6 months now. It is crazy to me. I have visited 9 countries in this time - Dubai, Singapore, Sulawesi, Thailand, India, Nepal, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and now back in Lembeh. And I am nowhere near finished this adventure where every day I am living the life I love <3 

Such a bittersweet farewell at the end of my time in Lembeh. I was so, so sad to say goodbye to my fabulous friends, and the boys of Lembeh. The day started and ended in tears, full blown heart felt tears. Every time I saw Hanny or Theresia I just broke down in floods of them. Some of the boys tried to hide because it was just so sad. The connections you make on that small island amaze me, and overwhelmed me on that final morning. I felt like I was leaving behind another piece of my heart as I got onto the boat.  As I leave behind some amazing friends, I take with me a heart full of happiness and excitement for everything I learnt and loved during my stay. And the knowledge that I will see everyone again, and that my next footsteps take me in the direction of Africa and the wedding of my wonderful friend Marie-Pier to Bevis, and a reunion with friends from my recent past in Bermuda <3