I was already conscious when Dave brayed on my door shortly after 7am. I grabbed my bags to stow them in the dive shop and we hopped onto another taxi into town. No time for breakfast, and no real room in my tummy for it with all the stuff from the previous night. We ended [...]

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I got up at a more reasonable hour and walked around to OK 2 Cottages up the road. The view from their restaurant while I had breakfast was fantastic. I just sat there for maybe two hours reading, then strolled back to Sunshine to get changed for my afternoon dives. This time we were on [...]

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Well, I wouldn’t have been awake to do the morning dives as I was awoken by Dave (my divemaster and buddy) at around half past midday. After a couple of hours’ sleep the evening before, I’d walked down to the Easy Bar on the beach and stayed till 2am downing Chang and talking to fellow [...]

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We didn’t get a chance to grab breakfast as Simon was already waiting for us when we rose at 8:00. We hopped onto the awaiting tuk-tuk and sped off towards the dock on the far side of town. Well, when I say “sped” I mean “crawled”. Simon reckoned he’d got the only slow driver in [...]

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We were woken at around 11:00 by the maid knocking on our door. Thing is, we stayed out quite late. And got quite drunk. Most of the beach bars are charging around $1 for a beer (as low as 50c during the various happy hours) and it was too good to pass up. Mixed with [...]

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Silke, one of the folk I dived with towards the end of my Divemaster course in Bali, has very kindly sent me a few photos. They’re pretty good, and as my camera died towards the end of the course I’m going to make full use of them. Incidentally, the camera is repaired and “awaiting despatch” [...]

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My final full day in Bali wasn’t to be a very busy one. After crashing at around 6:30am, I woke around 10:00 as I just couldn’t sleep any longer. I shook off the alcoholy cobwebs, showered and packed. I had to vacate my room by midday. Even though my flight wasn’t until 6am the next [...]

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I was back at Nusa Penida / Nusa Lembongan today, racking up dives 58, 59 and 60. My companions were the same group from yesterday minus the token snorkeler who opted to stay home. For the first and last dives, I was buddied with Peter who’s still progressing on from his Open Water. Both dives [...]

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Another new site today. I was picked up early by Peter and driven to join Kadek and a small group for a couple of divers up at Tulamben. After they’d had breakfast, we journeyed back in the rough direction of Kuta to Amed. It’s a similar site to Tulamben, with a rocky beach and two [...]

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Change of plan – I’m getting used to these. As I helped sort out the gear for the Singaporean group I was due to dive with, another bus arrived crammed to the gills with Americans on a Discover SCUBA course. Eight completely amateur divers and two staff wasn’t the perfect ratio so I was switched [...]

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