We set off through the busy main street in Ubud before leaving and driving through the countryside on the route we'd taken the day before. We passed the Elephant Cave and Yeh Pulu before cruising on into the countryside. Our driver zipped along the winding roads as we passed through numerous little roadside villages, across deep gorges, and alongside gorgeous rice paddies.

We soon reached the coast and drove up this a little before stopping outside a temple complex just across the road from a beach. This was the 'bat cave' which we had heard about from our driver and so we decided to take a look. We paid an entrance fee, had brightly coloured sarongs and sashes tied around our waists, then walked into the temple grounds. We checked out the intricately shaped, angular stone columns and walls as we crossed a courtyard and through a big, ornate gateway into an inner courtyard. Here, groups of locals sat around in shady covered gazebos and on the ground, in front of a cliff face forming the back wall of the courtyard. Occupying much of this cliff face, at the top of a few steps, was a gaping hole filled with thousands of dangling, squeaking fruit bats, clinging to every available inch of the rocky ceiling of the cave.

We started up the steps to have a look in the cave but were soon turned around by a headscarved local chap who pointed to a sign, faded by the sun to almost complete illegibility, stating that we weren't supposed to climb the steps. We apologised and stepped down to the courtyard and observed the bats from there for a minute or so before wandering back out to meet our drive and continue our journey.

We continued through similar scenery from before, with the exception of one twisty stretch of road where which climbed up through the jungle on a hillside and back down the other, before we found ourselves in a seaside town, Candidasa. We got out here and had a look at the beach which was made up of rounded dark volcanic stones, then had lunch with our driver at a cheap little outdoor stall near the beach.

After that we continued, on the most scenic part of the journey. After leaving the coast we began climbing up into the hills, through tall jungle trees on roads switching back and forth. We continued upwards for some time, through the great scenery which only got better as we emerged from the jungle to sweeping views over steep hillsides arrayed with stepped rice terraces in the most amazing shades of green, with tall peaks rising above them, and wide flat valleys filled with the endless paddies. We then made our descent through more jungle with equally impressive scenery. We got great views from the hillside we drove down of the large volcanoes in the distance and the flat, paddy-filled valley floor extending to the sea far below us.

One we reached the bottom of the hill, our driver asked us if we liked satay, to which we replied in the affirmative, before pulling over at a small roadside stall. He hopped out then returned a minute later with a paper bag full of a dozen or so skewers in bright yellow sauce. These turned out to be impaling chunks of grilled, meaty fish and also little patties of minced fish mixed with chilli and spices. The three of us shared the delicious snack as we continued towards the north-east coast of the island.

Suddenly, as we approached the water again, we noticed that the landscape around us was completely different to the lush greenery which blanketed the rest of the island. We were in the rain shadow of the mighty Gunung Agung, the biggest volcano on the island. Between the towering, cloud-shrouded mountain and the coast, this side of the island resembled a desert with dry dusty ground and straggly plants. We drove on through this landscape for a time before we found ourselves in a stretch of restaurants and dive shops along the road near the sea. This was Tulamben.

We soon spotted a sign for Tulamben Wreck Divers on our left. This was the resort we had booked two nights' accommodation with. We got our driver to stop, paid him and said cheerio before walking into the restaurant area of the resort. It turned out we'd need to check in at the dive shop a bit down the street so we wandered down there to speak to the staff. When we arrived and told them our names and about their booking, they looked a bit confused. We told them we'd arranged 2 nights in a 'superior room' and showed them the email I'd received from the resort's owner confirming this. Their whiteboard with all the accommodation bookings for the superior rooms didn't have our name on it, but I noticed it on another board, for the resort's beachfront villas.

After consulting their booking sheets the staff told us that they didn't actually have a superior room free for the 2 nights we needed, and they'd had to stick us into one of the villas. I enquired if we would be able to stay and pay the same amount as we'd agreed for the superior room, and was surprised when they agreed, saying it would be a free upgrade since I was going to do some diving. They then told us that the villas were about 500m down the road from the shop and then down a driveway, but that they would provide a motorbike to get in and out of town. We didn't let that put us off, even when the manager (who had just appeared) tried to talk us out of the villa and get us to stay in one of the other rooms instead. We'd read online reviews about the villas saying they were great so we jumped at the offer.

To get to the villas we needed to get a lift from the staff on motorbikes. I hopped on first and was taken along the road a bit from town and then down a frangipani-lined driveway, before we pulled into a car park behind some smart, modern villa buildings. My driver led me down a balcony along the side of one of these buildings, from which I got a great view over a spotless dark blue infinity pool set in a nice garden, with the sea just metres beyond over a low wall. My excitement increased as he opened a glass door from the blacony and showed me into by far the nicest room we had stayed in on our entire trip. The huge, tiled room was fitted out with a massive bed, dining table and leather couch as well as a TV and fridge, had high ceilings into the roof of the building with big ceiling fans, and was surrounded on all sides by tinted picture windows, the ones at the front having an incredible view over the palm tree-filled garden and pool to the beautiful blue ocean beyond.

I couldn't believe we were actually being giving us this room and was waiting for them to realise their mistake, but there was no mistake. The one we had booked would have been in a small compound behind the dive shop much further from the sea and without a view. Lucy turned up on another motorbike shortly afterwards, while I was being shown our complimentary automatic scooter. Her reaction was much the same as mine; disbelief coupled with great excitement. Once we stopped pinching ourselves, we changed into our swimmers and went for a dip in the pool, under the palm trees. There was no-one else around and it seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves. Later we met the only other person staying at the villas, one of the Australian owners who was the wife of the guy I had spoken to by email.

After our swim we dried off then I hopped on the bike to go back to town and sign up for some diving. Tulamben's whole tourist industry is based around diving, particularly on the wreck of the USAT Liberty, an American WWI cargo ship just off the rocky volcanic beach. At the dive shop I looked out some gear and arranged to do a dive early the next morning at the wreck. I also reconfirmed that we would be paying the same price for the villa as we would have been for the other room (less than half of its normal price) then set off back to the villa.

We chilled out in our amazing room looking out at the sea with the big windows open and the fans on. It was warm even with the sea breeze coming in but the view was so good we didn't care. In the evening we rode back into town and got some dinner at a little local restaurant. The service was slow but the food was cheap and tasty, the highlight being the banana fritters with honey I had for dessert. After dinner we drove back out to the villa, relaxed then got off to sleep as I had an early start the next day.

At 6am my alarm went off and I got up, chucked on some clothes and hopped on the bike to ride to town. When I left the villa I got a great view of the huge Gunung Agung rising up in the distance, inland. At the dive shop I got my gear, had a quick briefing on the diving I was going to do, then walked with the dive master across the road and down to the beach. We didn't need to carry our tanks or BCDs down to the beach as local porters took them for us. Apparently as a way of the locals making money out of the predominantly foreign-owned diving industry in town, they had formed a union of porters who all diving operations had to use to transport equipment to and from the beach. On the way to the beach the dive master asked if I was interested in hiring an underwater camera from his friend. As I hadn't bought the case for mine and I was going to be diving such an interesting site, I thought I'd go for it. After striking a deal with the guy at his shop along the beach for a day's use of the camera, we got our equipment on and waded out across the dark, rounded volcanic stones making up the beach.

Once waist deep in the water, we sat down and got on our fins, before descending under the waves. Once I started breathing through my regulator, I noticed it was letting in a little bit of water. This was a bit off-putting, so I told the dive master and we swapped regulators. Comfortable with my gear, we once again headed under the water and began the dive. As soon as my head was under, I was amazed at the clarity of the water. With a good 20m visibility, I could see the sea bed sloping gently down in front of us and ahead, the looming shape of the wreck. I followed the dive master down along the sea bed. I had a few problems equalising as we swam down and was concentrating on getting that sorted, which I soon did, so I didn't notice that we had cruised up right behing the stern of the huge wreck, where a large school of silvery fish were hanging out. We swam around the stern to the deck of the boat, sitting at nearly 90 degrees facing out towards the open sea.

We then spent the next half an hour swimming along the rusty, coral-encrusted hulk, in and out of large open spaces and along the steeply-sloping decks. I saw one of the ship's huge anchors, massive gears in its engine room and of course lots of tropical fish who had made the wreck their home. I didn't see any fish I hadn't seen before, and though they were beautiful, particularly in the crystal clear water, the fish were really just background players with the wreck being the real star of the show.

After swimming about three quarters of the way along the ship, we doubled back and swam through some huge cargo holds, where rusty beams covered in swaying weeds and soft coral jutted this way and that, with the sunlight glinting through the surface of the water above. I really enjoyed cruising around the wreck. I have a bit of a thing for abandoned buildings and machinery and so forth, so to combine visiting such a site with scuba diving was great, and I could tell I would do a lot more wreck dives.

Once our air started getting low, we made our way back up to 5m, swam around for a few minutes as a safety stop, then slowly cruised back up to the beach. We emerged into the bright morning sunshine, waded out of the water and took off our gear, which the porters promptly carried back up to the shop. We walked up too, cleaned off our gear and I filled in my log book. I arranged to return in the evening to do a night dive, but as it was going to be my first night dive, the dive master suggested we start while it was still light, so could acclimatise to the darkness during the dive. With a time of 6pm set, I got back on the bike and rode back to the villa, arriving just after 8am.

Lucy was up, having been on Skype to her sister since I had left. Once she had finished her call we went downstairs to the breakfast area below our 1st storey villa and had a tasty cooked breakfast along with fresh fruit juice and fruit salad. We still had the place completely to ourselves, apart from the attentive staff. After breakfast we went for a cooling swim in the pool, then returned to our room where we again opened the windows to let the breeze and the sounds of the sea in, and relaxed for most of the day.

In the afternoon we went for another long dip in the pool, enjoying the cool water as the day was incredibly hot. Just before 6pm I changed, got back on the bike and rode back to the dive shop. I met Wayan there, we set up our gear, then walked across the road and down to the shore with our fins, masks and torches. We arrived on the beach just as the sun was getting low in the sky. After a quick briefing, we put on all our equipment and waded out into the surf.

We were soon underwater with our torches on, making our way down the gently sloping black sand seabed in the last of the day's light. We saw colourful wriggling nudibranchs, looking incredible contrasting against the dark background, and some tiny, ethereal pygmy seahorses as we followed the slope downwards. It was't long before we reached the looming hulk of the Liberty, even more imposing in the low light. As we slowly descended under the ship's big rounded stern, I got in a bit of a flap as the light faded away, trying to juggle my torch, the camera and adjust my buoyancy whilst coping with the new sensation of being underwater in the dark. I managed to calm myself down, then we cruised along the length of the wreck, following a similar route to that we had taken earlier.

In the darkness the wreck took on an entirely different character. Although the general shape of the ship could just be made out, we only really saw what the beams of our torches lit up, though that was in bright, clear colour. As we swung the bright beams of our torches around, we picked out fish poking around the wreck trying to find spots to sleep and little creatures crawling here and there. The torchlight reflected off the eyes of some of these fish in bright red, laser-like beams which was quite impressive. After my initial discomfort I was surprised how comfortable I became with swimming around in the dark. It also helped when Wayan took the camera from me to get some photos, leaving me just to enjoy the dive.

Once our air began to run low, we swam back towards the stern of the ship and then back up towards the shoreline. On the way we saw some colourful crabs and a white moray eel hiding under a rock, before we emerged from the surf in the moonlight and waded onto the beach. Overall my first night dive had been an enjoyable experience, and I was glad I had done it, despite my few minutes of uneasiness.

Back on the beach, we lit our way with our torches as we walked back up to the dive shop. After cleaning our gear, I settled the bill with the other Wayan, the manager of the resort, and arranged transport for the next day. I also enquired about ordering food from the resort's restaurant, as the information booklet in our room said we could have food delivered out to our villa. Soon a girl from the restaurant turned up and I ordered a fair feast before hopping on my scooter and heading out to the villa, with dive master Wayan following me with the underwater camera memory card.

At the villa, I copied all my photos to the computer and said my thanks and goodbyes to Wayayn, then Lucy and I relaxed with a Bintang until our food arrived a little while later. We ate at the table in our room, completely stuffing ourselves with spring rolls, sweet and sour chicken, chicken satay and fried bananas with coconut and palm sugar. After our feast we chilled out, then called my mum on Skype before getting off to bed.

We got up early the next morning, with the beautiful sunlight pouring in through the huge windows of our room. Once we had packed everything, we headed downstairs for some breakfast, which we ate looking out over the pool to the glittering blue sea. Just as we finished, our driver turned up so we piled our bags into the back of his car and got in the back seat. From the villa, we drove into town, then picked up one other guy from the main dive resort before heading south out of town.