4 days of Winter: Lula: the funny lady from Holland

I kept my word with the 180 year old man and was up and ready when he came knocking at my door at 5.45, we took a motorcycle to the beach and waited for the other two people, Dutch, i think, every foreginer here is Dutch to arrive. It was dark and there was a full moon in the sky, tourists arriving along the beach, all like me going out to see the dolphins. I stood beside the boat and waited, it was a nice morning, cool, dry and warmish. The dolphins don't like it when it's rainy. Heck who does? The other tourists didn't arrive. My boat man told me that i was his first job since the begining of the month. He was disappointed, I paid him 2 hundred thousand rupiah for the morning, he was happy with that. I thought about the other people assholes.

We got on the little boat, at first i was worried about my camera, but then my mind just drifted. We floated around in circles it seemed, a little floatilla of boats for about two hours. Maybe it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, after all the ocean looked kind of grey and i was trying to spot a grey animal in it. But then i just didn't care the moon sank in the sky in front of me, I could feel the sun rising behind me, , this was beautiful, here i was the luckiest person on the planet, on a little boat in off the coast of paradise early in the morning trying to spot a dolphin. When does life get better than this? The sea was so calm, not a wave, dolphins like this weather, the man shouted to me over the buzz of the engine. I still can't really hear properly but that is what he told me, then i realised he wasn't really 180. The boat turned and we turned into the glare, laser like stare of the morning rising sun. It was blinding, my skin felt like it was being cortorised. Why hadn't i brought sunscreen? I looked around and the little floatilla was gone, i was thinking does this guy know what he's doing and then there they were. I burst into tears. I'd never seen a dolphin before for real in the ocean, they were so beautiful, skipping across the water. making hooting noises. Like the day in Chengdu with the panda, I was gobsmacked, lost for words and happy. I tried to take photos but they moved so fast, I don't know if the video really worked. We moved around and saw more, they would disappear, tease the tourists? They were smaller than i thought they would be and moved so fast. Some of them came so close to our little boat that i thought they were going to jump in and say hello.

We turned back and headed towards the reef, I had paid for dolphins and snorkelling, but the water looked so dark and I was on my own and I had only snorkelled once before, in Hondurous. I said to the boat man that i wasn't sure, he looked sad, he would have to give me back a hundred thousand. I looked at the water, pulled off my shorts and my t-shirt and jumped into the water before that little man in my head had anymore time to diswade me. Wait wait wait he shouted (the boat man not the voice in my head), i had already bobbed to the top and was looking up at him. The water was beautiful, warm and fresh. Your snorkelling gear? I am sure he probably called me the Balinese word for idiot. I never realised how difficult it is to put on flippers, a mask and a snorkel while also trying to stay afloat in the ocean. I saw little yellow fish, and one that was purple and green, it was like finding nemo, the boat man also got in, i think at the begining he thought i was going to drown. I did that for about 45 minutes and then we headed back to shore. I was back at my hotel by 11, oh I also got my pedicure. I suppose sometimes it is worth getting up in the morning.