Last Supper !

I kind of got quite attached to this place, but it is the end of an era;

So much for saving the planet

Back to Switzerland and 6 months' worth of post held at the sorting office looked like this :

Which reduced down to this in terms of valuable paper;

Somebody needs to do something about such a chronic waste of natural resources.

Invitation only 3 dive day

Awesome diving starting at Crystal Bay (!) first dive relatively deep looking for Mola Mola, hanging on to corals to keep out of the current. Second dive into the Bat Cave through a tunnel which is quite spectacular, return trip we ran into washing machine currents which was very hairy for everybody, extreme currents swirling in every direction, hang on to coral, pick your moment and go for it. Final 3rd dive at Blue Corner Lembongan, a fantastic cliff formation at around 20m, great drift dive along the cliff, highlight being 6 or 7 Bull Rays and a Giant Turtle close-up.

Free Diving at Ahmed

This is an incredible challenge arising from a conversation at a party on Monday night, with Minni. Free diving course by Julia (Argentina) with Minni, Holly and Magnus. Bus trip up to Ahmed and settling in, then 2.5 hours of theory on free diving, then off to the ocean for practice. Format is very much the same as PADI in style, but the ideas are quite different if not even contradictory - very interesting. This afternoon's challenge was to get down a line to 12m, kitted up with the long fins etc and off we go. Very interesting personal challenge, which is all about controlling the mind, after several false starts, managed to crack it, and then followed in with 2 further repeats as I slowly started to get my head around it. Some very strange effects as you go down as the pressure takes over, buoyancy tumbles and the O2 pp increases giving a strange sensation of starting to slide in to the deeper water. Tricky equalising, but I think I have cracked it.

Nusa Penida again !

Great to be back with the gang in Bali. A 3 dive day at Nusa Penida with Robyn who was giving and AOWD, therefore I ended up looking after Sally (OWD 6 dives). First dive at Manta Point revealed a Manta, Mola Mola and Turtle. Dive 2 at Toyapakeh and dive 3 at SD, usual drifts dives over magnificent corals of all shapes, sizes and varieties.

Rumble in the Jungle

Day out to Thong Nai Pan (literally Mr Pan's stomach), this is a beautiful spot, even if the road over the top through the jungle is a bit of a hairy experience,

Getting ready to travel back to Bali for a few days before picking up the return flight back to Geneva.

Bull Sharks !

In recent weeks these chaps have taken up residence around the Sail Rock. Lots of close encounters, many probably too close for comfort as they are very dangerous, so far it seems they have more of a taste for surfers than divers ... so far !

This is one of the best photos, thanks to Woody.

Junior Open Water Diver

Just finished a Junior Open Water course with Milo aged 10 (BE), an extraordinary young man with a very mature head on very young shoulders. I had heard that these are even more rewarding than the regulars, it is true. Hard work for what it is, but an incredible challenge and a whole diving career ahead of him.

Whale Shark at Sail Rock

Arrived at the rock and this was basking around out there, great excitement, everyone jumped in more or less in the same state of dress, scuba, snorkels whatever and he swam between us, at one point looking me straight in the eye and then diving about 2m below me.

Luke gets up in close....

Not to be confused with the Bull Shark who has also taken up residence out there recently, but a little further out.

 

Ouch, oh no - not the back again !

On tuesday I managed to achieve my biggest fear by clicking my back out again, whilst unloading the taxi of equipment. Dragged off to the infamous Lek today who did the Thai massage thing for an hour or so, still did not seem to fix it, then another girl made a wrench in a different direction and it popped straight back in - huge relief ! Wish I had known these people on the previous occasions that I have popped it out, and suffered for weeks and months on end.

Funny one this, been going on for over ten years, Chiropractors in Towcester, Horse strength Epsom salts under advice, ongoing agony for months in Switzerland; here, a foot in just the right spot and a big (painfull) tug and problem solved - Amazing !!

Routine diving

Starting to settle into the routine, lots of DSDs, the odd Open Water and an Advanced Open Water (my favourite since easy to teach and good dives with students who can already dive), and lots of trips to the infamous Sail Rock.

It's like waiting for a bus

A couple of quiet days casting around for not very much, then 7 DSDs came out of nowhere today so a big rush in the end, all skilled up so off to Sail Rock tomorrow with Jeff. My first sale and deilvery so quite chuffed with that, with 2 potential OWD upgrades in there somewhere, so fingers crossed.

Sail Rock

Here is the famous rock, a pinnacle sticking up in the middle of nowhere half way between Koh Phangnan and Koh Tao.

DSDs a plenty

Continuing the DSD theme, with victims from MX, NZ, US, UK & IN this week. Several eureka moments which is what it is all about, one or two hairy moments but situation managed well, good team spirit amongst our instructors (4 off at present) with each jumping in at the right moment when necessary. Right now it is a team of four very different individuals all who pull together nicely. Today no diving, so spent the day filling tanks, having a clear up in the lock-up and painting tanks, both active in team markings and redundant - apparently went down very well.

Clocking up DSDs

Monday 3 DSDs from New Zealand, popped out to Koh Mar for a swim around to the island and back. Actually came up short as fat Ollie was huffing through his air, therefore a long swim back. Tuesday morning learning where things are with Jeff, followed by a spontaneous visit with 2 DSDs from the UK to Koh Mar. Went out with 2 DSDs and came back with an extra 6 fishermen on an outing. Tuesday night is Full Moon party so quieter on the Diving front for 24 hours.

Settling in nicely bro !

Seem to be getting into the swing of things, Friday was fun dive to Sail Rock, a pinnacle half way between Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao in the middle of the ocean. Saturday, sorted out the housing situation not sure what to make of the warnings concerning nocturnal activities around here, it is a crazy party island and frankly anything could happen. Saturday afternoon turned into a spontaneous DSD session with 9 mexicans, until sun down, Danny (ES) did a great job. This however ran into the next problem that all the power was out in the area, therefore no power to the compressor. Sunday, Jeff up at 4am to fill bottles for the dive with the Mexicans, did a marvelous job to save the situation, turned up at the boat and captain had decided to have all the diesel injectors replaced - odd decision, however to our surprise it started first time and straight off out to Sail Rock again. 3 teams of 3 with the Mexicans, I bagged Josh for the extra DMT support and all Mexicans thrilled with the experience which is the idea after all. Currents again today, which is not supposed to be happening, water swirling around the rock big style, one minute Luke could not swim into the current, next minute becalmed.

Patong Beach to Koh Pha-Ngan

Early start and an hour on the bus going around Patong Beach picking people up, no shows etc etc. 5 hours across country to Sutrat Thani which seems to be the bus operator's marshalling point, miles of palm trees of various descriptions and not much else. Usual amount of over excitable locals, lots of organised chaos and plenty of shouting. Lots of bright shiny first-time-use backpacks in the pile waiting to go to Koh Samui, Pha-Ngan and Tao. Beautiful boat crossing, lots of tiny islands popping out of the ocean all around the horizon

And a beautiful sun set,

Farewell Bali hello Thailand

Time to move on, flying with AirAsia asia's answer to Easyjet. Much the same idea but AirAsia a bit sharper and fresher copying the same model but less aggressive on pricing, especially luggage, presently lugging around about 50 kg, with dive equipment, manuals, books so on and so forth. Everything according to plan, pick-up worked successfully so overnight in Patong Beach, Phuket. Thailand very different from Indonesia, thais are much more successful at developing themselves, downtown Patong Beach not for the fainthearted at night !

Final Bali Dives !

Fantastic 2 dive day, first to Manta Point. Dropped in and immediately 3 large Manta circling around. Continually in the company of one or two until the Baliscuba and Blue Season crowd cleared off then at least ten or fifteen showed up when it was quieter, at one point surrounded by at least six of them. Just sat there watching the show until the tank was out (10 bar) and up, got quite cold in the end 25 deg C down there.

Second dive at the famous Crystal Bay (Crystal exclusion zone around this site, due to fatal accidents last year), therefore first time to dive this site. Sandy bay, fantastic coral garden and massive drop-off into the channel, hence violent currents with the tides. Our guys had done their homework and we caught the slack high tide just right, and were rewarded by the elusive Mola Mola !

Lembongan

Public boat to Lembongan ?! Windy and a swell coming in onto the reef whilst we are waiting, can be interesting out there as we know, let's see what happens ! After more than 3 months out here my body is fully acclimatising which is a bit odd, it's 28 degC a little breezy and feels cold when the sun is not out.

So crossing was fine except the water kept crashing over the roof, all of us soaked, retired inside half way across. Lembongan is a beautiful unspoilt place, your true tropical island. Drying seaweed on the beach, this stuff stinks !

Wandered around on a scooter this afternoon, viewpoint, Mangrove swamps, Made's Paradise Point in the Mangroves for a beer, cockfighting in the street, Yoga session and finally met up with l'équipe française.

All systems go.

Paperwork all seems satisfactory at the Consulate, a somewhat primitive affair the housekeeper seems to run the Warung out at the front on the parking lot, but no complaints, all very helpful once we had managed to gain access, visa promised for Monday afternoon, flight booked for Wednesday for next installment of this story.

Off to see Stéphanie in Lembongan for the weekend, dive and goodbye etc etc.

The Crystal crowd saw this Whale Shark at SD off Nusa Penida (mum don't worry they are filter feeders so plankton etc only !) today so who knows we could get lucky off Lembongan as he is around !!!

Diary Note

Paperwork arrived from Mike, looks like a runner.

Support the Sharks by signing the petition

Roger

Note to self, very interesting conversation with Kesari Roger. Running around researching various subjects this afternoon.

OWD 3 & OWD 4

Same sort of format for Tulamben, this time with Jakob replacing Jesper along with the 2 Japanese, well the bus was going anyway so may as well make the most of the diesel. Got the cert at the end of the day so again all happy. Clearly some gaming going on with the certs since they have realised that I am getting ahead of Robin, it seems the freebies are being pulled back.

OWD 1 & OWD 2

A bit mob handed with Asmui for student Brad, a bit over-whelmed by 5 of us since Jesper was along for the ride along with the japanese Mami and Matsuki, not sure they were observing or taking a free dive or what, but it's all the same for a bottle of air.

Project Aware day

Collaboration for ProjectAware.org beach clean up with 4 local schools getting involved, amounting to over 250 people turning out to tidy up the Mersarati (?) which was in a filthy state thanks to the locals. A bit of a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) but very constructive from an educational and awareness point of view.

Evening fundraising party with an excellent turnout from the Bali dive community and the usual fun and games this time being supplemented with a gaol and real police officers ! Only got arrested once fortunately, and bailed out by Rob for a bottle of beer, so got off lightly !

OWD #3 and #4

Finishing off the referral with Reshad and Simonil, not good conditions on the regular spot in Sanur vis a vis current and visibilty, but 200m over by the platform it was ok for visibility so job done successfully, they were happy and I got the certs, so everybody happy !

Serangan and Benoa

Spin out on the scooter to aforementionned peninsulas for a wander around, meet Andrew etc, lads at the Warung sporting 2 thumping great GTs on the back of their scooter for dinner.

Sanur OWD 1 & 2 with Simonil and Rashid

Father and daughter combination from Mumbai, first dive was diabolical, lousy visibility and strong currents (full moon tomorrow) not a great introduction. Descended down onto the Jack lines and clung on for 20 minutes to qualify as a dive whilst Toto performed his tricks, then back up again. Esti and I both thought that was it, but Toto persevered and patience was rewarded after an extended surface interval the conditions completely changed and the second dive was fine, which meant the OWD 2 skills were done satisfactorily.

Evening saw the Kimonos come out for the Japanese IDC candidates who passed out on IE today, evening was a little more sedate than the last IE ;-)

Project Aware Speciality

Joined the Divemasters for Holly's Coral Speciality, could be certs in it if any of them want the card. Interesting stuff but not too much about identification etc.

Advanced Open Water course

Tuesday and Wednesday assisting Asmui with AOD for Spencer, Nancy and Olivier. AOD much more fun than OWD since the dives are more advanced and little to do on the theory side, and obviously no Confined Water dives. Tuesday out to Nusa Penida, a very lively crossing indeed, the captain even stopped in the trickiest patch since waves were breaking ahead of the boat, a game of cat and mouse in the heavy sea sprinting between the largest waves. Very large Manta cruising around at the cleaning station and lots of Blue Spotted rays around. A cracking drift dive at SD, once Nancy managed to retrieve the weights situation. Wednesday at Padang Bai, been a little while since I was there, average visibility Ok, but quite a severe thermocline - brrrrrrr ! Night dive in Sanur Channel surprisingly interesting, nearly managed to get a snake wrapped around my neck, not a good idea, and saw a huge Moray Eel hiding down there. Since not that much to see here, curious that the latter has not been seen before now - they don't move around.

AOD much more profitable for the certifications.

Kites !

Some amazing kites being flown down at the bottom beach, need to figure out how to get photo off my old style phone, note to self - need iphone. Super large kites trailing a tail perhaps 1m wide and perhaps 15m long, strong warm prevailing winds off the ocean, these things hang up there for hours - kite competition coming up in August.

That's about the size of it !

Black Magic

Regular day at Tulamben finishing an Open Water course, with 2 very nice dives, second one topped off with a medium sized White Tipped Shark. Returning from a beer in the evening around midnight, ran into a very sinister lights out procession going down the street about appeasing the devil and evil spirits. An all male turnout dressed up in ceremonial garb, carrying an effigy of the devil, with someone inside it wrything around, representing some kind of exorcism/appeasement, related to all the offerings that are put out several times a day for the spirits.

Open Water continues

First Open Water dive from Emily Putri, actually conditions in the channel rather inappropriate for an Open Water student so we did the Open Water Dive 1, and then abandonned Dive 2, so looks like it will be a long day tomorrow at Tulamben.

Next Open Water Course starts

So on with the team-teaching again, new student in this time from New Zealand, no great excitements a regular course and the student nailed the water skills without any difficulty apart from finning technique which was a little odd.

Rather dubious encounter with some "dodgy arabs" so to speak masquerading as landlords, so a hasty exit from Lestari and back to hotel until a more reliable arrangement can be found for accommodation.

Thoroughly deserved !

2 days off after the full on events of recent weeks, taking it quite easy, a few jobs but nothing too demanding.

MSDT Dive Safari Day 3

So for the wreck dives proper, first dive building confidence with many swim-throughs and an exercise to set a line on a circa 12m swim-through, go round again to follow it into the wreck and then finally again to gather it up. Each swim through progressively more tricky.

Extraordinary second dive, starting with a little test of working with the line without a mask, then 2 penetrations into total darkness, first a long tunnel around 15 meters, 5 of us in line going into a space about 2m in diameter, down to the end with torches and then about-turn and wiggle back past each other. Next through a tiny opening into the flooded engine room, a large enclosed space divided into various sections, again explore by torch before coming out. We were then split off for remaining air, and some more amazing swim throughs. The whole thing actually more of a mental test than anything else about keeping the obvious fear instinct under control, for something that was actually pretty scary; 9 months ago all of that would have been unthinkable.

MSDT Dive Safari Day 2

Diving at Tulamben, first dive was part 2 of the deep dive speciality so off to the bow of the wreck leaving a strategically placed drop tank behind. Minni located a spot at about 40m after having put up a huge Manta Ray thus a sharp U turn, then the challenge was to try and drink a bottle of Coca Cola, this is tricky as you have to think about replacing the coke with air, and remember to go back onto the regulator in between. Doing this at that depth (5 bar) used a lot of air and put us into decompression territory, so back to the drop-tank (a spare) using a certain amount of self-control to keep things in perspective, and then shared the tank with Dave S back to the exit point. Second dive is the first part of the wreck speciality, practice with the reel and line to mark a course and then a tighter swim around the wreck starting a few swim throughs, in preparation for wreck penetration tomorrow.

Third dive of the day in the evening, unfortunately the torches not so well organised vis à vis batteries, mine died about half way through so second part of the dive spent trying to figure out who was around, not helped by a buddy (dave) who was deliberately winding me up by turning his torch off and hiding !! Later our group split by a charge from some out of control Japanese divers, all safely home in time for tea and medals.

MSDT Dive Safari Day 1

2 dives at Candidasa (Tepekong & Mimpang), more tricky stuff this as it is Instructors and above again. Some massive drop offs underwater, i.e. underwater cliffs, first dive was a deep dive, went over a shelf and descended to 40m, then playing around with raw eggs and a tomato at 5 bar of pressure ~ curious ! Surprisingly the tomato having shrunk to half it's original size at 40m, regained it's original form at the surface perfectly, not so for the eggs which was a destructive test batting the egg yolks around. The pressure more or less flattened a 1.5l PET water bottle. Second dive along a wall was a little more conventional, however our patience was rewarded with a large White Tipped Shark towards the end of the dive, the clever money reckoned she was pregnant.

MSDT resumes

Back in the classroom for MSDT theory day, videos and discussion around standards before going on safari for the practical dives. Note of caution this evening from PADI at the RIsk Management seminar by Richard Evans talking about diving accidents ~ not nice !

First Open Water Course !

Saturday through Tuesday, team teaching with Nico on my first Open Water course, the idea being an assist to see how it works in practice to get through it effectively without to much spurious effort. Saturday and Sunday mornings going through the course work in the classroom, and Confined Water in the pool in the afternoons. Monday, Open Water #1 & #2 in Sanur Channel and final Open Water #3 & #4 at Tulamben on Tuesday. Tulamben quite difficult to enter due to surf today, yesterday another group had to abort diving at Tulamben due to excessive surf.

MSDT in progress

Thursday in the classroom going through the orientation, planning and theory sections etc, followed by second yoga session this week, now Tuesdays and Thursdays, extremely good for the form, pity never discovered yoga before now.

Friday a bit of an extreme diving day, i.e. instructors and above only ! The crossing across Badung Strait became more and more lively as we went further, huge waves crashing in from the west, this became more and more serious, until eventually we had to abandon Manta Point, the waves were crashing circa 20m up the cliffs. Instead the cut through between Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida was our sanctuary, ironically: since the gap funnelled the waves higher !! Shelter of the island on the northern and eastern sides provided some great drift dives at Pink Door, Toyappaca and Jack Point. The crossing back was a lively ride, but nothing like the out run.

EFR Instructor Course complete

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday doing the EFR Instructor course which goes back to back with the IDC course, it all fits together with some crafty logic around the IE, which in turn was dovetailed into the Oxygen Provider Instructor Speciality, as it overlaps, and the O2 speciality is a mandatory requirement in certain countries e.g. Australia, so first instructor speciality is in the can. Next we embark on the most commercial specialities towards MSDT accreditation.

Monday recovery day !

Realised I was absolutely whacked after the last 7 or 8 weeks today. Moved into a room in a villa down the road which is cool, went to the beach and crashed out under a skupat for a couple of hours and then off for a Balinese traditional massage.

IE Weekend

Friday nerves jangling with certain people, all IDC candidates in the area (about 30 from Bali and surrounding islands) congregated for the IE with 2 PADI examiners, one from California and one from New Zealand. Afternoon included the introduction/ orientation and assignments session, followed by 2 exams - PADI standards exam and Dive Theory exam. Evening spent preparing the Confined Water and Knowledge Review presentations.

Saturday started with Confined Water presentations in the pool, straight 5's (top marks) for yours truly - very pleased ! Knowledge Review presentations in the afternoon, also high scoring all round, fingers crossed for Sunday out in the Open Water, it was a full moon Saturday so conditions are not expected to be good.

Sunday conditions turned out to be better than expected, lousy visibility at about 3m, but much better than expected and certainly adequate for the job in hand, we went first on Rescue #7, which was good to get it out of the way and relax, after that the Open Water presentations were a breeze. We are now all therefore PADI Instructors !

Our team, with Minni, Holly and Dave from Crystal,

and with Tim and Steve the PADI Examiers

and the whole crowd of 30 candidates;

IDC comes to a close

So all the course work is done successfully, knowledge reviews, confined water and open water presentations, no huge excitements just got to hope that there are no slip ups for the real thing, which actually is quite easily done. Thursday morning was mock exams which we all got through comfortably, so now it is fingers crossed for the weekend and the external scrutiny by PADI directly for the Instructor's exam !

And continues

Wednesday through Sunday, work continues apace with knowledge Review presentations, the Confined Water presentations, Open Water presentations and Rescue exercises. The standard for everybody is increasing dramatically after what is still really quite a short time. Some tiring days especially when we throw in a 800m snorkel back to the beach in full sunshine, between Open Water and classroom activities. Seem to have broken the back of it, the coming week will tell as we run up to the exam for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

And continues

Sunday through Tuesday, course continues apace, went round to Blue Season on Sunday night for their Project Aware Shark fund raiser BBQ which was quite interesting. In the classroom the knowledge reviews are hotting up and similarly the confined water presentations in the pool are getting much better scores across the group which is good news. Wednesday was the half way point and day off, spent preparing the next knowledge review, thanks to Billy for a great contact video, then afternoon at the beach followed by massage Lomi Lomi style.

IDC Continues

Not so much to write about, course continues successfully, mornings and early afternoon in the classroom followed by pool training sessions later in the afternoon. Friday we all had our first attempts at PADI style knowledge review presentations and Saturday our first efforts at PADI in-water presentations. All passed off successfully except for Robin's in-water presentation where he inadvertently presented the wrong skill, turning off the tank on somebody's "first" time in the water ...... Oops. Saturday night pool party at Tana's villa, note to self: avoid Arak (Balinese moonshine).

IDC starts

Day in the classroom, orientation regarding the course, how it will all work, so on and so forth. This is the only full day in the classroom, which is just as well as it was long and hot in there. Its a long time since I studied like this.

Nusa Penida

Last day of diving before IDC starts, went to SD for the first dive and a bit of drama, I think Amin was having a bad day with his currents. We dropped in for the usual drift dive, currents going all over the place at the surface, hit a westerly current at around 18m, which crossed with an easterly current, result being a washing machine effect, the OWD got caught and span out into the blue with Amin (divemaster) in hot pursuit, the 'experienced' guest got washed straight down to 29m, yours truly sought sanctuary in the lee of a rock from the down current for a moment of reflection. Everybody lost contact with each other, so according to procedure all surfaced after about 1 min, this was easier said than done due to difficulty in controlling ascent speed against the current. Anyhow all regrouped safely at the boat, and after relocating a little further along the coast, the dive was completed without excitement.

Second dive was comparatively uneventful apart from being in completely the opposite direction to that advertised in the dive briefing, a Bull Ray being the most interesting new sighting along with turtle and others. Now have 98 logged dives so should be Ok on that front.

First yoga class ever this evening, supposed to be very good for diaphragm breathing and therefore helpful underwater, in anycase excellent muscle stretching, the after effect feels not dissimliar to a strong massage, with all the joints rather more supple and flexible than before. Interestingly each member of the class had their own strong exercises and weak exercises, I suppose depending on the the type of exercise undertaken elsewhere - strongly recommend this !

Day off - Ubud

Diving trip slated for Tulamben, so not having had a day off since Nyepi, could not face another road trip up there in the bus. Took a scooter and went to the infamous Ubud, popularised in the film Eat Pray Love. And since it was popularised circa 2010, it has become a bit of a tourist mecca, like James Herriot country or 'A year in Provence', the place consists of a temple and a vast number of tourist crafty shops etc etc, but anyway, another one of the "top 10 to do's" crossed off the list. Saw a medecine man lookey likey, "time will pass quickly" and all that !

Nusa Penida again

Another blast across the strait for essentially a repeat of friday. We jumped in at Manta Point and dropped down straight onto 3 Manta circling around, sightings continued for about half an hour, swimming along with them is incredible, extremely graceful creatures. Then it quietened down and we hang around for a further 20 minutes but by then they had moved off, actually quite cold the water was 24 degrees at about 7m, which Asmui had already clocked when we arrived by the sea mist hanging over the ocean at around 9 o'clock when we arrived for the low tide. We then continued to SD again and then Jack Point, 2 great drift dives tanking it along, each time covering at least 1km and more. End of the Jack Point drift there is masses of stunning coral.

Diving Sanur channel

This is our house reef, the object of the exercise this morning is to put in as many short dives as possible to get the total tally up towards the 100 required, so Stephanie and Tony put through the paces by Dave and Gael. So 6 dives of between 20 min and 30 min each in the bay with exercises to spice it up a bit, firstly an orientation for myself as first time at this site followed by general swim around, followed by underwater knots lesson, by skills and SMB practice, by seahorse hunting and finally with Lifting Bag exercise. Quite an interesting mix of exercises to successfully pad out the dives, total tally getting near to target.

Still no excel spreadsheets to be seen anywhere.

Boat trip to Nusa Penida

Trip through a lively sea across the Badung Strait (about 40 minutes) to Nusa Penida for 3 dives, starting at Manta Point, then around to SD Point and finally Lenbongan Bay (see map). Absolutely tremendous diving, firstly at Manta Point we saw, not surprisingly Manta Rays, at least 10 separate sightings circa 3 to 4 metres tip to tip, circling around and around, quite a spectacle with a but of patience and care, right up to them. SD Point and Lenbongan Bay are both Drift dives, a very healthy current at the first, perhaps a good jogging pace, took us at a rare old lick along the coast over amazing coral for several kilometres. The second slightly milder current laterly slowing up as we reached slack tide, the currents through these parts required a lot of knowledge and respect. Sightings included Giant Barracuda, Banded Sea Snake, a turtle, Giant Trevalley and Puffer fish. All in all a day to remember !

Logging more dives at Tulamben

Run out to the wreck with a DSD student for his first open water dive. Drifting along the wreck for the first dive and then a little bit of cat and mouse with the current to get back again, reduced carried weight down to 3 kg for a very noticeable difference, which is a good thing. Second dive headed off to the Coral Garden, average Table Coral, then the shark turned up again, this time once the other divers pushed off we just sat there and he circled around for about 15 minutes at around only 5m depth, fascinating stuff only slightly worried when he looked me straight in the eye !

Transfer day, Divemaster behind, IDC in front

Pick up in Kuta, 2 dives at Padang Bay and drop-off in Sanur. 2 easy uneventful dives to keep the counter ticking along, very interesting the difference the knowledge of the guide makes, both on the route, depth and direction, but also with regard to marine life. Note to self; Mul was absolutely right about getting to grips with the marine life. Guests included a prodigy of Barnes Wallace and an Arfur, so dives relatively short, their perception of what was going on was very interesting, but did not care to disabuse them of their hypotheses.

New home for next 4 weeks, IDC classroom up over there and training pool.

DSD Open Water at Padang Bay

Last activiy for the DM programme, Open Water DSD dives with Yoshii 2 off at Padang Bay, she clocked it pretty much straight away and off for a simple tour around the bay, x2. Mul pointing out many basic fish for Yoshii which was actually very useful for myself as I need to get my own marine life knowledge up to a better standard. Back to the office for paperwork - I am a PADI certified Divemaster !!!

All change now, as I relocate tomorrow to Sanur for the IDC programme which starts next week, next few days planned for intensive diving to get the logbook up to 100 dives. My trusty steed goes back where it came from, I think I better unlearn again my new found road sense Balinese style, crazy !

Discover Local Diving - Divemaster

Rattling off the last exercises to be completed, with the Interns as stooges, back to Padang Bay for 2 dives orchestrated by yours truly as the dive guide and general Master of Ceremonies for the proceedings. Took a few minutes to get my head around the currents coming out of the bays on a falling tide but eventually figured out a route, just as well considering I was nearly completely out of air by the time we had finished larking around. Took 2 attempts at handling the launch of an SMB which takes a bit of a knack to get it away successfully remembering that the air inside it will expand as it goes up. Just one exercise to go !

Day off from Tulamben

Delivered my first Discover Scuba Diver (DSD) session in the pool at Legian Beach, with my first victim Yoshii volunteer from the office, under the supervision of Mul. Ran through the ideas on the chart, then into the water, first the basic skills of mask clearing, regulator recovery and regulator clearing, then a bit on BCD control, then around the pool for a swim. Went very well, especially since she had been freaked a few years ago by some others who just threw her in so to speak.

Then whilst we were there Mul took the opportunity to do a final assessment on the 24 basic skills, which are now nearly perfect, just a few points to polish up and we are there, very pleased with the development on this one.

Back to the office for lunch, a little paperwork after lunch on the Divemaster application, and an early finish. Off to dive centre number 2 to discuss IDC programme before the boss leaves for Singapore dive expo.

Divemaster: Guiding certified divers

Getting down to the end of the Divemaster programme, today as part thereof leading my first trip, which turns out to be a Singaporean works outing, 2 divers and 2 snorkellers being led by yours truly under the watchful eye of Mitra. Back at Tulamben which sort of makes sense since it is the site that I know best, even if the journey can be painful. First dive on the bow of the wreck went nicely finding a massive Giant Trevalley, second dive at Palung-Palung a drifty sort of dive around the far point of the bay, so back on the jukungs again, the high point of this dive was rather longer this time with the Black Tipped shark, possibly the same one as the other day but they are not numbered. Interestingly he was swimming around with about 7 passengers, must find out what they are. Third dive back on the other end of the wreck, quite a good effort, came up through the wreck surrounded by the Jack fish, with a decent sized Barracuda patrolling the area, as I was leading it was a great opportunity to have a good scout around the wreck, in and out of it, and the clients just had to follow, since the visibility was so good ~ 20m I now have a good idea of my way around it. Mitra and I handled the time rather better today so we have hit the long road back in better time today.

Rescue Diver Day 3

Back up to Tulamben again for the final 2 rescue scenarios with Andy. Dive 1 on the wreck with the obligatory panicked diver simulation by yours truly which he handled really well. Second dive further around the bay, so 6 of us piled into 2 jukungs, for a ride out to the drop off, a bit of cruise along the reef until a sheer drop into the deep, whereupon we turned in towards shore. 2 guests on the same bus going for a third dive, as we were obligated to wait, we took the third dive as well just for the sake of it (to keep the counter moving on, need 100 dives before IE), Mul profited by getting me to do some of the skills I was weaker on before, which will allow him to improve my recorded scores and also as I am going to move to where he did his Instructor course, it will look well for all involved.

Rescue Diver day 2 at Tulamben

Open Water sessions for the Rescue Diver programme, simulation of distressed divers under water and at the surface in dive 1, followed by dive 2 with search and recovery exercises. Fairly routine stuff, with nothing particularly new coming up. Seems like the Divemaster boxes are getting ticked off.

EFR Training at Tulamben

Andy is doing Rescue & EFR, so Little Anne comes out for the rescue breaths and CPR exercises etc, went through the training video again and then the practicals, good revision and rather more attention to detail than the last time I went through it. Into the pool for some confined water exercises,which were useful, can't really do it too many times, excellent preparation for IDC which is the purpose of the exercise.

Long day due to long drive back grrrr, driving through Balinese countryside listening to the The Barber of Seville reading today's edition of The Times, a bit surreal but that's progress for you !

'Its art Jim, but not as we know it ...... ! '

Blue Lagoon

First dive at Jepun, 5 mins along the coast by the submarine, small sunken boat and artificially seeded reef, which is starting to take off quite nicely. Diving with some day trippers, one of whom was having particular difficulty with buoyancy, so dive turned out to bea bit of an Arfur, lots of Blue Spotted rays around here, but no sign of the submarine today. Gave the dive briefing, so another tick in the box off the DM checklist.

Second dive at Blue Lagoon, current swirling around quite badly when we arrived for the surface interval which was therefore prolonged until it settled down, which it did. An unpromising dive actually turned out to be quite interesting in the end, again Blue Spotted rays, 2 large Tuna and some pretty decent coral.

Finally got around to doing my Emergency Action plan and a first draft of the Mapping project (Tulamben), will see if i can get some input on it tomorrow.

Tulamben diving continued

Profiting from the overnight here into the water at 8:20am for Andy's first Deep Dive scenario, so again dives starting to get more interesting. This time down to the bow end @ 30m, surprising number of divers at that time of the morning, some guys with some serious camera equipment. Wreck a bit more interesting down at that end, and a bit more complete, although the years are taking its toll on her. Sightings included Ornate Ghost Pipe fish and Pygmy Seahorse, the latter of whom they were struggling to photograph as it is so small, you would only find it if you knew where it lived.

Second dive for the Navigation in AOW, 30m line measuring speed, swim the square Andy, compass work, so on and so forth. On the way back saw Mantis Shrimp amongst others.

Continuing Diver education

Diving with Mitra and Andy as part of Andy's Adventures in Diving adventure dives towards his Advanced Open Water. He was doing Wreck & Peak Performance Buoyancy and so on this morning, usual skills followed by a tour around the wreck. New sightings today were the 5 huge Humphead Parrot fish wandering around at the edge of the shelf.

Back in for a night dive, quite a few divers on the wreck so the lights all looked quite fantastic although some of the others were thrashing around a bit and torch etiquette not always observed. Small Octopus at around 10m.

Shark !

So off to Tulamben again, this time following a Discover Scuba Diver day, given by Ketut for Stephane, the german guy working around the corner. Through a quick flip chart and then straight out to the wreck, limited dive both due to 'hard deck' so to speak @ 12m for the DSD and also as his first dive he puffed his way through a bottle of air at double speed, although for the first time, he was amazingly relaxed. Usual Garden Eels, Nudibranch and so forth, then on the way back Ketut signs for a shark - yeah oh right (not) seeing as we were in only 3m of water, and then sure enough a 1.5m Black Tip shark comes sauntering through, calm as you like.

Second dive after lunch a little longer, though still came back with 110 bar, along the wreck to the stern, 12m limit still in place, around to the Jack fish shoal in the usual place, and back. Trying to sketch out a map for the dive site, but so far little to note down except obviously the wreck, which is of course a wreck !

Skills demonstrations in the pool

Following on yesterday's revelations on the skills demos, jumped onto another OWD with MUL, so he could appraise and revise up some of my earlier weaker scores - job's a good'un ! Early finish for an early start tomorrow, the weather has turned favourably - HOT !

Random day in the pool

Last minute change of plan due to an instructor no-show first thing. As it shook down, went to the pool with Sujana and Andy Caines. Andi is doing something very similar to what I worked through in Egypt last year, so today he started Open Water. This is good since it will throw up the opportunities to tick all the relevant Divemaster boxes for me, i.e. student development! AOW, Rescue so on and so forth. Up shot was I had a free morning and bottle of air in the pool to experiment with exercises and play, started to really get a good feel for balance, and rumbled some of the instructor tricks that they will not share, since you have to really work it out for yourself - otherwise you don't really get it.

Tulamben Scuba Review / Refresher Course

Back up to Tulamben for Scuba review with Ian & Jenny (AU), into the pool for a recap on a selection of the skills and then into the sea and down to the USAT Liberty with the remains of the first tank of air, across the boom and around the stern keeping relatively shallow for their first dive. Lunch and then back in for the second dive, this time across midships and around the cargo bay, Garden Eels, Pipe fish and a host of smaller critters on show today. On the way back came across the feeding Jack fish again - most impressive - hundreds of them circling in the shoal. The boys were up in Tulamben also today doing their Rescue Diver training with Sujana.

Ocean View - Tulamben

Snorkelling again !

Surprised how many people are booking up to go snorkelling. Back to Blue Lagoon with 4 germans and 2 aussies, who were all quite happy peering into the water from the surface, Mul tried to upsell to DSD but they weren't having it. Yours truly starting to be inducted into leading the excursion, site briefings etc etc. Actually quite opportune as it allowed me to do 3 out of 4 of the stamina exercises required to be ticked off on the Divemaster programme, one was very easy, the other two easily completed but the time limits are quite demanding, although the Instructor thinks it is ok, just the 100m tired diver tow to complete.

Early finish so down to the beach for a lung expanding hour of running, bloody hot and hardly bearable but probably quite good for you ........ if you come back without a heart attack !

Tulamben

OWD 3 & OWD 4 at Tulamben, therefore the USAT Liberty which is the star dive site on Bali. Each dive with the relevant skills tests followed by a swim around and into the wreck as appropriate. Visibility mediocre today, so actually quite difficult to get the perspective of the site and the ship, it runs from 9m depth to about 30m along the slope, today we were limited to 12m by the OWD, so looking forward to several dives planned on the booking board to get to know this one better. Some of the instructors can point out each room of the ship.

On the way back up we came up under a large shoal of feeding Jack fish which was impressive, followed by feeding Surgeon fish who were being a bit opportunistic, once the Surgeon clocked food they were all around us eyeball to eyeball through the mask.

Long drive there and back, but interesting to get out into the countryside, endless rice terraces, coconut palms and bananas etc etc, everything especially the rice is extraordinarily verdant after all the rain, excellent views on the Agung volcano.

Stunning sunset on the beach, watching the planes across the bay going in and out of the airport, it's a good job you cannot see the approach over the ocean as a passenger ........ !

Blue Lagoon OWD 1 & 2

Weather much improved and a beautiful day out there, good visibility in the water, water calm, and lots of sunshine.

Open Water Dives 1 & 2 for our swedish friends. Easy dives, first was for them to get used to open water, second dive a repeat of a few swimming pool skills then a general drift dive along the coast for about 300 to 400 metres. Usual marine life, however the Trigger fish are in season and therefore quite aggressive, Janri (in front) removed fin as a precaution to bat it away, it was a decent size and apparently they are quite keen to take a bite out of you right now. It did the darting forward thing but then backed down as we went around.

Back in time to catch the Grand Prix which was a pretty non-descript affair, same storms affecting KL as here at the moment.

Open Water Diver training

Escaped a planned office day (filling bottles and workshop duties) with a last minute OWD course (Marlene & Camilia (SE)). Following Janri give the OWD, so this morning going through the DVD sections, knowledge review and quizzes etc, this afternoon rattled through Confined Water skills in the pool, a long day. Quite fascinating to see complete newbies go from zero to removing scuba under water in the same session, must admit it is a lot easier in a swimming pool than what I did in Lake Geneva.

Happy New Year !

Today is the first day of the caka year 1934, everybody without exception is confined to barracks and no lights are allowed - candles only. The street outside has been totally deserted all day apart from the policeman who just came around to make sure that nobody ventures out - quite eerie considering there is always activity non-stop.

See Nyepi explanation click here

Ogoh-ogoh procession i.e. "New Year's eve" celebrations

And so the evening's festivities begin, this is a big social occasion centred around the children who have been making these effigies for months, which are intended to ward off evil spirits for the coming year, they are mounted on a lattice of thick bamboo, which the children then carry, often the large character at the back is suspended by only his hand; the band prepares ..........

The procession sampled .....

And more sample .....

Sorry about the sideways camera at the end :-)

Run Forest run !!

Day off from the dive centre as everybody is heading home for the festival. 2 hours running this morning along the beach road, Kuta to Legian to Seminyak and back. Very hot and humid hard work, very dark clouds came rolling in and burst to clear the air for a bit.

Back to the pool and practiced a stamina skill for the PADI tests, banking on a 5 for the treading water test to get the total required overall.

This afternoon wandering around for ogoh-ogoh and accompanying rituals, very impressive floats being prepared for the procession later, lots of noise - this thing is a big deal here.

 

Back to Blue Lagoon

Clients steered in the appropriate direction by the office, 2 wanting to dive and 1 wanting to snorkel. This meant my first "sortie" was snorkeling which is required by the Divemaster programme, therefore another box ticked off which is good. Thought it slightly odd that someone (Mattheu (Polish)) who was not a confident swimmer wanted to go snorkeling but he got well rewarded with a good shallow reef and lots of interesting fish. On arrival at the dive site, greeted by a pod of around 10 dolphins playing around the boat, they passed through before we got in the water.

Second "sortie" off the boat was diving, same area as before but different spot, started in a small bay, went down the slope to say 18m (OWD present) and then caught the current which took us around the corner, somewhat strangely the current in the next bay was going the other way, and then approaching the next reef up the slope was into a head current going downwards, none particularly strong by local standards but a little bit of a heads up on what to look out for.

Lots of very elaborate floats for Nyepi are to be seen around the area, procession expected tomorrow night.

Divemaster demonstration work

Back to the swimming pool today, ran through the 20 OWD skills from the point of view of the instructor, with the divemaster interns, Geday, Ishmail and Dede, followed by the Rescue diver skill #7. All seemed to quite credibly with Janri passing me off for the same. No great excitements and skills seemed to go quite nicely, although need to put a little more into explaining (underwater) how the skill is working.

The whole area is a logistics nightmare as the streets are full of processions in the run up to Nyepi day (Balinese New Year), it has been lashing with rain for 24 hours, no problem in the pool as we were under water the whole time however the streets are awash, so on and so forth - new rain poncho looks very fetching and is all the rage around here.

 

 

Blue Lagoon

Off to the ocean, diving with Janri (instructor) and clients Dave and Adam, first dive Dave was doing a refresher session with Janri, Adam and myself went for a wander around, until we hooked up again and then did a circuit. Second dive around the corner in the next bay, inspected the start of a seeded coral reef - they put down a line of steel mesh which the coral take to, i think by charging it, bit of a close encounter with a submarine which does tours of the area for people who do not want to get wet, though not really sure how much they can see. Janri was superb at spotting some very small creatures/fish etc.

I took a bit of a chance seeing as i have this cold and was struggling to equalise my ears, but think i got away with it. Long and slow drive back, Bali traffic flow is a shocker !!

Hard work, nuts and bolts !

Birthday at base learning how the kit works. This morning dis-assembling and re-assembling regulators, checking and fault finding in the regulator sets, and then stripping down and repairing some of the faulty ones found. This afternoon in the compressor room, filling bottles whilst stripping down and repairing some of the tanks found to be dodgy this morning, very hot and sweaty activity. Completely de- mystified how Scuba works, which was very interesting, surprisingly simple principle - practice much more interesting than the theory, very crafty indeed.

Worst storm for > 10 years

Last night the heavens opened around 10 o'clock, worst storm for > 10 years, power immediately went off, and that was it for the night. This morning trees down and road closed, had to go the other way. After having got rid of my swiss cold, I have not got a full on Bali strain of the same thing, thick head can't clear my ears at the moment. Never a dull moment so far !

Day 2 in the pool

Brilliantly productive day in the pool after the indifferent showing yesterday, which is exactly what training is all about I suppose. First out on the skills I scored 88/120, the pass mark being 68 - so a pass ! After which we identified the weak spots and then took another tank of air to do the corrective actions. After enough repetitions the weak spots are now probably stronger points than the others. Sort of proves the 5,000,000 theory. Continued with tips tricks and techniques, also becoming much moe familiar with how my own kit handles, and how best to set it up, so all in all a good 2 days practice in the pool.

Legian Beach Hotel, AMD concession and training ground....

Surf's up at Legian beach

And into the pool for skills tests

First day of 2 in the pool over at Legian Beach Hotel to get the skills tests off pat and equally perform demonstrations to the required standard, required to make 68 points out of 120 over 24 tests, pulling at least one maximum, out of the 24 tests. Ran through twice this morning, first go a little unclear about exactly what I was supposed to be doing, second run through much more like it, but screwed up some up 2 inparticular with silly mistakes, bouncing around a bit too much in the bouyancy department, think shallower breathing will help here - fingers crossed for tomorrow, a good night's sleep would help, not recovered yet from the time-difference.

Traffic here is absolutely manic, not just peripheral vision, but also extra-sensory perception required !

Home for the next 4 weeks, is in the far corner over there:

First day with Aquamarine

In the office this morning doing the formalities with AMD, PADI paperwork, orientation and being shown around, how they work etc. Seems a nice crowd of people, english owner, some australians and of course the local guys. The hard work of the morning was the last knowledge exam for the Divemaster bookwork, passed with 59/60, so with the e-learning completed that is all the theory done for Divemaster. Been given the afternoon off to recuperate from the jet-lag and get sorted out in the local vicinity.

Doesn't seem to matter which side of the road you drive on around here, just sound the horn and go for it making sure that nobody is overtaking you at the same time.

Jet lag !!

Its 2.00 am and cannot sleep a wink, 24 hours of hanging around on airports and dozing on aeroplanes, not sure whether I am coming or going, ho hum, will probably take a couple of days to sort this out. Reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on the kindle version, maybe that will get me off to sleeeeep.

George Smiley did the trick, next thing you know the alarm is going off.

Bali arrived !

Its hot and humid as you would expect around here, arrived safely, all went smoothly, visa processing etc, bags were last off, seeing as i did not have any other clothes this was not inconsiderably worrying in this heat and 2 days in the same clothes, but Doha baggage handlers seem to do the business. Accomodation is bang on, nothing flash but clean and tidy and perfect for purpose. Its 9 o'clock at night but body clock is quite disoriented.

Singapore

Cloudy and been raining, disembark for refuelling and reloading, hope the bags made it through Doha, big hub with lots going on. Some weary looking people around, just want to get there now.

Depart Geneva !!!

Beautiful sunny day in Geneva, the last of the snow on the Jura sees the end of the best of the skiing, let's see what Bali has in store - long way to go....