Singapore doctor dead - Bali

[xmass-Eve]

Thanks - that's what I thought! And, yes, Gili Tepekong is very definitely Bali, despite the Gili in the name.

I'm not sure when you were last there (I last dived Crystal Bay last weekend), but there are now several dive centres on Penida - at least four and I think another two opening up - so I don't think most would call it a Lembongan dive site any more. Penida is developing really fast at the moment, so it definitely now has an identity of its own.

I'd also say (besides the islands being culturally and politically Balinese, reached by flying into Bali airport and listed in dive books and guide books under Bali) that most people would consider Penida/Lembongan a Bali dive site. Dive boats go out from Sanur, not only Lembongan - and it's actually quicker to reach Crystal Bay from Sanur than it is to get to Amed, let alone Pemuteran.

Have you dived Gili Tepekong, btw?

When I left, in december, I think there were only two hotels on Penida. It is going fast but Lembongan/Penida has great dive sites.
Yes, I dived Gili Tepekong, long time ago, on my first holiday in Indo. That was at least where my guide said we were going. I thought it was an easy dive. Anyway this is very OT. It seems very weird that women had DCS and I don't trust Indo doctors at all. They just make it an easy solution: a dead diver means DCS...

 

[Dan]

I thought Gili Tepekong is part of Padangbai dive sites. It's just off the coast from Blue Lagoon.

Gili is just a local word for small island. A bigger island, like Bali, is called Pulau. Tepekong or Toa Pe Kong is a Chinese Indonesian religious celebration. I'm not sure why that site uses such name.

I have been diving in Bali almost every year for the last 10 years, but I have never been diving there. What's so special about that dive site?

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

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You're located in Singapore?

 

[Dan]

You're located in Singapore?

Nope. In Texas. My Balinese Dive Master sent me that newspaper clip.

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Nope. In Texas. My Balinese Dive Master sent me that newspaper clip.

Got it.

It was the talk of the town among the diving community in Singapore this past weekend when this happened.

 

[boulderjohn]

I am having a very hard time understanding how a diver (presumably using an AL 80) could succumb to DCS during a dive to 20 meters. It would be very unusual. I would be surprised about it happening after such a dive, but it is amazing that symptoms so severe they led to a fatality occurred during the dive. I have to believe there must be something we don't know.

 

[KevinNM]

I am having a very hard time understanding how a diver (presumably using an AL 80) could succumb to DCS during a dive to 20 meters. It would be very unusual. I would be surprised about it happening after such a dive, but it is amazing that symptoms so severe they led to a fatality occurred during the dive. I have to believe there must be something we don't know.

AGE and DCS are both expressions of DCI, and I can easily see a newspaper getting that wrong. And AGE can kill you perfectly adequately with an Al80 at 20 meters. Not saying it did...

 

[boulderjohn]

AGE and DCS are both expressions of DCI, and I can easily see a newspaper getting that wrong. And AGE can kill you perfectly adequately with an Al80 at 20 meters. Not saying it did...

I can see AGE clearly, and I can see how a newspaper can get it wrong. That may also explain their explanation of DCS as bubbles in the blood.

 

[xmass-Eve]

I have been diving in Bali almost every year for the last 10 years, but I have never been diving there. What's so special about that dive site?

It gives lots of fish and sharks but the currents can be strong and there can be downcurrents...

 

[ETJ]

I think Padangbai's blue lagoon is a dive site for OW students/divers. If you swim further out and turn left (north) behind the corner you can get caught in down and/or up current or in a small whirlpool (all of them happened to me when I was there few months ago, mild though). Surge in Padangbai can move you easily couple of meters back and forth.