It seems lots of people have made diving their New Year’s resolution as we have had lots of people come through and complete their dive courses in Lembongan, including the PADI Open Water, Rescue and a few specialties. To start the week off, we had Krishna complete his PADI Open Water course in Lembongan with instructor Bryce. The diving world is quiet a small one and it was funny to find that Krishna was born and raised in the same town in New Zealand as Bryce. Krishna was on holiday from his job and was traveling around Indonesia. He had not thought too much about doing a diving course but popped into the Two Fish office to have a chat with our staff. He was a little concerned about the swimming part of the course but on the first day Bryce and Krishna were in the pool, practicing some skills and getting comfortable.

Eanna also joined us this week for some courses and you will be hearing more from him soon in the coming weeks as he will he starting his Divemaster Trainee with us. Before Eanna can get in to the core part of his PADI Divemaster course, he needed to complete his PADI Rescue diver course. As a keen lifeguard back home in Ireland, a lot of the base first aid / CPR skills were there and he was very comfortable in the water. Instructor Rowan put Eanna through the tests with the help of Sohari, one of our dive guides from Lombok. There was lots of splashing with all the simulated panic divers on the surface but Eanna was quick to snap into action and made sure everyone was saved! With all the ‘problems’ occurring underwater, on the boat and on the surface, Eanna was kept on his toes, it also provide a great deal of entertainment for the other divers on the boat.

Instructor Rowan has also been busy teaching several specialty dive courses in Lembongan this week. With the currents that we get sometimes on the north coast of Penida, the drift course is a great experience to learn all the tricks and techniques to be able to dive in strong current. For the 2 dives of the course we did not have too much current but it was still a good environment to learn in. The varying conditions and different environmental factors provide the ideal setting for different dive courses in Lembongan.

While teaching the PADI deep specialty, Rowan took down a chili inside a bottle. At 30 meters, Rowan filled the bottle full of air and brought it to the surface, the air inside the bottle expanded and applied pressure to the chili, this simulates the pressure applied to our bodies as we go deep. Once back on the boat, Rowan opened that bottle which rapidly decreased the pressure on the chili, this simulates us doing a rapid ascent. The chili ripped open due to the rapid pressure change, sending seeds flying – talk about practical learning!