Steph began her scuba lesson in the pool today. Nothing too exciting, lots of basic scuba skills to go over, but mostly just assembling and then taking apart gear. Her instructor, Trevor, is awesome and took us out at the end of the day.
While Steph was taking her class, I went on my first dive in Bali to Padang Bai. It had been a couple years (July ’08) since I last dove so it felt good to get out there. Since its quiet season here, it was just me and the dive master (Bowo) on this trip. The drive to Padang Bai was approximately one hour through palm tree forests and the tiered rice paddies. Once we got to the beach we put our gear into a small, narrow outrigger boat that was just big enough for the driver and the two divers and our gear (the boat was so narrow we had to sit one in front of the other). After a five minute boat ride to the blue lagoon we jumped in the water and got our gear on. The dive was pretty good, only because of the poor visibility. Most notably I saw juvenile blue ribbon eel, cuttle fish, lion fish, goat fish, tang fish, surgeon fish, sea cat fish, and cow fish. There was also a very strong current and an abrupt thermocline, where you could be swimming in the warm portion stick your arm down below you and feel the cold water – you could even see the difference between the warm and cold layers.
On the second dive I saw a crocodile fish (first time ever), trumpet fish, trigger fish, puffer fish, nudi branches, spotted trunk fish, yellow sweet lips fish and parrot fish. Again their was a strong surge and abrupt thermocline.
After the drive back to the dive center, Steph had just finished her day and we went out for a few drinks with her instructor Trevor.
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