Padang Bai diving questions

[anchochile]

My wife and I will be in Bali in late October/early November and are trying to put together an itinerary. We are definitely planning to spend some time in Tulamben, and are now trying to decide if some time in Padang Bai or Candidasa makes sense.

My two questions:

1. I've been diving for a year and have about 50 dives (though it will probably be 60-70 by the time we're in Bali). Most of my diving is in cold water at home, around Monterey. I'm comfortable with surge, rough shore entries/exits, low viz, and of course cold water. But I have minimal experience diving in strong current, and no experience with complex currents (up/down currents, etc). Is this experience sufficient to safely do the better dives out of Padang Bai, around Nusa Penida and other offshore sites? If I pick a good, safety-focused operator, is there still a significant risk I'd wind up in a situation I'm not prepared to handle?
2. My wife will be a new diver at that point. She's getting certified next month, and if all goes well, she'll have a dozen or so dives under her belt before this trip. Will there be any great diving that she can do out of Padang Bai/Candidasa? If not, we may still spend a few days there (so that I can dive Nusa Penida, etc), but this will help us plan accordingly.

 

[matts1w]

These are all great questions.... I have been with people with 20 dives who are awesome in the water...they just get it. I have been with people who have a hundred dives and are kind of terrifying. I generally find that people who accept the ocean as a dynamic, bizarre, and not very predictable, get it. When diving in the Lombok Strait things are exactly as they are- you take what you get. Some days you can hover over a tiny frogfish and shoot fifty pictures. Some days you fly over the same site like superman. Is what it is. Manta Point can be simple for new divers...but it can also be a huge challenge. You get the idea.

There are great dives around Padang Bai for new divers, especially if they are into learning how to muck dive and discover the amazing little things (nudis, frogfish, mantis shrimp, etc...) that many (such as me) LOVE about Indonesia. The key is to go with dive shop who gets it. For me, and many people on this board, Geko Dive is the go to outfit in Padang Bai. They get it.

All that being said, if you guys dive Monterey regularly, you will transition well to Bali. Be excited and plan your trip with good outfitters, go "with the flow" so to speak, be willing to learn, and ya'll will have a great time learning to dive in Indonesian current.

 

[billt4sf]

Ahh...new divers. I would put it this way:

When I had a few dives, I thought: "OK, I am getting into this"
When I had about 30 dives, I thought: "Finally I am getting this"
When I had about 100 dives, I thought: "Now I almost got it"
When I had about 200 dives, I thought: "OMG, there is SO much to learn to dive well!"
Now I have 600 dives, and I am surprised that we didn't kill ourselves by now.

But I do recognize that some people get more comfortable faster than we did. Sometimes I think the we were slower than most because we were in our 60's before we really started to dive a lot. Another theory is that the truly good-looking people (see pic) like me take longer, but the ugly ones get it sooner. I agree with Matts about Geko, so that seems to support that thesis.

Currents freaked us out pretty badly for some time. Now we love them! What helped us the most was taking GUE training with a GREAT (and patient) instructor. Whether GUE or not, I suggest taking additional training focused primarily on buoyancy and trim.

When in Indo (or anywhere) be sure to take your safety gear at all times on every dive. Each diver should have:

MINIMUM:
safety sausage (even if you only use it on the surface)
mirror
dive light (even during the day)
whistle

RECOMMENDED:
dive alert

The way I look at these things is: If I get lost out there and die, ... well, my number was up and so be it. What I canNOT tolerate is the embarrassment of dying at sea because I forgot to bring a $2 whistle!


Good luck and have fun!

- Bill

P.S. Google "Indonesian Throughflow"

 

[chillyinCanada]

Getcher nose outta there Bill!

I've been diving all over Indonesia just like some of the other responders.

I haven't dived with Gecko but I stayed with and dove with Absolute Scuba at Padang Bai. Their instructor Aswar totally gets it because he was trained in North Sulawesi. There's another dive guide, who is also from North Sulawesi, so he also gets it. His name name is escaping me at the moment. Skinny little guy, not much English but a very good guide.

Then there is Ketut. He's Balinese and his eyes are pretty sharp too. My friend is a new diver and she enjoyed diving with Ketut and very much with1 Aswar.

I dove most often with Ketut but my ability to discern how he would be with new divers is based entirely on my friend's opinion which means something to me. Currents were not bad during my dives, at least by my personal reference which has changed a lot, just as has Bill's.

Now that said, Ketut and the guy whose name I can't recall were very helpful to the old folks and also, those with a bad back, like me.

Another friend of mine really liked diving with Two Fish Divers so you're probably spoiled for choice.

As I said, I haven't dived with Gecko Divers so I'm not able to compare.