Umbul Ponggok

Hi! I'm back again with another travelling story to share with you guys. So, as you can see, it's an underwater picture. Yes, yesterday I went snorkeling with my family, not with boyfriend. I've been wanting to go snorkeling since a long time ago but I didn't know where to go or how to do it. I thought when you go snorkeling, you need to at least have a basic knowledge about professional diving because you're about to go under the sea and swim with the fishes. But hey! Guess what? Here in Klaten you can do all that even without professional guidance.

So there's this one place at Klaten named Umbul Ponggok. I knew this place from my driver. My mom went to her diploma reunion in Klaten and he told me I could've come with her and went snorkeling but I was asleep back then so I missed the chance. But I was still curious, so I asked my mom again if we could go to this place and try it out. At first I thought this Umbul Ponggok was going to be some kind of beach because where else you're gonna go snorkeling if it weren't on the beach, right? Turns out when we first arrived at the place, it was more like a mere swimming pool. And I was pretty disappointed at first because I was picturing sandy toes and beach hair at the end of the day. I was hesitate at first to get in, but I wanted to know what lies beneath the surface. And so we got in!

Here in Umbul Ponggok, everything is pretty affordable. If we're talking about snorkeling, we're talking about trying to take decent pictures underwater, right folks? Ha, I know what's on your tiny little social-media mind ;) If you want to take pictures using your phone, you can always buy the little waterproof phone bag and they're sold outside the pool, but they also sell it inside. Or if you're not sure you can take decent ones with your phone camera or if you're too scared to get your phone accidentally get wet, the pool offers you an underwater camera that you can rent for about IDR 60k. And don't worry! This price includes your very own personal operator aka your underwater photographer. Or if you want to, just rent the camera and bring it with you without the operator at all. I suggest you for first-timer to tag along the operator with you especially if you've never used an underwater camera before. It saves more time and you can focus on swimming with the fish while the operator takes your pictures. Whatever floats your boat, fellas.

Say hello to my brother! *waves* 

I'm gonna tell you how it feels like being down there. For me personally, I think it's wise for you to at least be able to swim without the life jacket. It's three meters deep and not many 'landings' for you newbie swimmer to stop by when you're in the middle of the pool already. You have to either swim back to the edge of the pool, or fight your place with the crazy boys around the very few landings.

Also a friendly note from my dear brother; there aren't many photos of him taken because he spends most of his time sitting at the edge of the pool. Know why? Because he just found out that he's afraid of the fishes. And I was surprised to hear that. Later I felt the same way whenever a school of fish swam near me as if they were a bunch of Piranhas trying to eat me alive. Probably because the size of the fishes here are too tremendous. It's good that they're pretty big for your hand so you can catch them, but sometimes the one colored in black can scare you to death lol. So yeah, just brace yourself because you're going to swim with medium-sized fishes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

My personal operator was very kind and friendly. He was more like your personal guide who takes your pictures underwater and help you deciding which surrounding will look good on pictures. He even helps me a few times whenever I try to catch my breath by letting me hold on into him. Oh and, there's a reason why I was holding a rock in the picture above. It was veeerrryyyy hard for me to dive in. I'm not scared of the fishes and I love reaching deep into the base of the pool, but somehow I couldn't make my body to sink in. So the operator threw me this big rock and once I held them, my body quickly went deeper and I finally could sink myself deep enough to take decent pictures. But you have to be quick! Especially if you have a very limited air supply in your lungs like I am. I had to do it many times because I was running out of oxygen in such a quick time. This is why I suggest you to at least be able to swim without any life jacket because how are you going to take underwater pictures if you wear the thing that prevents you to sink deeper?

I love this shot so much

So yeah! That's my two cents about my recent trip to Umbul Ponggok located at Klaten. Even though it's not at the beach, but for a first-timer, I think I did quite good. I miss swimming and living underwater so much. It's been a while since I last 'danced' without the gravity pulling me down. Until next post! xo