Tutung

Now I am prewarning. We don't have pretty pictures for this section of the blog as we signed up the Open Water Course and you can't take your camera during dives. I added a Google pic of a titan trigger fish as it was my fave find!

So we woke up at 6am ready for our first day. We were both pretty nervous especially because we've bothhad a horrid cough for the past 2-3 weeks... But we went for it anyway. First we just had technical sessions with our instructor Loise and then kitted up and hit the pool. First thoughts... It's super hot, I'm melting in this gear and jeeze it's heavy! Once we got to the pool it was soooo nice to be in the cool water. If honest I've been so excited but then again so nervous. For the technical skills I was a bit all over the place as I just couldn't sort out my buoyancy. Nightmare. I came out of the session just deflated and slightly upset as I'd been so excited I thought I might not make it...

We went for lunch and then in the afternoon we headed to the sea. The tides were pretty big and my worst nightmare after yesterday's fiasco of getting in, but our instructor was just incredible and got us both in together in less than 10 seconds. Next task, getting our flippers on in the water! This is unbelievably hard for me never mind Will who can barely touch his feet. But that's why every scuba diver has a buddy. We got it sorted eventually and we're ready to begin the dive. Next hurdle attempting to equalise! It was tough but I got there in the end and oh my god the fish, the coral!! SOOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure it was nothing compared to what others have probably seen but I've never really done this kind of thing and it was just mind blowing (literally at times when I couldn't equalise...). I saw starfish for the first time and trumpet fish and fish of every colour. Amazing. But... Will was finding it really tough and found it really difficult to get the right posture for diving downwards and then using his fins to kick through the water and ended up riding to to the top everytime he tried. At one point I felt his pain and I went to get him and we held hands while diving and it was honestly such a lovely feeling. Holding hands while swimming through this beautiful setting was just amazing. Next hurdle was to get out! We swam a couple of meters from the shore, took our fins off (this is sooo difficult with waves crashing all over the place) and then quickly headed out. We drank our well deserved cups of tea on the ocean shore.

Dive number 2 was at the US Liberty Ship Wreck to do our first 11 meter dive. Getting in was really hard again and this time putting on the flippers was near impossible but we got there in the end and we're ready to dive down. This time it was much harder to equalise so it took me a while, but I got there in the end. Visibility was virtually 0 for quite a lot of the way, once we dived far enough and saw the magnificent ship we all held hands together so as not to lose each other. It was sooo much fun!! We saw a flounder, more star fish, amazing coral and underwater plants and wow just wow that shipwreck was impressive! After a while we let go of each other and unfortunately Will lost his posture again really struggled to get back down. I was so sad and it was so scary because visibility was really poor so we couldn't really see each other properly. Luckily our instructor could, once I got my eye on him I wanted to help him again but wasn't allowed. Unfortunately this wasn't a beginner course it was the real certification and so we had to be able to do it on our own. He powered through and we all surfaced together once out of the shipwreck. I was super chuffed with my achievement but Will was just defeated but we just kept chatting and I was sure I he would get it and it would click. That was our last dive for the day so we headed up shattered and in need of dinner. So we headed home, had a treat of Mackerel for dinner and then realised we really need to get money to pay for the course! We went to 2 ATMs, the only ones in Amed and still none were working so after an hour of wandering round we headed home and got back to the books for our final chapters ready for the test tomorrow. Nightmare... It was 9pm and I was already slightly behind from falling asleep the night before... 😭 Obviously I fell asleep on it again, but then got a second wind after a 20 second nap 😂

Well we both definitely slept like babies. I was super psyched for my second day but super scared about the test. I did test questions throughout breakfast and the journey to the dive school. Will had been watching videos to help him with his posture and we chatted about how I do it. When we got there our instructor told us the waves were even bigger so we need to just see how it goes. Luckily by the time we were kitted up it had calmed down a bit and was just the same as the day before, visibility a bit poorer but doable. We kitted up (I swear got heavier!). If we thought getting our fins on was hard the first day with these big waves it was much harder but eventually we got them on. Time for the dive, equalising was super tough today but the swim went so well for both of us! Will got the knack of it towards the end and we saw a scorpion fish, cornet fish, parrot fish, star fish etc. I was so so proud of Will and we both came out pretty happy! Don't get me wrong we are nowhere near perfect but we can do it!!

After a swift exit out of the water we had a quick cup of tea before heading for our final dive for the day. Now technically this should have been our final day for the certification but Will and I both agreed the night before that we would feel more comfortable having extra and the instructor felt the same. So we went back in the coral garden for our final dive of the day and I just couldn't control anything. My equalisation was all over the shot at the beginning, then I just couldn't get my buoyancy right, then we were getting deeper and deeper (we reached 18 meters on this dive) and my mask just wouldn't stop filling up! Now although you are trained to empty it, which I can do, but when you have to do it constantly, the current is really strong, you forget how to swim it just goes wrong. I found it unbelievably tough. I kept falling behind, visibility was quite bad so I had to just keep putting my whole body into it and it was just shattering. I came out this dive absolutely silent and wrecked. Luckily it was the last dive for the day but it really knocked my positivity out for six! On the flip side Will did amazingly well!! He kept up with the instructor the whole time he was over the moon but we were both happy to be coming back for our final dive tomorrow!!

We then had lunch before the dredged test. Gosh me and Will are so different when it comes to prep. I like to prep and then do nothing just before to relax. Will likes to work up until the moment he gets the paper and was asking the instructor more questions just before we got the paper, which made me so nervous. But the results were positive and we both got over 90%!

We then went on an ATM hunt and were eventually able to get out the required cash. For any Brits that go to Amed, get out cash beforehand as its a nightmare!! We had to ring the banks...

After paying up we were both proud with our personal achievements and we left super happy but utterly destroyed. We got dropped off at Indomart for some snacks and Ice cream. Guess what?! We got a free one again!!! Sooo amazing so we celebrated with our ice-cream in bed reading our books. I chatted to Lizzie and just lost track of time, it was dinner time already! I'm now in the local restaurant waiting for our dinner that we ordered 45 mins ago. I think I might eat my arm soon... So much for a super early night! Eventually we got our food and were tucked up in bed by 9pm. Perfect!

We both woke up excited with adrenaline and also with the knowledge that we just have one more dive then we can relax and sleep again! We were praying for good weather conditions so we could dive at the liberty Wreck for the last dive. We got to the centre, geared up and walked to the Liberty Wreck to check. We had about an hour to gear up, get in and do the dive before the waves got bigger. Everything went perfectly. We both equalised much quicker than normal, we finished off our final skills assessment, my buoyancy was much better and then for the dive to the ship. Visibility was sooo much better and Will swam sooo well! We were both so relaxed and just got to fully enjoy the shipwreck. Swimming through the ship Wreck and seeing a Titan Trigger fish was my absolute highlight. We also saw angel fish, surgeon fish, cleaner fish, goby fish and much much more. Unfortunately we don't have any underwater shots as we couldn't during assessment dives but wow what an incredible experience!! We started heading out and I realised I had used a lot more oxygen than normal and the currents were getting quite strong. I really struggled and unfortunately kicked slightly too much on an angle and started ascending too soon. I was gutted, ascending higher and higher not really understanding why I couldn't descend. I began to wonder whether this would result in a fail. I had to switch off these thoughts and just swim as hard as I could as the currents were getting pretty strong and Will and Lois felt really far away. After a while I saw the others begin their ascend and I felt so much better. It wasn't till we all got together that I found out I was ascending because my tank was really empty and so much lighter! Phew, I didn't fail and we both passed! Then it was the hurdle of getting out. The current was pretty strong so it was quite a struggle but we did it and it's now time to celebrate. We are both now SSI Open Water Certified. I am so so proud of us both and to see our development in just 2 days ☺️ I couldn't ask for a better Dive Buddy and a better instructor!

We took a couple of pictures (finally) then chatted with Lois about possible dives we could do around Bali. Finally we ended by ordering a super fat and celebratory lunch. A chicken burger with, bacon, egg and chips and a pizza. We are definitely not the same eaters we were, we were in a huge coma and headed straight to the homestay for a well deserved nap! We then changed into our winners tshirts and read our books for a while. Both myself and Will have felt pretty run down in the last couple of days so we asked our host if there is a local doctor. She took us straight to her sister in law who is a local nurse who was able to give us exactly what we needed for our ear and chesty cough. We got back, read our books for a while, had yummy gado-gado for dinner and then went straight to bed.Read more