"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 or dead, has a defensive capability. It cuts, 

stings, scratches or bites, and if it comes into contact with bare human flesh, 

you can be in a world of pain very quickly.

Free-floating nematocysts from dead jellyfish or sea anemones are practically 

invisible and can sting just as badly as when they were attached to the creatures. 

Monofilament from lost or discarded fishing lines can drift unseen in the water 

for years and cut like a razor blade.

It’s something you learn in a dive course, whether Scuba or freediving, 

and something you ‘forget’ at your peril.

After years of religiously observing the unofficial rule: ‘thou shalt not dive without

protection’, we did our first late afternoon reconnaissance of the Japanese Shipwreck at

Banyuning Bay in our swim togs with sleeveless thermal vests.

We both accidentally brushed against parts of the wreck which are covered with an

amazing variety of marine life and by the time we got back to shore, had developed nasty

purple welts on our arms and legs.

Fortunately, the local dive operator, Made Pilih, came to the rescue with a bowl 

of vinegar and some cotton swabs.

He was surprised that divers as experienced as us would go out in our swim togs. So were

we. I guess being in the tropics ‘gets’ you sometimes and you do silly things. But as the

saying goes, ‘once bitten...’

So while you might catch a glimpse of people snorkelling in bikinis and swimming trunks in

the background of our You Tube videos about the Japanese Wreck and the Underwater

Temple, you know why we elected to ‘dress conservatively’ in wetsuits.

To find out more about the Japanese Wreck and the Underwater Temple, head over to You

Tube and watch the first of our Bali & Beyond dive videos.

https://www.youtube.com/@oldnboldfreedivingadvent-DK68

We are doing a whole series of Bali & Beyond dive videos and need to build our audience.

So if you’re interested, consider subscribing to our channel and you’ll be notified when we

 post each new video.

Andrea & David

Old’n’Bold Freediving Adventures

Portarlington, Victoria

AUSTRALIA