Becoming a certified diver
6 days ago we arrived in Gili Air. We hadn't eaten in 24 hours and the first place we saw was Ocean's 5 dive resort. This was the place I had contacted prior to our travels and thinking of doing my Open Water Certificate with. So we sat down in the restaurant overlooking the pool and watched how people were practising their skills there. It just gave out such a good feeling and after lunch I headed in to sign up to start my course the next day. The course consists of 5 video theory chapters, pool sessions, a final exam and 4 open water dives.
We found a nice guesthouse (Radenz Village) not far away where we got a bungalow with private outdoor bathroom and aircon, including breakfast, for 180000Rp per night (114SEK/€12).
Day one:
We started at 8.30am with our first (out of five) video session. That was followed by some time in the pool practicing our skills with the regulator and our buoyancy. At 11.30am we headed out for our first dive in turtle city where we went down to 11 meters and saw Nemo and his friends and best of all: we saw lots of turtles!
In the afternoon we finished off our last video sessions and that meant theory over and done with!
Day two:
We started off the day with mock exams before our final exam the next day. We practiced more skills in the pool such as snorkelling, replacing mask under water (which I hate with all my heart) and what happens when you run low on oxygen.
After lunch we headed out for our second dive where we practised getting rid of water from the mask and low on air buddy ascents. It was good fun even though I felt a bit nervous about it for some reason.
Day three:
We started the day by taking our final exam which was 50 multiple choice questions which we passed with flying colours.
We had session in the pool where we were meant to take off our mask and swap it with our buddy before putting it back on. I freaked out and went to the surface as I got bubbles up my nose.
We headed out to turtle city again after lunch where we practiced navigation, towing, removing and putting back on gear and at 10m depth removing the mask and putting it back on, you can imagine how I felt about that! I tried to get out of it, I really did. But my instructor put me in a lock grip with his legs so I had no way but to face my fears and do it. But I did it and then did a shared oxygen ascent with my instructor. This was also the day I decided that I wanted to continue and take my advanced certificate as well!
The advance course has five open water dives which you can choose yourself (with navigation and deep dive as mandatory), each adventure has a chapter in the text book with knowledge review questions but no final exam.
Day four:
This was probably the best day for me. We completed our forth and final dive for the open water certificate in the morning. Over the lunch break we started our theory and knowledge review for our advance and completed our buoyancy course (which is recommended to take as one of the options) and our night dive. All the dives were fantastic but the best part was that we saw a seahorse during our night dive!
Day five:
We started the day with our deep water dive which took us down to 26 meters. We had a quick lunch turn around before our fourth adventure dive which we choose to be photography. Finally, we had our last dive which was navigation at 17 and finished just in time to watch the sunset as we swam back to shore.
I paid 4 900 000Rp for my Open Water Certificate and then I received 10% off my advanced (normally 3 900 000Rp) as I had already ccompleted my Open Water with them so my total bill came to 8862000Rp (5750 SEK/€574).
I dived with 3 different instructors and two different assistant instructors during my courses and they were all fantastic, calm and patiently explained and answered your questions. I would recommend this place to anyone!
(If you wonder what Therese was up to whilst I was exploring the under water world, she spent her time at the beach reading and drinking coffee after having explored the entire island in just a few hours. She also joined us for a snorkel on the last day and got to see some turtles). Now we are continue to Gili T, the party island of the Gilis.
We found a nice guesthouse (Radenz Village) not far away where we got a bungalow with private outdoor bathroom and aircon, including breakfast, for 180000Rp per night (114SEK/€12).
Day one:
We started at 8.30am with our first (out of five) video session. That was followed by some time in the pool practicing our skills with the regulator and our buoyancy. At 11.30am we headed out for our first dive in turtle city where we went down to 11 meters and saw Nemo and his friends and best of all: we saw lots of turtles!
In the afternoon we finished off our last video sessions and that meant theory over and done with!
Day two:
We started off the day with mock exams before our final exam the next day. We practiced more skills in the pool such as snorkelling, replacing mask under water (which I hate with all my heart) and what happens when you run low on oxygen.
After lunch we headed out for our second dive where we practised getting rid of water from the mask and low on air buddy ascents. It was good fun even though I felt a bit nervous about it for some reason.
Day three:
We started the day by taking our final exam which was 50 multiple choice questions which we passed with flying colours.
We had session in the pool where we were meant to take off our mask and swap it with our buddy before putting it back on. I freaked out and went to the surface as I got bubbles up my nose.
We headed out to turtle city again after lunch where we practiced navigation, towing, removing and putting back on gear and at 10m depth removing the mask and putting it back on, you can imagine how I felt about that! I tried to get out of it, I really did. But my instructor put me in a lock grip with his legs so I had no way but to face my fears and do it. But I did it and then did a shared oxygen ascent with my instructor. This was also the day I decided that I wanted to continue and take my advanced certificate as well!
The advance course has five open water dives which you can choose yourself (with navigation and deep dive as mandatory), each adventure has a chapter in the text book with knowledge review questions but no final exam.
Day four:
This was probably the best day for me. We completed our forth and final dive for the open water certificate in the morning. Over the lunch break we started our theory and knowledge review for our advance and completed our buoyancy course (which is recommended to take as one of the options) and our night dive. All the dives were fantastic but the best part was that we saw a seahorse during our night dive!
Day five:
We started the day with our deep water dive which took us down to 26 meters. We had a quick lunch turn around before our fourth adventure dive which we choose to be photography. Finally, we had our last dive which was navigation at 17 and finished just in time to watch the sunset as we swam back to shore.
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Of course there was celebratory cocktails in the evening with some of the dive masters at one of the beach front restaurants!
I paid 4 900 000Rp for my Open Water Certificate and then I received 10% off my advanced (normally 3 900 000Rp) as I had already ccompleted my Open Water with them so my total bill came to 8862000Rp (5750 SEK/€574).
I dived with 3 different instructors and two different assistant instructors during my courses and they were all fantastic, calm and patiently explained and answered your questions. I would recommend this place to anyone!
(If you wonder what Therese was up to whilst I was exploring the under water world, she spent her time at the beach reading and drinking coffee after having explored the entire island in just a few hours. She also joined us for a snorkel on the last day and got to see some turtles). Now we are continue to Gili T, the party island of the Gilis.
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