Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

First full day on the boat. I got about nine hours of sleep last night, but don't feel well rested. Our cruising speed has been slower than anticipated because of the currents, so we only did one dive today, rather than the planned two.

The first dive was at Angel Reef, off of Pulau Moyo, a small island off of the north coast of Sumbawa. It was a relaxed dive, to make sure we were properly weighted and that all of our gear was in order. There was lots to see. Huge schools of fish, hard corals, sea sponges, sea stars, a turtle. Beautiful conditions in general.

At sunset we were near the island of Satonda, a habitat for fruit bats. As dusk fell, thousands of bats flew over us to Sumbawa to eat. It's hard to gauge sizes of silhouettes flying over you, but comparing the bats to the masts they were flying above made it clear that these are sizable bats. Michael, the cruise director said they often have wingspans over a meter.