I ignored the warnings in Bali and almost paid the price. It was to be the last dive of my trip and I had already seen everything I came for (mola mola, grey reef sharks and mantas) but when we arrived at the site it was covered in Portuguese Man-of-War. Naturally, we all called the dive but the guide assured us that if we relocated to the north side of the island then the sites there would be clear of the PMOW swarm.
So there's my inner voice saying, "Look, you've had some great dives already. These critters are really dangerous so why not cut your losses and sit this one out on the boat?", then I think "Well, what the hey. It's only one dive and the guide thinks it will be okay".
Half an hour later we splashed into beautiful warm crystal clear water for one of the best drift dives I have ever had, but when the time came to begin the ascent from 15m I noticed the little puffy bags of the PMOW above me. There was another swarm! Clear? My big fat hairy butt was it clear, there were hundreds of them.
I knew that the tendrils could extend some considerable distance so I stayed at 15-10m for as long as possible, luckily the visibility was so good that I could see the boat from about 50-75m out and I was able to time my ascent to arrive pretty much bang on the ladder, albeit skipping the safety stop (luckily this was a no deco dive). Even so, the back of my wetsuit and BC were covered in electric blue stinging tentacles which had to be picked off one by one by the surface support staff. Very carefully. Even so, I chose to remain fully suited up for the return boat ride and removed my gear under a hot shower to neutralise any live nematocysts that might have been left on my gear.
Luckily, nobody got hurt and I learnt a very valuable lesson - if I don't feel comfortable about any aspect of any dive, no matter how benign the water the looks, then I'll stay on the boat. I can always come back and dive another day, right?
