Browsing articles in "Interns Blog"

EFR part 1

sep 19, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments
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 inwww.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.

MY FIRST MANTA

sep 19, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

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

sep 19, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

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

sep 19, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

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

sep 19, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

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!

BOAT DIVING

sep 19, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

First diving for adventure diving is Boat diving, we are already familiar with this kind of diving because we usually start our dive from the boat “Putri Emily”. Emil in charge for teaching us this time, he is teaching us about knots. We will need to make
the knot for buoy, jack line, and whatever we need to tie under water and we need to do that also with close eyes in case of emergency.

These are the three knots…
1. Two and half hitches for quick way to attach line to an object
To make this knot, just take both end of the line. Keep one of the line straight and tie the other end in the same direction. If you tie from above, put it twice above and vice versa. We can see the line is correct when we pull one line, the line will move

 

2. Bow line for tie line directly to an object – its strong, dependable knot that unties easily. We use this to attach a line to safety marker buoyancy.
There a sentence to memorize this knot: go swim under the cave, go down through the coral and swim above the cave… so make a circle with the loose end below… take the end and enter the circle from below and tie the other line from below and enter the circle from above.

3. Sheet bend for tie two lines of different diameter together.
Look the line to attach then tie the other line from below make a circle tie under the two end of the attach line and go above the circle tie.

I, myself, still a little bit confuse about the two half hitches but I need to memorize how to make it. I need to practice more and more to do that so I can do it with close eyes and maybe with gloves under water.

The next day, when we wait for the limo to the beach, Minni come to us and see what we do with matras beach tie 😛 and teaches us how to make knot once again. Hmmmm, apparently it is so easy. Like I wrote above. Just keep the one line and let the other line do anything! Nicely done… Then we all go to Sanur Channel and Emil explains us about the specific name for the boat and like always we do the rollback entry.

 

First dive we need to do the hovering and Emil made a game for the first dive, anyone who found the crocodile fish (because its only 2 crocodile fish in Sanur) first time get coke from the bar, and Emil pay for it 😛 and ERI is the winner! And hovering time…..Arghhhhh it’s hard for me to hover!!! We also need to hover up side down. Now I’m buddy with Komang and he taught me how to hover and still I think I am not good enough with this thing.. LOL… practice wulan practice ;P

For second dive I can relieved because no hovering again 😛 We stayed in the jack line and waiting the turn to do al the knot. Some of us did that nicely (I put myself in this group :P)and some of us have trouble to do that. But anyway with good practice, I am sure we all can do the entire knot 😉

ADVENTURE DIVING

sep 17, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

After finish our Open Water final exam with great score ( of course because we study for 1 month – usually they only study for 3 days :p), we are now officially become Open Water Certified Diver! Yeay! Maybe the rest already had it before but since this is the first time with me, I am really feels good to accept that. The card will be sent to me within 6 weeks!!

For the next step, we will study about adventure in diving (intro for advance diving) this time we will study a lot more about specialty in diving such as :
1. Altitude diving
2. AWARE Fish Identification
3. Boat Diving
4. Deep Diving
5. Diver Propulsion Vehicle
6. Drift Diving
7. Dry Suit Diving
8. Multilevel and Computer Diving
9. Night Diving
10. Peak Performance Buoyancy
11. Search and Recovery
12. Underwater naturalist
13. Underwater Navigator
14. Underwater Photography
15. Underwater Videography
16. Wreck Diving
We need to study about all this specialty but not all the diving above can be practiced in Bali because we didn’t have the tools or the place nearby.. Else open the adventure diving briefly, she showed the video and told us about things about all specialty and I am so exciting about these kind of dives! And like Minni said just understand it slowly because you have plenty of time!
Oh well in the middle of our reading, I and Nico got the chance to dive in Sanur with the open water training guest. We got it because we already finish to read the chapter! Cool 😉 like always we packed our stuff and go to Sanur channel. In there we dive with Om Toto, Mike (the dive master), and Eric (the student). Five of us dive together and Eric needs to do the skills on the surface and underwater. He did it smoothly… Om Toto also showed us some magic under water such as he take out a stick from his mouth and he put a sand to his mouth and suddenly its changed into big rock.. It was Great!
There was something bad on the second dive.. My fin slip out from my boots and straightly I ascent to the surface, luckily no boat on the channel and Nico come with me 😛 When we want to descent again, I cant sink at all.. OMG OMG.. I really need to get the usual weight! ( I take out 1 kilo because in first dive I feel ok) so we back to the boat while Om Toto still dive with the guest.. sorry Om!! Make you worry but promise will never happened again.. I talked with Eric after the dive, he is from Holland and first time come to Bali and first time to dive also. And for sure he will come back to Bali again :p anyway enjoy your time in Bali Eric!

Open Water Final Exam

sep 17, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

It has been 2 weeks already since the first dive. Now we already finished all the chapters, quizzes, confined water and open water dive. We did our 2,3,4 open water dive with Ms. Uning and we did good :) thanks so much for the lesson Ms. Uning! You are the best!
Our 2 other friends already come from their School exam and since they were late with the lesson, they need to study harder to reach the material. But with Ms. Uning by them side, I’m sure they will be all right!
Finally now we face our final exam, even we did that not in the class room, we still did it good. We passed the test with minimum 86% …

This is the last score :
Vintty : 100
Me and Komang : 92
Eri and Nico : 90
Imam : 86

Big applause for vintty and we will surely ask for treat! LOL
thanks for the help and the lesson from our instructors who teach us! Now we are officially OPEN WATER DIVER ( with a real license :P)

The Bali Aga, Desa Tenganan

sep 17, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

We got 2 days holiday and on that holiday I decided to go to Candi Dasa with my friend and we go early morning. We stop at Bat Cave but since there was Saraswati ceremony, we just saw the gate…
Then we continue our journey to The Bali Aga, Its an ancient Bali village which keep their generation with the pure Bali blood. They only marry with each other around that village.
If someone want to marry the outsider, they should go from that village because they not allow to stay in that village..
Well you can see the picture below :) Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIRST OPEN WATER DIVING

sep 17, 2011   //   by supernova   //   Interns Blog  //  No Comments

I can’t believe it, time flies so fast. We have been here for two weeks and now on the second week we have so much more things to do such as QUIZES, swim and float, and the best thing of this week FIRST OPEN WATER DIVE (well its for me of course :p)
The first lesson both theory and practice is done. Now time to test us! Will we understand the lesson or no? So its time for QUIZ!!! The quiz consist of 10 question and passing grade is 75% correct (my friend told me that :p) and the good news was all of us pass the test with minimal 80 point ( close enough with the border line right!) but its still the beginning need to pass more exam to get the open water license 😉

Beside passing the test, to be eligible to this program, we need to swim 200 meter and float for 10 minutes so Minni test us to swim 8 rounds ( 25 meter for 1 round) the swimming pool and 10 minutes floating in the deep end. It was easy but Minni prepare us more for the Dive master program, we need to way more than that. So this week schedule is every time we finish the class, we need to swim at least 8 rounds in the pool and floating at least for 5 minutes. So here we are everyday end up in the swimming pool train for better and faster swimming.

The best thing in this week for us is we will have our first open water dive… cool isn’t it??? This is the first time for me of course 😀 so I was so excited! We did that on Saturday. But on that day one of our friend was sick so he can’t make it to do the diving… Get well soon Komang! So we need to be at crystal diver on 8.30 am to prepare the equipment then go to the beach :) This time MINNI and PAUL will be our instructor. After all prepared, we depart from Sanur beach to the Sanur channel. We have another dive master and one person on the open water course so a lot of people in the boat today. We assemble the BCD and prepare to dive. We will do sitting back roll entry (that time felt butterflies in my stomach) – sit on the edge on the boat side, put your butt hanging in there, lean you body to the water but don’t forget to clear the area, secure your mask, regulator and your head with both hand…1-2-3 go! I’m in the water already lol.. It was so easy but feels so stress before :p
Now time to descent, usually we only descent in the swimming pool so it’s not that hard but since we go deeper in the sea, I need to equalize each time I descent. We hold the rope to descent and one hand to equalize. It was so hard in first dive but just need to do that slowly until the air space didn’t hurt anymore. Minni accompany me during the descent and while in the bottom of the sea, she holds my hand! Thank you very much Minni! Under the sea we saw many creature such as coral – don’t know the name but when you flick your finger the coral will hide into the ground – ; fish – cockatoo waspfish- variation – the brown little fish; starfish – black and orange one; and snake fighting , they, banded sea krait with snowflake moray, convolute to each other. Minni said she rarely saw this thing during her 700 dives but lucky us, we saw it in our first dive 😀 this time Nico did something bad, he throw a rock to a fish! Big no no Nico and he promised will not do that again. After 36 min underwater, we ascent and do some lesson practice such as change snorkel to regulator and muscle cramp recover. Then we go descent again, this time is faster than the first time descent. For ascent we need to practice the controlled emergency swimming ascent! We did that in the pool before not vertically but horizontally, and this time is easier than in the pool. Everytime finish diving, we need to write a diver’s log. In diver’s log consist of where, when, how long ,the visibility, the weight we use, temperature, depth, the air we use, comment and of course the sign from the instructor if you still on training. We will write all the information in each dive so we will know the record and the situation of the place.

For closing the week, we got some present again! Yeay! The complete equipment! We got the wet suit earlier and now we got Mask, Snorkel, BCD, Boots, Fins and regulator… We were so excited about this and we want to thank everyone who gave this equipment to us! (PADI, Minni, and anybody else who I don’t know :))

And this is one opinion from IMAM for this week ;);)
”You’ve probably seen photos, television and films about diving, but until you do it your self, you can’t really understand what it’s like. Nothing on earth matches the sensations you experience-the THRILL OF BREATHING UNDERWATER, the freedom of “WIGHTLESS-NESS” and UNIQUE SIGHTS and SOUNDS. The underwater world is not a silent world…..Ms. Minni (padi course director) you are the best, the best teacher, (Ms. Holly, Mr. Toto, Ms. Anita, Ms. Bettina, Ms. Martina) all of you are the best teachers also, PADI, all staff in Crystal divers, thanks thanks thanks very much all of you. Oke I am very very sorry, my English is not very good. Already 9 days, my head will explode. My head fatigue, labored breathing, a feeling of suffocation, weakness, anxiety, headache ( kind of symptom of overexertion!!!!!). I’m panic, I am panic. Help – help ….. give me CPR (NAFAS BUATAN!). I am a panic diver in the surface (in the class room). Everything in English, books in English, teacher speaks English, quizzes and exams in English, watch video speaks English also. ONLY underwater no speak English ( of course, we cant talk in English! Only sign language) too much pressure in my head and I get deco in the surface help…help…help. One more thing that makes me headache.. SWIMMING!!!!!!!!!!! Everyday I need to swim 400 meters and 10 minutes floating! BUT everything gonna be okeeeee. This is my process, process to become successful, process to become instructor. I will always try and act to be the best, better than yesterday! I can do it, thanks very much for all. I love you full. Go pro with Crystal diver and PADI. (@_@) ……. (^_~) ………..”

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