Blue Season Bali

Menjangan is such a great place to go diving. Every time I go there I realize that it’s a fantastic place. Take for example Eel Garden. Nice wall diving to start with during the first 15 minutes with 25 meters as max depth. During those 15 minutes you can expect a lot. Napoleon Wrasse that welcomes you at the start of the dive, schools of Longfin Bannerfish, Trevally and Fusiliers passing your way, many kind of Angelfish, Black or White tips and Green Sea Turtles continuing their journey. Last but not least, Giant Gorgonians, “Elephant Ears” and colourful healthy Soft and Hard Coral cover the vertical wall.

Up to 20 meters you come to the point what it’s all about. Eel Garden. Thousands of Spaghetti Eels as far as the eye can see sometimes with a huge Tuna swimming over the area. They also stay out of their holes if you come closer. Especially on the sandy part it’s great to see them with the dark blue background.

The cherry on the pie comes after Eel Garden. Just behind Eel Garden you have a fantastic scenery between 6 and 14 meters. Colourful bommies standing in white sand with plenty of different kind of big and small fish swimming around and once again, the variety of sponges, Hard and Soft Coral is amazing. You can just swim from one place to the other if the current doesn’t play part. Like my last client said … it’s like swimming in an aquarium and I can say that that’s an understatement. Scorpionfish, Lionfish, Angelfish, Big Pufferfish, Cuttlefish and Golden Trumpet Fish are waiting there for you. All year long you’ll have at least 20 meters of visibility and water temperature is about 29°C.

Of all of the divesites in Bali, there are 2 that you absolutely have to do when it comes up to fish and coral. At least those two are my favourite ones. Toyapakeh (Nusa Penida) and Eel Garden (Menjangan Island). That doesn’t mean that the other divesites are not good. On the contrary … each of the divesites all around Bali has their own characteristics and unique elements. It’s a must to see every single one of them!

Place: Eel Garden (Menjangan Island)

Date: 22/11/2008

Max Depth: 26,3 meter

Water Temp: 31°C

Visibility: 20+

Dive Start: 10:25 AM

Divetime: 53 minutes

Blue Season Bali Goes ECO with the Project AWARE Go ECO Operator Campaign

Blue Season Bali is the latest PADI dive centre to be awarded with Project AWARE Go ECO Operator status in 2008.

Project AWARE Foundation, a non-profit environmental organisation working with divers to conserve underwater environments, launched the Go ECO campaign into the Asia Pacific region in 2005. The main objective of Go ECO is for dive centres to minimise their impact on the aquatic ecosystem whilst contributing to environmental, economic and cultural conservation. Dive centres are required to meet best practice environmental guidelines and commit to the Project AWARE Go ECO philosophy.

“Blue Season Bali is delighted to be awarded with the Project AWARE Go ECO Operator status for 2008. As a Go ECO Operator we are committed to providing dive experiences that enhance visitor awareness, appreciation and understanding of the local aquatic environment,” said Jonathan Cross

Joanne Marston, Manager, of Project AWARE Asia Pacific added, “We are pleased to recognise Blue Season Bali as a Go ECO Operator. We look forward to working with them to implement environmental best practices and educate tourists about how they can travel responsibly.”

Go ECO Operators also demonstrate a commitment to conservation and pledge to follow the Go ECO Operator guidelines.

For further information about Blue Season Bali visit www.baliocean.com or email info@baliocean.com

For further information about the Go ECO campaign visit the EcoTourism section of the Project AWARE website www.projectaware.org or email info@projectaware.org.au

About Blue Season Bali

Blue Season Bali is an International PADI Five Star instructor Development Centre 6570 and has been operating in Bali since 2001. Japanese and British owned, Blue Season Bali offers only the highest level in SCUBA diving services around Bali and the Indonesian archipelago.

About Project AWARE:

Project AWARE Foundation is a nonprofit environmental organisation dedicated to conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action. Project AWARE Foundation offices located in Australia, United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland combine efforts to conserve aquatic resources in 175 countries of the world.

www.projectaware.org

info@projectaware.org.au

Today is day four of the PADI IDC in Bali with Blue Season Bali.  We started the morning with the knowledge development presentations from the IDC candidates.  There are 9 candidates from many places such as Iran, Algeria, Argentina, Spain, England, Malaysia and Japan.  What a mixture of cultures!

This morning was the first knowledge development presentation for the group.  This afternoon we will go into the swimming pool for the PADI Rescue Diver workshop.  We will learn how to demonstrate and conduct skills from the PADI Rescue Diver course.

Over then next week or so we will be covering many aspects on how to become a PADI Dive Instructor.  Keep coming back for more info on what is happening.

The night dive in Puri Jatih is fantastic. From all the night dives that I did until now, Puri Jati is my favourite spot. It’s all just a mistery. You don’t know what to expect. Just like last time with my guest. We geared up at 7PM for the night dive. Torch? Check! Back up torch? Check! Whistle? Check! After the briefing we went into the water…

It’s amazing how underwater life can be so different during a night dive. Blue spotted stingrays that you don’t see that often during the day here at PJ. Well camouflaged decorated crabs, tiny cuttlefishes and as always many octopuses but now there was THE octopus that I always wanted to see during the night dive in Puri Jati. It’s quite amazing to see an octopus holding half a coconut shell on each side with 4 tentacles and walking on the sand with his two other tentacles just like a human being and from the moment that he stops he goes inside the shell and closes it! Next time I hope that I have a camera with me because it’s really unique. Before I just heard about it from other guest that went for a night dive with Blue Season Zen Resort but now I know it’s true!

Other things to see: Jawfish, Flathead, Whitemargin Stargazer, Margined Sole, All kind of Crabs, Pufferfish, Napoleon Snake Eel,…

Place: Puri Jati

Date: 10/11/2008

Max Depth: 9.1 meter

Water Temp: 31°C

Visibility: 10 meter

Dive Start: 07:03PM

Divetime: 62 minutes

Today our PADI Instructor, Phil from Newastle ( we wont hold that against him) has been conducting the PADI Oxygen Provider Course for our two Divemaster internships, Michael and Martin.

Michael and Martin are in the middle of completing their Rescue Diver course along with the EFR and Care For Children Course and then once they have completed the PADI Oxygen Provider course they will be ready to get on with their PADI Go Pro Internship.

In the PADI O2 course You learn how to

• Recognize diving illnesses treatable by emergency oxygen
• Properly setup equipment
• Administer emergency oxygen

Though suited for divers, this course has no prerequisites and doesn’t include dives, which means it is equally applicable to those who are around divers – boat crew, non-diving buddies, lifeguards, and shore staff. You don’t need any previous CPR or first aid training to take the course.

Michael and Martin will soon be starting their Divemaster course so keep an eye on our blog for more updates on how they are going.

Last week we went for a fundive with guests to a new spot in a place called Kalanganyar, 5 Km. westwards from Puri Jati. Always exiting to go to another place where you never dived before.

Mangku and me went down with our guest to max. 10 Meters… at least that was our intention. We didn’t go deeper than 4meters (!!!) on that dive. Mangku found probably a dozen Seahorses, all well covered in the sea grass. I saw the smallest Juvenile Pufferfish ever (not even a centimetre big), many different kind of Gobies, Octopus, Nudibranches, Pipefish, Leafy Filefish, Juvenile Batfish, Ambon Scorpion Fishes and many many more. There was even a guide that saw a Mandarin Fish but that would surprise me because you don’t have coral down there. Definitely a site to go to and explore when I have the opportunity.

Place: Kalanganyar

Date: 2/11/2008

Water Temp: 31°C

Visibility: 10 meter

Dive Start: 09:08AM

Divetime: 92 minutes

It’s already 4 months now that I stay here in Blue Season Zen Resort with more than 60 dives in Puri Jati on my dive computer.

Puri Jati (PJ) lies close to Zen Resort Bali and a short distance west of Seririt and 13 km west of Lovina. The dive site name changed to Zen Beach as the hotel was used to be called as Puri Jati. It’s a 6 minute picturesque walk from Zen Resort Bali to the actual dive site with beautiful rice terraces and vineyards on the pathway. Once getting there you have all the facilities that you need: Showers, changing room, some bamboo tables where you can put all your equipment, smiling helpers setting up your gear and 3 wash containers. A big one for all equipment and 2 small round ones to rinse your camera.

It is a good place to see small and rare animals so they told me. Without having big expectations about what to see down there, I geared up and went diving for the first time on this site. I still remember it as it was yesterday. I was thinking: “What the hell am I doing here??? This has to be like diving on the moon?!!” I didn’t saw anything at all during that dive. This has to be a joke! Anyway… after the first dive I couldn’t believe that this dive site doesn’t have anything to offer so the day after I went for another one and adjusted my ‘diving tactics’. Much slower pace, frog kick by frog kick, and all in a sudden you start to see some things like threadfin sanddivers, dragonets, razorfish, weird looking crabs and a flying gurnard! I was quite surprised that I saw a barracuda. I taught he probably lost his way.

After some dives here at Puri Jati I started to appreciate it more and more. Now it’s one of my favourite spots to dive without any doubt. You can do 4 exactly the same dive routes on the same day and see every time different creatures such as frogfishes, dragonets, seahorses, flying gunards, lots of octopuses hiding in small bottles or bamboo, cuttlefish, a variety of crabs, eels, various nudibrach, Ambon Scorpion fish, the smallest lionfishes that you ever saw, very small harlequin shrimp, Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipe Fish, porcelain crabs and many other interesting critters but the target of every day diving in Puri Jati is searching for the rare but intelligent Mimic Octopus. He can imitate certain fish such as a sole, a sea snake (don’t miss it on youtube!), jellyfish and sea anemones. It’s a delight to look at it!

To keep it short. You have so many beauties that you should not miss them. Also you should prepare for PADI Digital Underwater Photography if you are interested to develop your underwater camera skills.

It’s also a wide area that can take several dives to cover. Most of the things you see are between 5 and 15 metres so it’s easy to make long dives.

Anyway… you don’t here me saying that it’s just diving on the moon. The only comparison that I can make is that it is also a privilege to be here diving on such a unique place here in Puri Jati. Most of the people will be satisfied diving here like photographers and experienced divers but also beginners that want to learn more about Macro or Muck diving.

P.