August 12th, 2008 by Jonathan
PADI IDC Bali - A huge congratulations for Jan, Kenta, Neil, Marina, Daisuke and Matoko who all passed their PADI IDC and PADI IE in Bali over the weekend.
The PADI IE was conducted by George Wegmann from PADI Asia Pacific who did a fantastic job for all the IDC candidates in Bali. Thanks George!
Over the three days, all our Bali IDC candidates proved the fantastic training put in by our Course Director, SF Chong, and our Staff Instructor, Taka, was not wasted. Superb performances from all meant that Blue Season Bali keeps their unique 100% success rate in all PADI IE’s in Bali.
The success of the latest bunch of PADI Instructors come as no surprise given the huge amount of effort put in by the PADI IDC Bali team of Course Directors and PADI IDC Staff Instructors. For anyone out there who wants more information about the PADI IDC in Bali email us.
The PADI IE success was celebrated by all in grand style. Just don’t remind Jan about it! It is still too painful for him to remember.
August 11th, 2008 by Jon
Well I’ve been waiting to see my first mola mola and yesterday I was finally rewarded with one. The conditions were great the water wasn’t very very cold probably right around 24° at Crystal Bay on the first dive I got to see a shadow of a mola mola which was in the deeper water and then as the diver I had with me was low on air or we had to start heading back towards the boat. On the way back we got to see a flame angel fish which are always a favorite of mine. They are called flame angel fish because the middle of the fish is reddish orange and then it’s surrounded on the fringe by blue so it looks like a flame hense the name.
On the second dive as soon as we got out towards the canyon which is the reference point for you to start looking for the mola mola’s one of our very experience Indonesia dive instructors started rapping on his tank to let us know that there was something there, sure enough just a little bit deeper than we were was a mola mola being cleaned by some schooling banner butterfly fish and it was amazing as the sunfish made the butterfly fish look as if we were far away because of the enormity of the sunfish. When we got back on the boat the Indonesian dive instructor let us know that it really wasn’t even a very big one only around 2 m which only makes me want to go on Mola Mola dives in Balimore often so that I can go and see a really big one. As I understand it we can anticipate seeing many more mola mola’s as we are now in the mola mola season so sightings of the sunfish in Bali should be regular occurrences on the dives until the end of September. You know I remembered everything about that dive the only thing I forgot was a camera so really my first one doesn’t count as I don’t have proof I quess I will just need to get back out there and do it again!
Yesterday also was the end of the IDC and Blue Season Bali had the most instructor candidates in the IE and all of them passed so the 100% pass ratio for Blue Season Bali is still intact. The next IDC will be in September and I can’t wait to work with Chong as I will be a student learning to be a IDC staff instructor. So now that I have seen a mola mola the last thing I have that I really want to see scuba diving is a whale shark who knows maybe one will be sitting at Manta point watching a manta getting cleaned and have one bump into me while I’m in the water, or maybe I’ll be on a mola mola dive and a whale shark will come cruising through!
August 6th, 2008 by Jonathan
The days are ticking by and the 8th August will be here before we know. The 8th August is the day when our six PADI Instructor candidates will begin their three day PADI IE in Bali. The three day instructor examination will cover dive theory and standards, confined water teaching, open water teaching and rescue evaluations.
Blue Season Bali has a 100% success rate at the PADI IE so the next time you come into Blue Season Bali you will most likely find six very happy PADI Instructors!
We don’t wish them luck as they do not need it! Join us at Mago on Sunday 10th for some celebration drinks and dinner.
If you want information on the PADI IDC in Bali then you can find it at PADI IDC.
August 2nd, 2008 by Jon
A few days ago I finished my first PADI RESCUE DIVER course with an English gentleman, named Desmond. This course is always good fun! First of all, you get to learn some great new skills that are extremely helpful for diving and secondly, something terribly funny always seems to happen. We were in the pool on the second day of the course learning the skills. Scenario practice with Louise as the victim; she was tired at the surface and Desmond attempted to throw the tow line for her to grab. Instead of getting it behind her, he hit her on the head! It was perfect because I wanted Louise to end up an unconscious diver anyways, but we all had a good laugh after she groaned and collapsed in the water!
So, on the third day of the course, I took Desmond to Sumawan Beach, right here in Sanur. Thankfully, one of our Japanese instructors was conducting an OPEN WATER COURSE at the same time as my rescue course; so we were able to take out the Bali Ocean 2, our company’s boat and home away from home! After less than a five minute ride, we reach the dive site location. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for the day. Visibility was incredible and there was absolutely no current to be seen. I gave a thorough briefing about what the day may have in store; hinting at the fact that he needed to be prepared for any and every scenario we were going to throw at him (and of course it was going to be every scenario!) Then I let the fun begin! We started off with an easy pleasure dive; exploring the site and being rewarded with some great finds. We found two stonefish, a baby blue spotted stingray, a banded snake eel, a moray eel, plenty of puffer fish, and as always lionfish galore. It was a very nice and relaxing dive, when all of the sudden Louise started breathing hard and panicking. Desmond reacted immediately and went over to check on her. She pulled up the sleeve of her wetsuit to show a black slash line with stitch marks on her arm and the word “cut” written below it. He knew exactly what to do; calming her down, he assisted her at the surface and applied first aid once we got her into the boat.
After a short surface interval and some miraculous healing by Louise, I discreetly sent her and Mangku into the water to place our “missing diver”, who always seems to have a blue weight belt on! When they came up, incredibly enough, Louise was tired and Mangku was panicking. You would hope that they could handle themselves better in the water! But luckily for them, Desmond was there to save the day again! He entered the water and towed them back to the boat. Minutes later we all descended together in search of the “missing diver”. Success, we found the diver with the blue weight belt!! Then Mangku became our unconscious diver and was carefully brought up to the surface, where Desmond proceeded to give rescue breaths, undo both his own and Mangku’s equipment, AND tow the victim back to the boat. I’m glad he can walk and chew gum at the same time or else that task might have been a little difficult! All in all, it was a great day and as always, a great course! It is still my favorite course to be part of and I can’t wait to do another one!
