July 20, 2011 – Pemuteran
Day one of diving the heralded Menjangan island marine park. I was diving with a boat full of Dutch people and a Balinese dive guide. The Dutch family that was on the boat was really cool, mother, father 2 biological kids 18 and 20 and 2 adopted children from Haiti who seemed to be about 13 and 15. They seemed to get along so well and really enjoy being in each others’ company which was really nice to see. I can’t imagine what a full house that must be! I was also diving with 2 Dutch girls who were recently certified. The first dive was a bit of a gong show as the two girl who had just been certified were very clearly just certified and were all over the place so me and the dive master spend most of the dive trying to keep them under control and at the right depth. Originally he had them buddied up together but because they were such a mess he ended up 10 minutes into the dive putting one of them with me and one with him so that we could take care of them which pretty much meant both of us holding on to one each and making sure they didn’t float away. When we got back on the boat the DM (his name is Komeng) apologized over and over to me for the state of the dive but actually I really enjoyed it because I got a taste of what it’s like to be a DM when things are going a bit haywire. The girl I was attached to kept bobbing up to the surface and floating away and at one point she managed to lose her fin and starting panicking. It was nice to be able to calm her down and put her back together again. Not the best dive for looking about but a good experience for me in taking care of other divers. I can’t really say much about the dive since I didn’t see much except for the panicking Dutch girl but oh well ;)
For the second dive the Dutch girls decided not to go down (probably because the first dive was so stressful and difficult for them) so me, the DM and the Dutch mother and son went down. It was a much smoother dive and we just floated along. I must admit (although it makes me sound like a snob) so far Menjangan isn’t that thrilling. All the books say that it is THE place to dive in Bali but I have to say that, so far, Amed beats it hands down. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. The Dutch girls have left so at least it won’t bring a bunch of flailing and bobbing up and down yo-yo diving.
Komeng my DiveMaster seems like a cool guy. Tattooed and pierced, smokes like a chimney, a typical beach bummy Bali DM. He’s going to take me out tonight which is nice for me as I don’t have to sit alone at home and this town is pretty small. Hopefully his local knowledge will introduce me to some cool places to hang out at night. There's always the lingering fear that he's just like the rest of them but the company is nice and hey, who knows, he might be different right??? Maybe there is some hidden local gem that he can take me to discover. I also haven’t eaten dinner so I hope not too many beers are on the menu or else I’m going to end up like a drunken beached whale somewhere on the Pemuteran coastline. All in all he seems like a very conscientious diver though so I doubt he’ll be letting me drink too much anyway. Don’t drink and dive…or so they say.
Anyway, he should be here any moment so I should be off.
Cheers from a potentially drunken beached whale
J
Day one of diving the heralded Menjangan island marine park. I was diving with a boat full of Dutch people and a Balinese dive guide. The Dutch family that was on the boat was really cool, mother, father 2 biological kids 18 and 20 and 2 adopted children from Haiti who seemed to be about 13 and 15. They seemed to get along so well and really enjoy being in each others’ company which was really nice to see. I can’t imagine what a full house that must be! I was also diving with 2 Dutch girls who were recently certified. The first dive was a bit of a gong show as the two girl who had just been certified were very clearly just certified and were all over the place so me and the dive master spend most of the dive trying to keep them under control and at the right depth. Originally he had them buddied up together but because they were such a mess he ended up 10 minutes into the dive putting one of them with me and one with him so that we could take care of them which pretty much meant both of us holding on to one each and making sure they didn’t float away. When we got back on the boat the DM (his name is Komeng) apologized over and over to me for the state of the dive but actually I really enjoyed it because I got a taste of what it’s like to be a DM when things are going a bit haywire. The girl I was attached to kept bobbing up to the surface and floating away and at one point she managed to lose her fin and starting panicking. It was nice to be able to calm her down and put her back together again. Not the best dive for looking about but a good experience for me in taking care of other divers. I can’t really say much about the dive since I didn’t see much except for the panicking Dutch girl but oh well ;)
For the second dive the Dutch girls decided not to go down (probably because the first dive was so stressful and difficult for them) so me, the DM and the Dutch mother and son went down. It was a much smoother dive and we just floated along. I must admit (although it makes me sound like a snob) so far Menjangan isn’t that thrilling. All the books say that it is THE place to dive in Bali but I have to say that, so far, Amed beats it hands down. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. The Dutch girls have left so at least it won’t bring a bunch of flailing and bobbing up and down yo-yo diving.
Komeng my DiveMaster seems like a cool guy. Tattooed and pierced, smokes like a chimney, a typical beach bummy Bali DM. He’s going to take me out tonight which is nice for me as I don’t have to sit alone at home and this town is pretty small. Hopefully his local knowledge will introduce me to some cool places to hang out at night. There's always the lingering fear that he's just like the rest of them but the company is nice and hey, who knows, he might be different right??? Maybe there is some hidden local gem that he can take me to discover. I also haven’t eaten dinner so I hope not too many beers are on the menu or else I’m going to end up like a drunken beached whale somewhere on the Pemuteran coastline. All in all he seems like a very conscientious diver though so I doubt he’ll be letting me drink too much anyway. Don’t drink and dive…or so they say.
Anyway, he should be here any moment so I should be off.
Cheers from a potentially drunken beached whale
J
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home