At Tauch I went to work with Wayan, practicing snorkeling with him. He did well enough in the pool that I took him out to see the fish. Of note was Niels’ sincerity in also wanting to see the fish. He was constantly stealing the mask and snorkel to try it out, but needed help since the mask didn’t fit well.

I went out again in the afternoon, this time going east to see the wreck. Better snorkeling this way, in my opinion. Didn’t really know where the wreck was, supposedly about 25 meters offshore, so I kept to the deep water, so long as I could see the bottom. Kinda scary not seeing clearly. Feeling exposed over blue water. Not finding the ship, looking, kicking, then suddenly there was a craggy steel wall covered in coral and fish, only 6 feet away and projecting up to within 3 feet of the surface. Shit! Cruised around it, saw lots of fish. Also spotted a few divers down in the wreck itself. One cool thing is to be above the large bubbles they emit. The bubbles are silver and reflect the sky. If you’re right above it you can see your reflection so clearly.
Waited around for a while, the fish out there follow you around like dogs. Unnerving to have one so close when you turn your head. They’re about 2 feet long?

I practiced with Wayan, and concluded that the snorkel was a bonafide piece of shit. Walked into town with the hope of finding a good used one. First 3 places wouldn’t sell, but the local restaurant had a cabinet full of snorkeling equiptment, and seemed eager to sell. I pawed through them, picked a couple viable ones and asked how much. $15/snorkel. Seemed fair to me given their fine condition, and an assurance that I could return them for a working replacement if I had any trouble. I asked about the masks, $30. Since I had Niels with me, I went through them all, testing them with his face. Found one that was unusually small, seemed to fit Niels! Rare for a pro-quality silicone diving mask. I talk them down to $20 for the mask.

Back at the pool the mask is a hit with both wayan and niels, so are the snorkels. Wayan does great with the combination. Next morning, before breakfast, Wayan and I hit the ocean after a quick final practice in the pool. Wayan wears his floaty-suit and did great. He was astonished by seeing so many fish so quickly. I took him from in front of the hotel, all the way up the beach to the wreck. Its fun to approach the wreck from the beach-side. A wall of coral on the exposed side of the ship, then across the top of the ship to see down the long deck of the ship that extends down into the dark. Since it was 7am, there were no divers out yet. Way down in the dark I made out the shapes of some big fish, three humphead. To my eyes they were about 6 feet long, but tall and wide too. Massive, maybe 300-400 pounds. At that point wayan had trouble with his snorkel, the chop was picking up, so we headed back. Wayan didn’t see the humpheads.

On the way back we saw a little moray eel swimming over the rocks. He spotted us and backed down into the rocks to wait for us to leave. He was about 2 feet long, reddish brown with blue spots. Little beady eyes were very attentive. Occasionally a larger fish would pass by, he would rub his jaw against it, but not take his eyes off us. We circled, and the eel swivled and maneuvered to watch us, little mouth opening and closing. To wayan this was cooler than the wreck.