Tide pooling in Bali

The first time that Dad went out to the reef, he came back and said that there was a puffer fish out there. Hearing that really made me want to go and see it. So the next day I went out to the reef, to try snorkeling. I found out that I really like to snorkel.

Once when my brother and my mom were going to take a walk, my dad and I went snorkeling at Thomas Beach. We only have one snorkel but that is still okay because we can both swim and trade the mask, so we took turns. At Thomas Beach there were these channels that even at low tide were eight to nine feet deep. The water was a little murky and the fish were a little dull colored but the reef was amazing, with so many kinds of coral. There was this amazing fish in Thomas Beach that was striped yellow and blue with a black outline. Once, Dad and I went out on his surfboard to the really deep part in Padang Padang past the break and we saw the same fish except much larger. This fish is very stunning at first sight but still beautiful the second time.

Eventually we decided to get out of the water and walk over to Padang Padang Beach. Dad went in to grab the minimal amount of stuff we had. I was going to swim around in a shallow part of the reef that was sheltered by the rocks from the waves but once I poked my head up out of the water, Dad called me over urgently. Normally this meant there was a big wave coming and I should go further out so the wave didn’t crest on me but, he motioned me in. When I got there he said there was an octopus! It was hard to spot her because she was camouflaging under a rock but Dad pointed her out. I could see her head poking out and she had made horns. Eventually she came out from under the rock but instantly went under another one. Dad lifted the rock that she was under and she swam out really fast and squirted ink behind her. She swam into a little patch of sea grass and Dad poked his finger in the sea grass but didn’t touch her. Then she reached out a tentacle and touched Dad. Right after that she swam under another rock. So then we looked around for her not knowing where she was but eventually we found her under anuther small rock. Then I reached out my hand and she reached out her tentacle and touched my fingers! Then again she swam away and Dad noticed that there were two octopuses but then the other one swam away and I thought I found it but it turned out to be a crab. And the octopuses were gone.

After we grabbed the stuff we had we walked along the tide pools of the reef and Dad saw a little shrimp but when he looked again he saw that it was a mantis shrimp. We looked at the mantis shrimp for a couple minutes but then he swam away deep into his den.

As we started to walk along the tide pools we saw a greenish black shape and Dad said it was a sea slug. I remembered I saw one in the water as we were snorkeling but I didn't pick it up.

We passed some people that were harvesting a bunch of sea urchins to presumably eat but then in the water we saw what Dad said was a moray eel. Dad said it was small for a moray eel and normally they come much larger but as we watched it hunt, poking its small head into every hole looking for a little fish and crabs to eat, we thought maybe it evolved to be smaller so that it could stick its head into smaller holes. Once it even went under Dad’s shoes but eventually came out again. There was another mantis shrimp hiding in a little divot in a rock but the moray eel never really paid any attention to it and there was a third mantis shrimp that the moray eel chased out of its hole and scared away. Sadly we did not see this moray eel ever catch any crabs or fish.

As we were walking along the tide pools we saw a little brown starfish but its arms were hairy. Dad said that they were Brittle Stars. Earlier we watched a movie called My Octopus Teacher and in the movie there were Brittle Stars that stole the octopus’ food making it harder for her to eat. Looking at these Brittle Stars everywhere in the tide pools made me wonder how many Brittle Stars there were in the ocean stealing food from other sea animals trying to eat.

In one of the deeper tide pools there was a floating piece of kelp that was pretty small. We noticed that it wasn't really kelp but a fish disguised to look like kelp! I decided to go and stick my head in the water to check out that disguised fish. As predicted, it was just a little green and white speckled fish swimming in this odd way to make it look like an ordinary piece of kelp.

The main reason why we were going to Padang Padang Beach was to see this cool patch of reef that I found a day or two previously. When we finally got there I was snorkeling around and I saw a big brown and white fish under a ledge. I came up and asked my dad what it was, so then he went down to go look at the fish. A little later he came back up and said, “Wow! I almost just touched a lion fish!” Then my dad told me that they were very poisonous and I saw a bunch more but was careful not to touch them!

The Angelfish was one of the most beautiful fish that I saw in that reef. They were black, white and yellow and had a long, thin fin sprouting up from halfway along their back. They were everywhere in this part of the reef, like six or so within 15 feet. The main reason why there are so many fish here was there was a big rock and then a drop off. This was the main reason why there were so many fish living there. They could hide in so many nooks and crannies so this was a fish heaven.

All in all I like snorkeling at Padang Padang Beach more than at Thomas Beach because it has more elegant and colorful fish. I had a really good time with my dad (typical) snorkeling and tide pooling, seeing octopuses, lion fish and mantis shrimp. I wish I could do it all over again!

Tide pooling in Bali

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Batur Detour