"The Pain of the Bare-Fleshed Skindiver" By David King
Tourists are always being told to dress conservatively when visiting temples in Bali. But a pair of swimming trunks or a bikini is just fine for the Underwater Temple at Jemeluk Bay . The Temple was never intended as an actual place of worship, but as a home for marine life. It was originally known as The Post Office because divers could post special underwater post cards in a net hanging from the ceiling and the cards were collected each day by PT Pos (the Indonesian postal service). The underwater post cards were sold by local dive shops. The Temple no longer has this function but still exists to attract and provide a home for various forms of marine life. It was placed on the seabed in Jemeluk Bay in 2010 by Reef Check Indonesia and associated groups. The reason Andrea and I didn’t take advantage of such relaxed dress standards is that we know a few things about the ocean which your average snorkelling tourist doesn’t. Nearly everything in the sea, alive
