When we arrived in Amed, we quickly decided that we could each take a few days for ourselves. So many impressions and experiences to process and constantly hanging out with each other...
When you're in Amed, you can't really avoid snorkelling when you go diving. The water is usually warm and clear. And the coral triangle of the Indonesian and Malaysian archipelago begins here. Due to special current constellations and the volcanoes located here, so many nutrients and energy enter the water that a fabulous natural environment has developed here, which is unfortunately very endangered by humans. What I mean by that is that there are lots of corals and so on.
In Amed, you can hire goggles, a snorkel and fins for a small fee. You can then walk to the beach and see the magnificent nature there. We had already bought masks in Kuala Lumpur in preparation so that we all had one.
After a few days, we had gathered all the information about where you can see a lot and go into the water. We were able to see different colours and types of coral and animals. All kinds of fish and other sea creatures swam among them. I was even able to watch octopuses darting around among the rocky creatures, cheerfully changing the colour of their skin. At one point, I was able to watch a sea turtle having its shell cleaned by a few fish.
However, after a long trip to a reef, I was correspondingly exhausted when I got back to shore. As I learnt later, this was probably not only due to the distance I had swum, but also to the mask I was wearing. Divers are not so keen on this. With a diving device, each breath is only used once. This ensures that you always have enough oxygen in your blood. It's basically no different with a snorkel. It still has the tube, but the volume is so small that almost all the air is exchanged with every breath. Masks are different. Due to the air chamber that covers the face, there is so much space that not all the air is exchanged with every breath. Some air always remains in the mask. This is inhaled again with the next breath and expelled back into the mask. This naturally reduces the oxygen content. The exhaustion I felt was largely due to the lack of oxygen caused by the mask, which I bought especially to be able to breathe better... Nice cheese... So, if you ever use the masks, always remember to take them off and breathe directly for a few breaths.
Of course, that didn't deter me or stop me from doing more laps of various beaches in the region. Among other things, I visited an underwater shrine and a coral garden. You can also discover one or two wrecks. Mostly a wooden skeleton that once stabilised the bow and is quite rotten. But sometimes there is more to see. For example, a Japanese shipwreck.
Very little is known about the Japanese wreck off Banyuning. It is not even certain whether it is really Japanese. It takes its name from the almost intact toilet on board. Experts have stated that these types of toilets are typical of Japanese ships. Whether this is actually true or based on rumour remains unclear.
It is so close (20m) to the coast that you can easily see it with a snorkel. Of course, there are also dives where you can see a lot more. Janine told me that she was there with a couple of people she had met. And I wanted to see it too. But as I was trying to see more turtles, I unfortunately only went there one afternoon. As the sun was about to set, I left my things at a diving centre and jumped into the water. Unfortunately, the visibility wasn't too good and the currents were unfavourable. What's more, there was nobody else in the water at the start. So I swam over this monstrous steel skeleton. At the highest point, I feared I might hit myself, it was so close to the surface, and the currents, which occasionally pushed me because they were deflected by the wreck, brought cold water. Overall, the atmosphere was not, as I had heard, exciting and thrilling, but gruelling and scary. After a while, a few divers came along the wreck below me, but that only made it a little better. As the sun had disappeared behind the trees, it was getting colder and colder. So after about 15 minutes I decided to go back to shore. Near the shore, I wanted to sit down for a moment and take a deep breath.
I had seen various fish underwater the days before, including the lionfish. We had already been warned about them when we went diving in Thailand. Although it is not usually deadly, it is at least very painful with its venom, which it can shoot with its spines. I always like to keep a few metres away from them. And if I don't recognise something, I prefer to be careful. When I wanted to sit down on the bank in the water, I only realised late on that the place was teeming with crabs. Just as frightened as I was, they crawled away. After the fright and the shock, I wanted a few minutes of peace and quiet. I swam a few more metres, looked for crabs and when I didn't see any, I wanted to sit down. But that didn't mean I was alone. I later researched that it wasn't that dangerous, but the head that suddenly appeared next to me I recognised as dangerous at that moment. So I hastily jumped back into the deeper water when a full-grown moray eel shot out of the rocks next to me.
After that, I didn't care about the crabs and decided not to sit on the shore, but to go straight back to my rucksack in the safety of dry land.
One morning we met up with a fisherman at 5am and went out with him. He took us on his little boat and showed us a bit about how they fish there. He told us a bit about his story and his boat, and we were able to enjoy the sunrise at sea. In the end, Janine caught a few fish and I caught none. Back on land, we were allowed to have some of them (we probably could have had all of them if we had wanted to...) and he arranged for the restaurant where he usually has his boat to not only bring us a coffee, but also to fry our fish. So we had grilled largemouth mackerel for breakfast.
When I wasn't floating around face down in the water, eating, exploring the area on my scooter or sleeping, I was sitting in the "dining room" at my accommodation. There is a small kitchen on the top floor where they prepared all sorts of things for us and a terrace with tables and beanbags all round. I spent a lot of time here, watching the hustle and bustle in the rice fields or simply listening to the wind blowing through the trees and bushes.
Corona
We also talked to our fisherman and the owner of my hostel about the Corona period. As already described in the Lombok post, everything here is now geared towards tourists. But during Corona there were no tourists. So many people went fishing again to have something to eat. Electricity was no longer affordable here either. When the sun went down, the whole town was dark. Life only took place when the sun was shining, except for the fishermen who went out at night.
Grow salt
There are still salt farmers here in Amed today. We had already seen a few structures in the first few days that we didn't quite understand. But a quick search showed us that we had seen a few of the last salt farmers. From over 100 in the past, there are now only around 20 salt farmers left. I'll summarise, but if you want more details, you can read more at Indojunkie.com.
The seawater is mixed with a mixture of clay, fine sand and fine soil in the so-called salt marshes. The sun causes the water to evaporate. Over four days, the salt crust is repeatedly broken up and crushed with a rake. After four days, this granular mixture is poured into a large funnel made of bamboo. The whole thing looks roughly like a cracked coffee filter and works in exactly the same way. The salt is dissolved out and filtered with more seawater. The now extremely salty water is divided into water troughs for re-evaporation. These troughs are made from a particular palm tree, as this wood allows the water to pass through but retains the salt. After a few more days, the fine salt can be extracted here.
Some of the farmers do not use palm trees, but basins with black foil. The black film heats the salt water as it evaporates. This favours the growth of very special salt formations. The salt crystals originally have a square basic shape, and this process can create small pyramids of salt. However, as these are very delicate and do not form evenly, they must then be picked up individually with tweezers. However, this also increases the price enormously.
Salt dried in the palm costs around €0.80 per kilogramme. The pyramids, on the other hand, cost €20 per kilogramme.
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