BIOROCK by Vintty Koloay

• Suatu kesempatan yang sangat berarti saya bisa ikut serta dalam program Gaia Discovery Partners Big Bubble for Coral Reef Restoration With Biorock® Technology

• Selama 1 minggu Saya bisa bertemu dengan teman-teman baru, menyelam, belajar lingkungan laut Bersama Delphine Robbe dan saat ini saya merindukan mereka semua.

• Kami melakukan aksi yang sederhana, namun kita dapat membantu menyelamatkan terumbu karang dan lingkungan laut yang semakin terancam.

• Bukan hanya menyenangkan namun saya memperoleh bayak pengetahuan baru tentang terumbu karang.

• pengamatan sederhana dari belajar membedakan Coral, sponge, hydroid, dan ascidian..

mengenal predator coral yaitu Drupella Snail dan Crown of Thorns Starfish dan cara mengambilnya.

• Saya sangat menikmati kegiatan Coral Gardening dimana kita dapat membenarkan posisi terumbu karang yang mungkin terbalik dan patah karena badai dan Coral watch pengamatan kesehatan terumbu karang bedasarkan slide yg ada. Dan yang paling meyenangkan saat kita membuat biorock, membentuk besi-besi menjadi Starfish, menenggelamkannya dan meletakkan terumbu karang di biorock kami. Besar harapan semoga terumbu karang dapat bertumbuh sehat dan ikan berdatangan dan tinggal di sana.

• Aksi lokal di Gili Trawangan akan berdampak Global ketika kita kembali ke daerah dan negara kita masing-masing karna nantinya kitapun akan turut memberi contoh yang baik dan mengajari apa yg telah kita dapatkan kepada teman-teman di tempat asal kita nantinya.

• Menyelam di tempat baru dapat memberikan pengalaman berbeda bagi saya, sensasi menyelam keliling 3 Gili bersama tradisional boat,

Atraksi shark dan turtles yang benar benar berkesan. Dan jika anda ingin belajar tentang biorock di Gili Trawanganlah tempatnya, anda bidsa melihat puluhan biorock dari berbagai bentuk dan bermacam-macam terumbu karang dan ikan yang sudah hidup di sana.

• ini adalah pengalaman yang sangat menyenangkan dan tak kan terlupakan bagi saya, banya terima kasih saya kepada Mallika Naguran yang telah mensponsori saya untuk mengikuti progam ini.

• semoga program seperti ini akan terus berlanjut, sehingga semakin banyak orang yang melihat betapa indahnya dunia bawah laut agar kita semakin menyadari pentingnya menjaga dan melestarikan lingkungan laut bagi kita dan generasi yang akan datang ;)

Under Water Wedding 2011 - Jule and Rob

“Will you take this man/woman to be your husband/wife. Will you love him/her, comfort him/her, honor and protect him/her and for shaking all others, be faithful to him/her as long as you both shall live?” that’s the question usually asked in wedding matrimony, like always in the church but this time we had something different, the bride and groom was asked UNDER THE SEA and they make lifetime promise on that moment… We, Crystal Divers; include 2 of the interns, are so honor to be the underwater wedding organizer…

We started from Sanur to go to Nusa Penida, took about 30 minutes to arrive in our diving spot, Toya Pakeh. There were 12 persons ( Jule and Rob as bride and groom, the bride’s parents, Steve as the planner, Toto as instructor and organizer, Gary as the photographer, Dave as videographer, Wulan and Vintty as assistance, Maweh as boat captain, and kencrung as boat assistance) on the boat but only 6 of them will diving around. The first dive, we can say the fun dive or pre wed picture dive, were held in Toya Pakah. While the bride’s mom and dad enjoyed the sunbathing on the boat.

After around 1 hour, they came back to the boat and now we were preparing the wedding. We sent the bride and groom to private beach in Nusa Penida so they can relax while we decorated the boat for them. We were picking them up again after 1 hour and ready to do the underwater wedding.

The first choice diving spot wasn’t a good place to do the underwater wedding because there was a strong current at that time so we needed to change the place to Ceningan channel and it seemed that this place was better than before but with lower visibility. We stopped at Ceningan channel and had a wedding lunch first because it was almost 4pm. This time it was a different kind of lunch, we made some flower decorator and buffet dinner ( usually we got lunch box when we had trip to Nusa penida).

Ok, time to do the wedding. We were putting the ballyhoo in the water to make some aisle under the water. Bride and groom also needed to get ready with their attribute. The bride used the white wet suit, bouquet and flower band around her head while the groom was weared a black wet suit and a bow tie. The bride’s parents were watching from the surface since they can’t dive. I and Vintty will be the guide for them on the surface while the wedding procession happened under the water. The bride and groom were really looked stunning and relieve after the wedding. They successfully did the underwater wedding. We  threw some rice to the bride and groom when they were coming into the boat. This is for prosperity on their marriage life. We put the just married sign and opened the champagne to make a wedding toast! Wow that was a great time and also tired day but it hasn’t finished yet. These were a first part, they also need to do it on the surface: P

The Bemo was waiting for us in the shore, of course with some decorator in it. We put sugar cane stem in front of the bemo ( the meaning of this is making their marriage always as sweet as sugar cane). The priest and the judge were waiting for the couple in Crystal Diver (since 4 pm: p sorry, it was the current’s fault). The bride and groom were standing in front of the priest and said their vow to each other again, that was a beautiful moment on the wedding ceremony when they promise to share their life forever.

We are wishing the newlywed, Robert and Jule, a great new life ahead! And thank you to share and trust Crystal Divers to organize this wedding!

and click here for more pictures and video of them

Side Mount Course

Diving with 2 tanks in your side, have you ever think about that before? Well that dive called side mount diving, usually the tec dive uses it for cave penetration so they can move more freely in the small cave without worry being trapped with the tank behind.

We had the opportunity to learn about tech dive level and this time one of the examiner taught us about all of that information. First he told us about level in tech dive. What we have to do to take the first level and higher level. He shared brief information about Tec 40 until Tec instructor, maybe someday we want to continue our education to be Tec instructor and with this level we can go deeper and longer than the ordinary recreational diver. Of course with more equipment and different gas blend.

Beside Tec dive, he also taught us about rebreather dive, the different between CCR and SCR, he told us in brief but its already enough to make us amaze with the cool video. We can close to aquatic life without disturb them because it will be less bubble if we use it. For rebreather it also divides into 2 recreational rebreather and Tec rebreather. Of course Tec rebreather more complicated than the recreational one which designed automatic use.

And the last but not the least, side mount diving. He showed us the cool video about the diver exploring cave with the side mount equipment... need a lot of practice to move like that I guess ;P PADI will announce this new specialty maybe next year so if you want to discover a new way in diving, you can take this specialty ( check Crystal Divers )

The benefits of side mount are:

1. Ease of streamlining equipment. When you need or want more than one cylinder, side mount provides a very streamlined package compared to many back mount configurations. This can reduce drag and avoids contact with the environment.

2. Easier equipment transport. Most people find it easier can be more easily managed on land because the cylinders than one set of doubles because you can carry them separately. When making dives that require three or more cylinders, this simplicity becomes increasing noticeable.

3.Versatility. Side mount works well with many types of recreational and technical diving, making it a great way to expand your capabilities with a single basic configuration.

4. Equipment availability. In some places, it can be difficult to get manifolded doubles, whereas you can get single cylinders any place people dive.

5.Accessibility. In sidemount, the regulator first stage and valves are in front of you where they’re visible and accessible. This makes it easier to spot and deal with problems.

6. Adjustability. Most sidemount configurations allow you to fine tune equipment fit and trim during the dive to enhance streamlining and body position. Most divers find this makes sidemount more comfortable than other configurations.

7. Problem solving. In recreational diving, sidemount makes it possible to handle an out-of-gas problem without your buddy as your primary alternate air source. In tec diving, you always have at least two life support systems; sidemount provides this.

Pool session time!!!! This was what we were waiting for whole day. Thomas let us to try his sidemount equipment. Actually you can use the BCD for sidemount and back mount, all you need to do is change the strap position, one more regulator ( if you use 2 tank) and of course a clip for hang the tanks. He showed us how to assemble the equipment and Eri got the first chance to try it... He was wearing the equipment in the pool with Thomas's help and he was ready to rock! He dived smoothly under the water, he tried to unclip and play with both tanks. Thomas told us that we will have better buoyancy with this side mount and yes indeed he is right!

All the interns had chanced to try this BCD and beside that the other dive master trainees also wanted to try it and we were really having fun the pool. Thanks Thomas for the lesson and the pool dive ^^

Dive Master Course

Dive master is the first pro level in diving. We already can be a guide and a teacher for refresher aka certified diver who long time didn’t dive. So they need to be refreshed about all the skills. There are some requirements to be a Dive Master: Certified as PADI AOW and Rescue Diver, 18 years old, Logged 40 dives, Complete the EFR training within 24 months, and of course the medical requirement as well.

To be the Dive Master is a different level with OWC until Rescue Diver level, in this level we will be trained as a professional who can lead a group or advice students. So we need to learn how to do all the things in the right way and using our good judgment. That’s why in this level, they will give us so many task to do like guiding, assisting, preparing, repairing, etc.

Beside the 9 chapter theory and 2 exams, we also need to complete some of the skills such as:

1. 400 meters swimming

2. 800 meters snorkeling

3. 100 meters diver towing

4. 15 minutes floating

5. Equipment exchange

6. Assisting confined water course

7. Assisting Open water Dives

8. Assisting theory open water course

9. Assisting Advance Open water Dives

10. Assisting Rescue Divers

11. Skill Circuit

12. Rescue no 7

13. Deep work/ specialty

14. S&R work/ specialty

15. Assisting DSD Confined water

16. Assisting DSD Open water

17. Discover Local Diving ( or we can say guiding)

18. Setting up the dive site

19. Mapping

20. Briefing

21. Skin diving

22. Physic

23. Physiology

24. Skills and equipment

25. RDP

26. Equipment

27. Days with equipment boys

28. Equipment service

29. Scuba refresher

30. Log dives

So far most of us already did some of the skills above like assisting open water ( in theory, pool and open water), assisting AOW, S&R work, Deep work, equipment service, and of course the log dive already 60 + J

We were gathered in the pool side and this time Minni was giving us some tips to put our equipment in the right order and that's the way the BCD should be prepared for all the customer. We also got a gift from Minni, the Crystal Bandana, and she had something to do with that bandana for the first task as DMT. We were asked to use the bandana to close our eyes while assembling and disassembling the BCD and regulator.. good gift and good way to use it :p We were needed to show it as if we teach students. We need to speak loud becase there were a lot of DMT around so our voice need to be louder than the others!!! Like Minni said in the first time, NO SHY in here! After this all the DMT jumped to the pool to do the 24 skills circuit with Minni.

We have time to do it slowly and of course with guidance from all our instructors in Crystal Divers, we need to try to be the best like always!

First Baby on Boat with Crystal Divers

One day, I had trip to Manta Point with Holly and 4 guests. Guess what, they consist of 3 adult and 1 baby! Yeah sounds weird in first time but it’s the guest requested to Crystal so we just gave the best experience for all of them. This time also the first fun dive I did with one of my great instructor, Holly MacLeod, never been diving with Holly for fun dive before and It was GREAT^^

Early morning we gathered in Crystal to sign and check anything before we leave Sanur heading to Manta Point. The guest was pick up in Hyatt Hotel, 5 min from crystal and they were really took a baby with them. He is 2 months cute little baby boy, Nicholas, and I can say adorable. Holly and I were thinking how about the propeller machine sound, would it made the baby cry all the time… hmm lets see.

Ok, now we were on the boat and I did the briefing before we started our journey to manta Point… apparently all the things that we were afraid of were not come true. The baby didn’t cry at all because of the boat machine sound... .wow that’s really cool! He was sleeping all time and only cry because he was hungry – well you know a baby right ;). The parents went dive with their baby with the Nanny… that’s really nice to know that 2 months baby can go with the boat, maybe I can take my (future) baby to the boat as well ;)

The journey went really well except something problem with new BCD one of them, beside that it was under control, we saw MANTAS – and we were alone! Ted and Alejandra were really had a good time with us and they decided to take another trip with the baby also (and the nanny of course).

Have fun and enjoy your trip in Bali for Ted, Alejandra and cute Nicholas!

MY GRATITUDE ~ Wulan's 100 dives

April… May… June… July… August… September…

6 months already I has been joined the Diving Internship program with Crystal Diver. I, as one of the new diver among the other interns, did my first dive with Crystal Divers. Still remember how nervous and hard to equalize when I did my first dive in Bali. I learnt more and more how to be a good and responsible diver since then.

I got more knowledge and information with stepping up into the higher level of PADI education. Start with the open water until now I started my Dive Master Course. Every dive has their own memory to me, even not all of them are good. These experiences, bad or good, will make my journey become colorful. I learnt from the bad experience and tried to avoid it to happen again in the future. Good experiences were a starting point to be better than before.

I also got so many new friends from diving. Our instructor already became part of our diving and they always support me and my friends. The DM trainee and new Instructors became good friend of us. Some guests are still being an ordinary guest but some of them became a friend. We shared our moment together and blended into one family. I can say “PADI family” which brought us into one, no matter where we from, how old we are…

Today, 20 September 2011, is my 100 dives - even i didn’t do the naked dive :p and beyond of the plan before - allow me to thank everyone who involve with every dives I ever did. My intern’s friend, my Course Director, All of my Instructors, All PADI staff, All of my friends from Crystal Divers, and all of guests in Crystal Divers… Thank you for taking part of it!

BUT….

It’s not the end of my diving journey! I'm still looking forward to other dives and new experiences with all the divers! Keep diving and be a responsible diver when ever you dive ^^

BEACH CLEAN UP IN SANUR

Clean Up the World is a community based environmental campaign that inspires and empowers communities from every corner of the globe to clean up, fix up and conserve their environment.

Now in its 19th year, Clean Up the World, held in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), mobilizes an estimated 35 million volunteers from 130 countries annually, making it one of the largest community-based environmental campaigns in the world. The campaign brings together businesses, community groups, schools, governments and individuals in a range of activities and programs that positively improve local environments.

Since the first Clean Up the World campaign in 1993 the improvements achieved due to the efforts of millions of concerned volunteers around the world have been astounding. Examples of community-led Clean Up the World activities include:
Recycling and resource recovery
Tree planting
Education campaigns
Water reuse and conservation
Competitions
Exhibitions
Fix up projects.

You can find more details about Clean Up the World at http://www.cleanuptheworld.org

Those are some information about clean up the world and few days ago we had an email from Australia consulate to participate beach clean up 2011 in Sanur on 17 September 2011. This program was sponsored by Clean Up the World and many affiliations in Bali who care with the environment. Many of participants are from schools, community, and diving centers around Sanur.




On 17 September 2011, we were gathered in front of the Stiff Chili restaurant at Semawang to hear some opening speech from Bali government and consulate. The event were dominated with school students age 10 above and also the teachers. We also as part of Sanur community gave our contribution to this event to keep our beach clean of course ;)

All the interns, Dive Master Trainee (Cecilie, Will and Anthony), and new instructor (Jayson) under Paul Grant supervisor were joined the beach clean up that day. We got plastic bag and one glove to clean the debris in the beach. The beach clean up area covered from Hyatt Hotel Beach until Puri Santrian Beach area. We were in the middle and we decided to go to Puri Santrian way.

We found out not so many participants went to this area. They were going to another side of the beach so it was quit enough for us. We found many plastic debris, slippers, glass bottle and shards of glass. We were walking around the beach for 1 hour and came back to stiff chili to throw away the debris to the garbage truck provided. After the beach clean up, there were also some other programs for the school students such as story telling about the environment, quizzes, and BBQ. It was a beautiful thing to do to start our day. Keep our world clean for a better future!

One more thing about clean up project... We are also making :


Underwater Clean Up “Dive Against Debris”

at Sanur Channel

on 27th September 2011

9 am, meeting point : Crystal Divers, Sanur

We will provide all the dive equipments for all volunteers for this project. If you interested to dive for free with us, you can email to info@crystal-divers.com or you can come to Crystal Divers, Sanur, Bali. See you there!

RESCUE DIVER

It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog. Lots of things have been happened during these pass few months. We’ve been diving with a lot of different instructors for few weeks. Paul changed the schedule for each of us to follow one instructor/ dive master every week but we need to be flexible on the diving trip. If there is no spot available anymore, we need to stay in the office and help the office about selling the diving trips and diving stuffs. We learnt many more things such as how to manage the booking, how to give briefing, how to guide, doing a little part of tune up, OWC, become the victim for the rescue diver. Well all the stuffs that we need to know when we become the instructor ;)

Let’s move forward to the next level… RESCUE DIVER! After some specialties finished and now the time for rescue book. Like always we needed to read and understood about this course. Rescue are about managing the situation before it’s become worse and dealing with it if the accident happened during the dive. Like we learnt before in EFR, we also used term of “Stop, Think and Act”. And the same thing, our safety comes first. In rescue we learnt about diving accident and overcame the situation, what we should do and the best way to take care of the situation.

Each chapter gave use more information about dealing with every diving accident. They gave us a lot of time to read, answered the quizzes and of course the knowledge reviews. After several weeks, now we all sit together in the class to talk about the quizzes and knowledge review. One day was not enough for doing the rescue course so that we split into 4 days. And you know what, they all were right. This course was the most fun course that I ever had.

The first day was all about theory.. Quizzes and knowledge reviews... we did that from 9am until 3pm from the first chapter until the fourth chapter. Our brains were overloaded so the last chapter, exam, and the pool session will be done on the next day. Holly explained all things which we didn’t understand before patiently.

The second day we did the last chapter only for 1 hour and time to do the FINAL EXAM! Some of us passed the test easily but 3 others needed to do the make up test but at the end all of us passed the test with good score. Finish about rescue diver theory, we did the pool session with Holly and Cecilie as her assistant. We did 7 skills in the pool that day.

Holly told us to do a towing a tired diver race using whatever towing which is the fastest way for warming up. Two technique to approach panic diver on the surface, and I found underwater approaching was easier than other one like Holly said the last thing the panic diver want is going under the water ;) quick reverse was the next skill, we need to know this skill to protect us from the panic diver who chases and want to go above us. Distress diver under water- out of air, as a rescue diver we need to identify the diver who distress because they out of air and we need to give the octopus and of course take them to the surface, inflate the BCD orally. Surfacing unresponsive diver to the surface also have own technique, keep the regulator in the place (inside or outside mouth), and take the diver with the safe rate ascent.

Handling unresponsive diver on the surface is the longest skill for today because we need to keep the rhythm for giving rescue breath until we reach the boat and do the CPR. Safe the best for the last is a good word for this skill. For the last skill we need to do the exit from the water technique, we can use many techniques for this skill, it all depend on the circumstances and the size of the victim. We were carried each other to go out from the pool and that was an awesome day… It was a nice day to spend my birthday though!

The third day we did all the skills in open water with 2 more skills that we didn’t do in the pool. This time holly was assisted by Tony the new dive master trainee in Crystal. All the skills are the same with skills in the pool beside search pattern and throw a buoy. We practiced 2 search patterns that day, U pattern and expanding square. Throw a buoy also the other skill we needed to do that day. A little scenario at the end of the skill, Tony pretended to be unresponsive diver on the surface and we need to help him.

Last day of Rescue diver course and there were a scenario diving. Holly MacLeod as scenario director prepared the rescue scene for 7 of us. The victims for that day or I can say the brilliant actors were our lovely DMT Cecilie West, Mari Sasaki, Will Cooper, and Anthony Karasiewicz. This was the scenario for us, all we need to do is help and handle the situation for rescuing all of them. It was begun with seasick Cecilie, heat exhaustion Mari and tank drop injured Tony.

Time to dive!!! Some more accidents were happened under the water. Our diving was more interesting than other dive with panic Tony, Out of Air Will, and Tired Mari. Our dive was ended with two missing divers my buddy and our dive guide for that dive. We were planned the searching for the missing divers after took Mari to the boat and calmed Will down with his panic attack. We used the circle pattern for Tony and U pattern for Cecilie, with the SMB for marking where were we so we could contact each other with the snorkeler and another buddy.

Tony was found easily but Cecilie needed more time to be found. It was not end of the scenario, the missing diver turn to be responsive again on the surface and turn out we got another unresponsive diver on the surface Will and Mari. We needed to give rescue breath, towed to the boat and took the to the boat. Took Mari into the boat was much easier than took Will but we did it!

No no no still not finish yet because Cecilie jumped out of the boat follow with Will, Tony and Mari. They all were got panic and we needed to jump to safe them. Last thing Cecilie was injured by the jellyfish and Jink offered to pee on her hand because no vinegar available that time :p Now it was finish for rescue course, really really finished after some delay. WE ARE OFFICIALLY RESCUE DIVER now ^^

EFR part 2

Earlier in this blog,I was writing a little about primary care.check EFR part 1

The next day, we started the lesson a bit late because Rob needed to examine the IDC, the main reason he is here, first before taught us. And we continue to watch the video and practice the skill such as:

- CPR & Chest Compression

- Conscious/ Unconscious Chocking

- Serious Bleeding Management

- Shock Management, and

- Spinal Injury Management

Then the primary care skill was done! Rob took us to the beach to “visit” the IDC and congratulate them as well. All IDC passed the final test and they are officially INSTRUCTOR! Congratulations to MATT, EMIL, MARIE, RACHEL, EDI, CHLOE. Tonight there was a party for the new Instructor but we needed to continue the lesson first….What did we do after short refreshing?? The answer is FINAL EXAM… But its not scary, because it was open book.

The next thing Rob taught us, is about Oxygen and AED. These are only recommended primary skills but we also need to know about it also. For oxygen there were 2 ways to use it, free flow oxygen for unconscious and not free flow for conscious victim. The free flow we needed to set to be 15 liter per minute and the not free flow we just breathe in from the mask. The AED machine was really easy to use, just press on, put the pad to the place, wait until the thunder button turn on and press it. Then you will be told to check the breath and the sign of the patient. We did the oxygen and the AED when there was no electricity on Crystal Diver, it’s all dark *LOL* but we still enjoy it very much!

Beside primary care, there is second care for the victim. After we treat the ABCD’S, we were able to do the secondary assessment. We did this assessment when we knew that there is no life threat for the victim. There is 4 secondary cares:

I: INJURY ASSESSMENT: We need to check from head to toe and make sure that the victim is ok.

II: ILLNESS ASSESSMENT, use SAMPLE method to assess this. SIGN AND SYMPTOMS by asking the victim, checking the pulse, breathing, temperature, and color. Inform about ALLERGIES, MEDICATION, LAST MEAL and EVENT. You need to ask questions to make some conclusion for the illnesses.

III: BANDAGING, it’s the same thing when you treat a serious bleeding management.

IV: the last one is SLINTING FOR DISLOCATION AND FRACTURES, when there is a broken bone just use what is around you like book or pencil or anything that support the broken bone. You don’t need special things to splint when you have stuff around you.

And now its time for the final exam!!! Well it’s only about the stuff we talked about before and it is open book exam, easier than the open water exam :P but still some of us got it so hard to understand the English :) all of us pass the exam and we are officially EFR certified now. Thanks Rob!

We didn’t stop until this step, we needed to get the EFR instructor certified so we can teach anybody who wants to learn about this. EFR doesn’t have age limit anyway. So to make us to be the instructor, Rob gave us all the knowledge review for the EFR instructor. Who finished these knowledge reviews, was allowed to come for diving in Tulamben tomorrow! Of course all of us didn’t want to miss this... so we finished all the knowledge review until late night. Around 7 I guess we all finished the knowledge review. We needed to work hard to get anything right ;) One thing that night, after we all finish the knowledge review, there was a girl who looks pale and wasnt strong enough to walk to her room. We all thought that Rob sent the girl to pretend about this. We helped her to go to her room and we all knew that she is really sick. We found out that she got dengue fever after that :P

Taking Break from the classroom, theory, and practice the EFR…. DIVING TIME! We all came to crystal early morning to go to TULAMBEN. This time Jink didn’t come with us because he needed to go to the doctor the other day , so today he needed to do all the things we did yesterday. We will do 2 dives and this time Eri will be the dive guide for today. We dived in the wreck and this is the first time Rob was in there. We entered the wreck with his guide. It was 4 meters long(maybe…) Between the two dives, Rob told us a little about how to teach, his life, and EFR. Nice chatting though and full of information for our teaching practice. That was all for refreshing between the EFR courses.

After all of us finished the knowledge review, this time Rob taught us about how to teach EFR.First he showed us some slide shows about the main point in the EFR and when we teach our students we need to tell them about :

1. The Goal to do these skills

2. The value of these skills

3. The key Point/ critical steps/ how it's done

4. The video

5. The demonstration

We can find all the answer and the teaching technique in our instructor manual. Rob also told us how to make it as simple as possible. Just let the student do it for you. Let them tell you what to do depend on the book and ask them why we do this. Beside that we need to demonstrate all the skills in front of the class! Some of us done it very well and the others still needed to learn about it again. FINAL EXAM time!!! We needed to finish this for getting the certificate :) 6 of us passed the test and WE ARE OFFICIALLY EFR INSTRUCTOR.. Sounds cool right!

EFR part 1

Some divers took this course because it’s a must when they want to continue to the next step (been told like that by someone :p ). Some of them feel that this course is boring but I feel it’s excited and easy to practice in reality. Well thanks to Robert Scammell our EFR instructor. He made this course fun and easy…

After finish the Advance dive now we need to study about EFR to continue our study.. This course is not only about diving hmmm... actually its about how to help people in need, how you fight with your fear to help people, not only in diving industry but also in your family, in your neighborhood and in your life. That’s why they have different website from PADI because this is another program from diving.. You can read more info in www.emergencyfirstresponse.com

1 week before we start our course with Rob, Minni gave us the manual to read and answer all the knowledge review so when our instructor come we already know a little bit about this course. So we read page by page and answer the knowledge review for “Primary and Secondary Care” and “ Care for Children”. Minni already gave us the schedule for the EFR course because our instructor is not in Indonesia, He is from Thailand ( well he is from UK but stay in Thailand) and he will be one of the examiners to the IDC and he extended to stay in Bali to teach us about EFR and also diving with us. Holly said that Rob is funny and really good to this course- well and you were right Holly ;)

First day he showed us the video for introduction and we need to practice all the skills from the video, we already have the manual so more or less we already know about the skill but we need to practice it so it’s easier to remember than only the theory.

STOP THINK and ACT this is what should we always remember for the first time and follow by the ABCD’S… we need to ASSES THE SCENE, is it safe or no for us. Yeah it is right, if you can’t safe your self first, you will not able to safe someone else. Like you heard many times in the flight maybe, you need to use your own mask before you put into your children.

ALERT EMS and APPLY BARRIER, he taught us how to use the gloves and how to open it, and he showed us how to put ventilation barrier in Mr. Mannequin, and surely none of us will bring the barriers in our daily life so when something happen just use what ever that can be a barriers such as cloth, plastic bag, paper , etc, etc ; don’t make this become an excuse to help someone; and how to check the BREATHING, first open the airways and check it by LOOK to the chest movement, LISTEN for the breath sound , and FEEL it in your ears.

He also gave us the EFR kit ( the barriers) and asked us to practice it together. After that he make some scene and this time Hairi become the victim, the scene is he got electricity shock and I need to do the skill.. He taught us the simple way to do that because sometimes in the book a lil bit more complicated like “hello, my name is Wulan, I am an emergency responder, May I help you?” so Rob told us just say simple statement like “can I help you?” because in Indonesia many person doesn’t know about what is emergency responder so just make it as simple as possible so any body can understand that ( well if you in abroad/ helping foreigner of course you need to do this statement so you are protect by the law in that area). After that Rob divided us into 2 groups, 1 group to the parking lot and the other with Kat went to swimming pool and we need to practice what we have taught about before.

to be continue...

MY FIRST MANTA

We have one day off after the gangster party in Crystal divers. That night was really wonderful with the costume and the people. Minni decided to give us one day holiday because the next day there will be no instructor also so it’s ok to be relaxed for a while. But I asked Minni can I dive on that off day? And she said yes, but like always there is rule for diving… No alcohol at least 8 hours before diving… wonderful! There was still enough time to do that and MANTA POINT here I come!


The next day we gathered in Crystal to go to Manta Point. There were Asmui as our instructor, Matt, Mike, Michelle, 2 others guest for snorkeling and of course me ;) We used “Nagisa” to go there and we will be there within 1,5 hours. There are big waves to Manta Point and the little boy ( the snorkeling boy) can’t handle it and he seems to have sea sick along the way.. .

We will do 3 dives that time and first stop is Manta Point. We still need to look the manta before we go under the water because it’s a big area and if we false to jump, we will not see the manta. So after couple minutes we were ready to jump and search for the Manta. Matt – my buddy – surprise when I told him that I used 6 kilo for the weight belt and he said just try 5 kilo and I will carry the other 1 kilo for safety. Ok I was trying to use 5 kilo again and hope the last accident would not be happened again (see Adventure Diving) and it didn’t! We search for the manta under the water now, waited for a couple minutes and the manta come out.. Wow, there they are… Fly under the water elegantly. Only 4 mantas that time but its enough for me and it was the first time I saw big MANTA! They fly under me, beside me, and above me… It was really cool!



We need to stay in the surface before do the second dive ( to eliminate the nitrogen in our body) and this time the boy will spend the time in the island there because he didn’t get any better in the boat. The next stop is Toya Pakeh and we will do the drift dive, in this place the current is unpredictable so we need to watch the current and be careful of the down current. Time to get into the water… yes it was drift dive… You just need to keep your neutral buoyancy and the water will take you around. Matt always warns me to see the current, where will the current go because like I said before its unpredictable in this area. Well honestly I still love to see the manta more than this but this was pretty cool also. On safety stop I feel kind of hard to keep my buoyancy and then Matt gave me 2 more kilos for keeping my buoyancy.

Lunch time and the boy already got better after they spend time on the island. We took our lunch on boat while making surface interval for the second time. This time we went to Mangrove/ Jack Point and drift dive again but this time is better than the last one because this is one way drift. The boat will pick us up at blue corner. We let the snorkels go into the water first and enjoy the sea then we go to other side and start the drift dive. We need to maintain buddy contact and if we separated from the group we need to look for 1 minute and ascent. We saw colorful coral on the drift way, fishes and long banded sea snake. At the end of our journey, we saw spotted eagle ray, napoleon fish and TURTLE! I really enjoy the great dive that day!

PADANG BAI - JEPUN and BLUE LAGOON

It was starting with the conversation in the toilet, when Minni asked me which chapter I am now. That time I already finish the chapter of adventure dive ( which they told us to read n answer) so I said that to Minni but the others still haven’t yet. After that she took me to the schedule board and let me choose which one I can go with. The choice is between Tulamben (with Om Toto) or Padang Bai (with Taka). I choose Padang Bai since I’ve been to Tulamben before. Minni said that I need to be here on 7am. There will be 1 guest + taka, and of course with me now

The next day, I went to crystal to go to Padang bai with Taka and Mari (the open water student that time). It took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach Padang Bai. In there we set the equipment and ready to go to the dive spot with the boat. It’s a small boat so we need to wear the equipment in the surface.

First dive is in Jepun, we saw pinky frog fish (well its pink! So I call it pinky :p).There is a small wreck in there and an artificial coral. We saw also mantis shrimp, many blue spotted stingrays, cowfish, moray, lionfish, napoleon ( humphead wrasse) and titan triggerfish. Mari is a good diver also even she is still in the open water, she has good buoyancy

After rest for 1 hour, we do the second dive in the Blue Lagoon, I saw more fish in this area, on the wall and there are more fish to see, little fish and little creatures such as pink squad robusta, ribbon eel juvenile, black blotched porcupine fish, Map puffer, Spotted Garden eel, Nudibranches – Jim black, rockmover wrasse, anemone fish : false clown, pink, gobby – fire dartfish and twotone dartfish. Looks like I found so many new stuff in here right? But we didn’t meet any shark that time, I heard that Padang Bai is good place for finding the shark. Its ok better luck next time!

Diving was finished… Time for lunch and go back to crystal. Yes its true when it said diving makes we meet many people. I met Mari and make friend with her. She is nice girl and always smiles even though we can’t communicate fluently but we still learn how to understand each other. She is in Japan now and she will come back to Bali next month for her Dive master I guess. Good luck for that Mari and see you soon!

TULAMBEN - Deep & Wreck Dive

Many of divers already know the famous wreck in Tulamben and now it’s our turn to go there….

Early morning we already ready to go to Tulamben to do Wreck dive and Deep dive with our instructor, Paul and his assistant Tom. We need to drive for 2,5 hours to Tulamben but it’s really worth it for a nice and amazing place like Tulamben!
The first dive was about Deep Dive -the water was so nice that day, No wave and the visibility was 30m -we will do this dive in Coral Garden to check our Narcosis in 30 meters depth. Paul asked us to do some task under the water, he asked us to touch the number in the slate and touch our nose after we got each number. Beside that he took empty aqua bottle and show us it squeeze under the water. On the surface he asked us to do the same thing while under the water so we will know how much time and how big the difference between the surface and under the water. Along the way we saw many new fishes (well maybe its only for me again :p) such as ornate ghost pipefish ( 3 at once!), blue spotted stingray, napoleon wrase, black ribbon eel, clarck’s anemone fish, short nose pipefish, emperor juvenile angel fish, morish idol, surgeon fish(black spine), bignose unicorn fish and many else! Thanks to Paul who asked us to find the name after the dive so I still can write it in here ^^

“This is American cargo ship in second world war II in 1942. Torpedo by Japanese submarine, in south west of Lombok. In that time the ship leaking and too much water come to the ship. In 1942, the ship comes to the shore in tulamben, at that time everybody can see the ship from the beach. 1963, the biggest mountain eruption ( Agung mountain) and push the ship to the deep water. From the shore to the ship just 30 meters out and from the surface only 4-5 meter deep. The long of the ship wreck is 120meter long and they had 2 torpedos, the first torpedo is shallow point in the stern around 16 meter deep and the second torpedo in the bow around 25 or 26 meter deep. And also the ship has big room and you can come inside. You can see small steering wheel in engine room. You will be enjoyed diving in liberty ship wreck because so many fish, nice coral and also you can see schooling of jackfish. The maximum depth of the wreck is 30 meter. “ That was a story about USST Liberty Wreck in Tulamben, Eri – one of us is from Tulamben and he already familiar with the spot for long time. ( Well I make him tell me once more when I wrote the blog :p)

So after listened to his story we are ready for the second dive! WRECK dive…. When I saw the wreck for the first time there I was amaze, shock, happy and excited. That was really incredible feeling to see such a beautiful things and creature around the wreck. We saw school of Jackfish above the wreck. They swim together and make like a tornado shape, I really can’t describe my feeling that time – my eyes can tell how happy I was! Around the wreck we also found many fishes. We took a couple shoot of under water that time so maybe I will not say anything anymore just enjoy the picture!

BALI MONEY CHANGER

Maybe I’m outdated about this stuff but I want to share again in my blog… it’s about money changer in Bali.
My friend asked me to change USD to IDR one time then I went to the nearest money changer in the Legian road. First I met with the lady who said the change rate is 8200 then she called the guy who work for the money changer and the guy if I exchange 120usd he will give me 8600IDR for the rate. So I change 120 USD. He counted the money first then gave it to me for count it again and he knock it on the table (to make it as one). I received the money and go back to hotel when I count it, it’s not the real amount that I should get. I count again and again, and yes it is minus 300k IDR. Omg omg!! I really count it right before then I went back to the money changer to ask the 300k. When I arrive in the money changer, he said I already count it and yes I count it but its only 700k then I take all my money out to proof it that I didn’t lie. He said that just change it to another money changer and he gave my USD back.
I walk about 1 meter from that money changer and go to another money changer in that road. Then I said to the second guy where I wanted to change 100USD and he said the change rate is 9299 for 100 Bank notes. Ok then he start to give me 20k IDR bank note... gosh I asked him : “ don’t u have 50k bank note?”, and he said he didn’t have it. So after he counted all the money, I counted again. Then he fixed the money again and this time I counted again. When I counted again, I lost 200k again. Then I gave it back to him again, when he count it’s the real number. I will be careful, I didn’t want to do the same mistake like before so I counted again and yes, indeed I lost 200k again. Every time he took the money again, I lost 200k but when he counts it, it’s the real amount. Finally after 4 or 5 times counting, he said I better take another money changer. Then I said ok, he gave my USD back and I came back to hotel. Inside the room I also realize that I lost 10usd!!!! GODDDDDD… what’s wrong with Bali!!! That time my friend said that he already know about this and I said why he didn’t tell me before???? He thought that I already know about this, but its ok, it’s a lesson for you. I really pissed off with those money changer... Will never ever go to that place again! Finally we go to the big money changer to change the money...
Lesson from this experience: don’t be rush (like me!!) and be careful with the small money changer in the road side who gave high rate. They all are snake, they smile and they will eat your money. Just go to big and decent money changer or bank even it will be a little less but better than they eat your money! My Balinese friend advice me, if you caught this thing in the future just go back to the money changer and said that you will report to the police about this matter. I’m sure they will give your money or take back their money again. Keep safe and enjoy your holiday in Bali!