A French couple that were staying at the same hotel as me and were also on the same shuttle bus to Menjangan, overheard the guy at the dive shop say this. Afterwards, when we were outside the dive shop, the couple came over and said, "We have an extra mask you can use." They handed me the mask, wanting nothing in return.
As it turns out, there was a great coral reef right by the shore on Menjangan, so I was able to see lots of cool things just by swimming around with the mask on. I had to keep coming up for air, but that was no big deal. It was still really awesome!
Then, after lunch, the Balinese guy leading the snorkeling tour said that I needed to come on the boat with them for the second part because the boat wouldn't be coming back to the beach area before returning to the mainland. I said ok, I would just relax on the boat or swim nearby.
He was a different guy than the one in the dive shop that wouldn't rent me a mask. He saw me earlier when I was swimming and knew that I had a mask now, so he said "Hey, I have an extra snorkel. I can hook it to your mask. Just don't tell anyone." So when we got on the boat, he gave me a snorkel.
Then, a lady from Quebec that was also on our boat had a sprained ankle and couldn't wear her fin on that foot, so she said, "Why don't you take my other fin. Then, we will each have one."
Thanks to these three kind gestures, I ended up snorkeling in the best coral reef I've ever seen! There were SO many cool sea creatures there!! And the Balinese guy leading our group was a really great guide; he pointed out all kinds of interesting things that we might not have noticed on our own!
Such a great day and a great end to my time in Bali! And it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers - strangers from three different continents!
Lovina. Bali. Indonesia.
