Pat's Scuba Diving Adventures and The Glorious Food We've Been Consuming

Pat has been taking scuba diving lessons for his open water certificate for the last four days, and today he has become certified! Over the last few days he has gone on some excellent trial dives and I've even tagged along for a few! He's seen a few sharks, sea turtles, lion fish, a moray eel, clown fish, a beautiful, big manta ray (purely by accident; it was his first dive and his ears were popping so he and his buddy fell behind the others- they were the only ones who saw the manta as a result!) and lots of pretty coral, of course.

His teachers were super cool and we recommend this place to any beginner (Manta Dive, www.manta-dive.com) who wants to learn to dive in the Gilis. You're guaranteed to see a lot of cool stuff- hell, I even saw some stuff as I was cowardly waiting for him to get back on the boat. Ok, I'm actually lying, I could have seen a shark, but my back was to it and the Parisian guy (who was the only other wimp on the boat) who I was chatting with saw it. But I was still there, so it counts, right?



Very pleased with himself after his dive at Stingray Point- no stingrays, though, just lionfish!



How I spent my time on the boat. Lots of this.


Doing his James Bond move into the water.



Pat and his instructor, Basil, who is helping him into his oxygen tank.



The first dive I accompanied them on, to Stingray Point. Today we went to Shark Point where they saw some decently sized Oceanic Whitetips.

Ok ok, onto the food!

Since we've arrived in the Gilis last Sunday, we've had some amazing food and some not so amazing food. Where to avoid? Well, there's this place called "Beautiful Dream" which has amazing ice cream sundaes and a lovely selection of films you can watch in your own little bamboo hut (or, they show more recent films on a big screen in the bar area every evening). However, their food is pretty awful. And in order to get your own little individual movie hut, you need to buy dinner, so Pat and I have choked down their grub twice in order to watch a movie and chill out. To be honest, that is the only place where we really didn't enjoy our meals. Everywhere else has been excellent!


Our lunchtime favourite... this place is called Oceane Dua and their Indonesian curries (2.50 CAN) are amazing. I think I've figured out the ingredients and I have written them down in my food journal for later (wink, wink). They garnish their curries with saltine raisins (the golden ones) and toasted coconut- superb. Also, our favourite Gili feline always comes to hang out with us in our little bamboo haven from the glaring lunchtime sun. Patrick is bemused. The kittehs love him.



Bintang! Thank you for saving us from the swill that is known as Korean beer. Yikes. This is a lovely little lager that goes down very easy- a good beer for a hot and muggy place. You can get a bottle anywhere for about 1.20 CAN.



Barracuda has a snappy flavour (no pun intended) and it's veeeery plentiful in the waters around the Gilis. For such a skinny fish, it sure produces a lovely fillet! This steak cost Pat about 3.00 CAN and came with rice and veggies, too. We love to eat at this place- it's called Rudy's, and although the waiters and bartenders like to shout lewd things at me during the day (and despite the fact that they are very well known for their mushroom pizza... if you know what I mean...), by night they give us excellent service and we eat right next to the ocean. Lovely.



I got some yummy chicken satay at Rudy's, also for about 3.00 CAN. The peanut sauce was lovely and just spicy enough, and the chicken was nicely marinated. Kudos, Rudy's. Please stop hassling me when I walk by, though. Seriously.



The Gili's piece de resistance! Fish n' chips, made with all fresh Gili ingredients (4.00 CAN). Red snapper fillet, Bintang beer batter, lime and pickle tartar sauce, all served with perfectly cooked chips and a fresh squeeze of lime. I have never, ever had better fish n chips. Ever! And I'm from Cape Breton! And Pat is Irish! We are, like, over the moon for red snapper. It's meaty, delicate and has a bit of a bite to it. It really batters well. I think the Indonesians are on to something...