Free diving Bali

---

On the ferry to Lombok, April 11, 2015



We arrived in Bali on the ferry from Java (possibly the slowest ferry trip in the world) with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. Anticipation because we knew there was great coral reefs and sea life: Apprehension because we had to extend our Indonesian Visas and the rowdy image of Southern Bali, which we desperately wanted to avoid, preceded it.



In the end it turned out to be exciting ten day adventure. On the ferry we met a French couple and we shared a taxi to Permuteran which cut the cost. We had unnecessarily booked ahead at the top tripadvisor choice, the Taruna Homestay. It was very nice with a warm pool, hot shower and large room. It did not match the Kapang Indah hotel in Banyuwangi and was almost the same price. Whatever, it was a very pleasant base and was central in the town.



The first evening was a full moon and the owners invited us down to the 'ceremony' at the nearby temple. They gave us each a sarong to wear. We could hear the gamelan orchestra playing as we approached. Baliese music is a much quicker tempo than that in Java even though the structure and instruments are very similar. The orchestra was playing under an open sided covered area. Many locals were present. Men were gambling at games set up using patterned sheets on the ground. Women and children and a few men sat around the orchestra outside the temple. A lady happily breast fed her son next to the symbols. Locals lined up to go into the temple with their offerings to the gods. At the periphery stalls sold food. It had all started around 8pm and was supposed to go on all night. Unfortunately the rain started, it is after all the end of the rainy season, and this dampened proceedings for most of the night. We lasted only to 10.30pm enjoying the music and the colour of the event. There was some dancing at midnight and then most dispersed. Devout ladies went back with more offerings before sunrise and in the case of our hosts returned in time to cook us breakfast.



The popular excursion from Permuteran is to go snorkelling or diving off around Pulau Menjangan island, part of a National Park covering the North West tip,of Bali. It is 40 minutes by boat and cost 300,000INR per person including lunch. You can easily pay more if you don't shop around. Jane rented a camera in a water proof case (250,000INR) and the pictures show some of what we saw. Highlights were a free swimming small eel, two types of scorpion fish, a puffer fish the dive leader caught and Nemo! One dive was above a wall which attracted a lot of colourful fish.



The snorkelling off the beach at Permuteran was also good. The reef just off the beach is recovering and has a great variety of fish. We found two small lion fish in the shallows and a large flat fish like a sole. Historically the coral here was damage by dynamite fishing. They now understand the coral has a really value and there is a project to accelerate its regeneration using electricity. A raft of solar power cells floats off shore. It has been 15 years so far and and still has some way to go.



Our next destination was Ubud just to the North of the capital Denspar and the wild Kuta. We had a misguided plan to base ourselves here while we got extended visas. The process took longer than we we thought but not as long as it could so we only stayed one night. We ended up waiting for the visa processing on Nusa Penida, a nearby island a lifetime away from Bali. I will cover our time there and the technicalities of the visa extension in separate blogs.



Late on Friday afternoon with extended visas in hand and back on Bali we were picked up at the immigration office by Fusion free diving and heading to their base in Amed on the North East shore. We had a nice bungalow with a porch looking over the beach and the sea (Coin Beach bungalows 200,000INR). The ceiling fan did not work and Jane came up with a system where she put the floor standing fan inside the mosquito net and it worked a charm. Towards the morning we were looking for sheets to keeps warm. It was right next door to the Fusion office.



Amed is a sleepy strip of bungalows, guesthouses, resorts and dive shops dispersed along a set of beach coves covered in fishing boats. In the mornings we go superb views of Bali's highest volcano, Gunung Agung to the West. Luckily our bungalow was right between the two best restaurants in Amed. On our left was Warung Enak, which did wonderful fish and a great basil and honey and ginger drink. On our left next to the Fusion office was Warung Ole which did many of the Indonesian classics to a high standard. On the first evening with Jane asleep I had a fun game on the porch of 'squash the cockroach' as they run towards our bedroom door. I got three.



We had signed up for a two day level 1 free diving course with Fusion (http://fusionfreedive.com/). First we had a free day. We borrowed fins and masks and snorkels from Fusion, rented a local lad's scooter (50,000INR) and went to the beach to dive. The main bay has artificial reefs and some good coral. Presumably it has had dynamite damage in the past too.



I have always loved free diving. I can't remember how old I was when I first did it and having discovered there were many schools in Bali and the Gillis had decided to learn how to do it properly. Jane had never free dived in her life and wanted to see what she could do.



It was more challenging that I expected. Holding your breath was not an issue. After a morning of simple tuition I held my breathe for 3 min 30 sec. Jane held hers for 2 min 10 secs. The younger guys were holding their breath for over four minutes. (The world record without blacking out is 8 min+.) In none of our dives were we limited by our breath holding.



We had an interesting group of fellow students. Nico was a spear-fisherman from Angola with a German and Italian parents. He worked in Myanmar at an Web start-up, and had met up with his girlfriend, Ludo, who worked for JPM in Geneva. He could already dive below 20M before joining the course and we left them moving on to the level 2 after we had gone. We enjoyed sharing stories with them at Warung Enak one evening. Ed probably in his mid thirties, was ex British Army and Afghanistan, and was now doing 'research projects' for the British Government in places like Mogadishu, Syria and Iraq! He worked six months of the year and appeared to look for thrills around the world the rest of the time. After Bali he was heading for Peru to attend ceremonies where they take some heavy hallucinogenic drug. He had just knocked out three front teeth whilst surfing. The last member of the team was Simon from South Korea. He was quite reserved and opened up as you talked to him. He was scuba diving as well as learning to free dive and working out how to change his job finding cost reductions for a shipping company.



The real challenge in free diving is being able to equalise your ears upside down. (In scuba you can just sink upright.) In the open water the course is taught around a buoy under which is a long weighed rope marked at five metre intervals. We had two instructors and split into two groups around two buoys. In no time Ed, Nico and Ludo were diving down to 15 metres. I was struggling below 7 metres with equalisation and Simon and Jane were having trouble clearing their ears at all. After all these years there were some basics I had never done before. In addition to relaxation and pre breath exercises on the surface, the instructors emphasised the need to take your snorkel out before you dive (so you can equalise easier) and equalising before you dive.



Most importantly and the thing I found hardest of all was to keep you back and neck straight. So you don't look where you are going you look straight out perpendicular. It sounds easy and yet this dog was struggling to learn a new trick. The reason you do it is that it makes equalising easier and also it stops injury if you ever get diving deep below 30 metres. I kept wanting to look where I was going! By the end I was just getting the hang of things and dived several times unaided to 10 metres including one rescue dive. This qualified me for the level one certificate. At least now I know what I am supposed to do and can keep practicing.



Jane struggled with equalisation both days. She got down the rope 4 to 5 metres which is much deeper than I have ever seen before. They advised more pool practice.



Fusion free diving had a lot of pluses. Their customer service, a lady called Anom who we never met, was excellent. It was the cheapest course around and our instructors, Sam from Newcastle and Vid from Slovenia knew their stuff. Free diving even to 10 metres with plenty of air still in your lungs is just brilliant. It looked like the general management of Fusion was struggling and it could have done with better local leadership. How they progress has to be seen. If Fusion disappear it looks like there are other highly rated schools in the area to choose from. Discovering one's free diving ability is just fantastic.



With the course complete we discovered there was a mix up with our room and the owner wanted us out. So there and then we decided to head that night for the Lombok ferry. It was beautiful evening, with the Milky Way in full bloom. We stayed on the top deck for the four hour trip planning our next moves. Bali has certainly given us a taste of what we can see below the water and we are looking forward to seeing what other islands have to offer.

---

Photos

Gunung Agung from our hotel beach
It was in cloud by 10am

Learning breathing techniques
Instructor Sam keeps watch

Just relax!
Coming up towards the buoy