After getting married in June, it was finally time to start our honeymoon. Since I had been busy with Scholarship business in Bali the weeks before – my husband met me in there and we traveled around together after my UW videography course. Fortunately we are both divers – so the choice of activity was easy. And diving in Indonesia is not exactly a downer.

After the course we went straight to the Gili Islands, right outside of Bali. We settled on Gili Air, the second most quiet and unspoiled island of the three. Brage, my husband, had only been diving in Norway before, and his eyes were sparkling when he learned we could spot sharks there.

After almost a week on Gili Air we traveled back to Bali again. This time to Amed, a small place on the Northeast coast not far from Tulamben. Like Gili Air, the tourism industry has not developed as much here. The dive site, Bunatan, just a 15 min boat ride away is the prettiest site I have ever dived. The corals are plentiful and so full of colors that it could be mistaken for a picture from a fairytale book for kids.

We wanted to go to Manta Point outside Nusa Penida so bad, so we rented a motorbike and followed the coast road to Padang Bai to do some research. The coast road is, compared to the mountain road, of a much poorer quality and few tourists travel there. But following this road you see how the Balinese live their life. You can spot men next to the road making parts for the local fishing boats, the jukungs, and kids are everywhere shouting ”Hello!” and running towards you hoping for a high five.

In Padang Bai we booked a trip with OK Divers, who were the only dive centre willing to make a trip with just two people. And the next morning we were ready to do some serious diving.

When the dive boat stopped at the dive site I could hardly believe my eyes. I guess I had imagined some relatively quiet site out in the open ocean, but this was a bay whirling with swells and a surge that could move you up to 4-5 meters from side to side. I was surprised that you could spot such gigantic creatures right by the shore, but soon learned that the waves hid a cleaning station, which the manta rays frequently use. We geared up, feeling our pulse getting a little higher and breathing a little faster. Thank God these massive creatures are plankton feeders, I thought while doing a backroll in the water. The visibility was not perfect, but good enough for getting some nice video if they got really close. Brage gave me eye contact, we gave each other the ok-signal and hoped for the best. It took some time before we spotted the first ones swimming by in a distance. As we moved closer to the cleaning station, they appeared more and more often, and suddenly we see one of them moving towards us front to front. Or, it would be more correct to say head to mouth. Its mouth, my head. It came so close we could practically touch it. The experience was magical.

During our honeymoon we also found valuable time to relax, and the hammock was our best friend.

It was great to spend some time with my dearest again, and hard saying goodbye. But I have good things coming for me this Fall – and my first stop is Australia!