Volcano and Sharks
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2004
1
49
75
Trip End
Dec 15, 2005
Loading Map
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
SENGGIGI, RINJANI and GILI TRAWANGAN, Indonesia
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Escaping the continual hassling to buy something or go somewhere, Jon & I took off for 3 days to the Rinjani volcano (last erupted in 1994); a steep 8 hour hike above the clouds to the rim where you can look down into the picturesque volcanic lake below. Seeing the long sunset through the clouds below us was terrific, followed by a clear sky revealing its billions of stars, more than I've seen in a long time (made a little more interesting by the fact that I've been reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Almost Everything" where he talks about Astronomy, and volcanoes). The second day we clambered down the even steeper inside section of the volcano to the lake and some nice sulphuric hot springs for a bath.
It only took us 3 hours to scramble back down Rinjani on the 3rd day, mainly because it was so steep that you could barely help but run, but my legs sure were paying for it! So we headed over to Gili Trawangan for a couple of days to recover - the largest of 3 little tourist islands about a half hours boat ride NE from Lombok. I did a dive here, and while the coral & fish were not the most amazing, I did see 2 white tip sharks (about 1.5m), an octopus (changing colour from white to purple) and a 60cm turtle - all firsts for me, so a great dive!
Dive pics added...
