Back in Kampung Bugis, Part IV, and Life in the Bali Sea

We’ve had guests for the past few days so I haven’t had time to blog, although I have been snorkeling. My friend, Stephen, his son, Oliver, Stephen’s friend, Ade, and Stephen’s driver, Wahid, came up from Kuta to visit for a few days. I enjoyed having them all visit; it’s been a while since I’ve had a friend visit the house. Of course, like most teachers, we talked a lot about school and education, but that’s one of the hazards of the profession – getting wrapped up in what we do.

The kids have been out of school for most of the week; we have family up from Denpasar because of the Nyepi holiday so the house has been very busy this week. Today is Kuningan so prayers from the Hindu temple just down the beach have been going on for hours now.

I let Mercedes and Rebecca drive up to Bedugal today for a treat. Lots of trepidation on my part because the roads can be so dangerous here, but I guess that I have to start to let go some as Mercedes is almost an adult – she’ll be 18 in a few months, and Rebecca will be 16 not long afterwards. Still, I’m waiting anxiously for her to call me to say that she has arrived safely in Bedugal.

I’ve been taking hundreds of photos with my Olympus underwater camera, as well as a lot of short movies. The water has been quite clear and some of the photos have come out quite clear, but I’m still working on how to use the camera. Today’s photo is of a fish that I have always called a tiger barb because I used to have Tiger Barbs when I was a kid. I’ve been going through my Collins Pocket Guide: Coral Reef Fishes, Indo-Pacific and Caribbean, to identify this fish. It seems to be an angelfish, butterfly fish or a damselfish. Based on a drawing on Page 74, I think that it is a damselfish. If anyone recognizes it, I would love to hear if I am correct in my classification.

Today’s anti-work quote is:
“Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.”
—Oscar Wilde

Back in Kampung Bugis II and Life in the Bali Sea

This is my third day back in Kampung Bugis. For those who aren’t aware of my little neighborhood, Kampung Bugis is located on the north coast of Bali in the city of Singaraja. The neighborhood hugs the shoreline just to the west of the large statue at the old harbor of Buleleng. As our house sits back only a few meters from the Bali Sea, the kids and I spend a lot of time in the water.

One of the things that I’ve always wanted was an underwater camera so that I could photo document the coral reefs in front of the house. Recently I was able to purchase the Olympus 1030 SW. My children will be able to show their children what the sea looked like decades before they were born. It would have been wonderful to have had these photos years ago before the coral started dying. There appears to be some regrowth going on, and I want to document that.

Here is the first of a series of photos on life in the sea in Kampung Bugis. The first photo is of a starfish common to this area. Marine biology is not a specialty of mine, but using the book, Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, this starfish appears to be a Linckia laevigata. This starfish can be safely handled as I see neighborhood kids occasionally picking them up and examining them.

Starfish move quite slowly and their locomotion is the result of the water vascular system. Water is brought into the system and moved to the arms by canals. The canals are connected to the tube feet. The feet have tiny suckers, which expand and contract through hydraulics. This is how the starfish moves.

Starfish are known for their ability to regenerate, and a starfish can be completely regenerated from a small fragment.

And here is my anti-work quote for the day.
"We don't have a lot of time on this earth! We weren't meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements."
—Office Space, 1999