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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 16, 2018 - 10:55am PT
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Mongrel:
I have a guidebook by David Pickell on Bali diving. Great stories in this book including a section on the "Toilet".
I got my OW ticket at Tulamben and was the only student so it was a pretty good introduction. Learning to dive in Indonesia is kind of like learning to climb in Yosemite. The bar is so high that you visit other areas and they are just not as good.
Lembeh was incredible and Bunaken was pretty fine. My ice climbing buddy did a trip to Komodo a few years back and came back pretty amped up.
I met people who are dive addicts with 5000+ dives. Ask their favorite places and the same 2 names are always at the top of the list: Komodo and Raja Ampat. I would love to go but my attention and money will be going towards building a house on my land at J Tree. Maybe in a few years. I wonder how climate change is effecting Indonesia?
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John Duffield
Mountain climber
New York
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Mar 16, 2018 - 01:41pm PT
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I don't think climate change has anything to do with it, but there is an exponential amount more plastic in the water in Indonesia and elsewhere. Both floating and in the water. It's killing animals that mistake it for jellyfish and the like.
As far as the currents in the Northern climes (upthread), this is what Orkney diving looks like in Northern Scotland. Around 300 miles away and the same latitude as Southern Norway. I wouldn't mind diving Narvik further North.
You can see how the weed is bent over from current and this is slack tide.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 16, 2018 - 03:25pm PT
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Night diving is spooky, but catching octopus is fun.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 16, 2018 - 05:18pm PT
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Night diving is great. Different fauna than during the day. I saw tons of good stuff in Sulawesi.
One weekend it rained an insane amount. Manado, the nearby city to where we were on Bunaken, had 6 feet of water in low spots on the street. Homes were destroyed by mud slides.
Monday we do a night dive.
The mainland was draining into the ocean and we were maybe 10 km away.
Wicked pockets of current while moving along a steep wall.
Like being in a washing machine for 2 cycles then all is cool again for a few minutes.
Hang on to that flashlight and don't contact the reef.
Stefan is 6"6" tall and gets pushed into the reef during one cycle.
He is stuck.
The guide, a well trained local by the name of Juliette, is all of 98 lbs but she drags Stefan out.
We did not let him forget it during the bar session after the dive.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Mar 16, 2018 - 10:36pm PT
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Snorkeling way off some beach in Oahu a few years ago in deep water with friends and my wife, I suddenly had that tingly feeling and headed back in, asking my wife and friends to follow. Just didn't feel right. They went in with me.
On the beach they asked, "What's up? Why did you want us all to go back in?"
No good answer. Just didn't feel right.
About half an hour later, as we were loading up the car to leave, a guy about 100 yards from where we'd been gets bit bad by a big tiger shark. I read in the paper the next day that it seemed he would survive.
Trust the spidey sense when it knocks on your door. No explanation of it.
Sometimes stuff in the ocean wants to eat you.
Otherwise, GOOD times!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 18, 2018 - 02:20pm PT
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Was diving a wreck off Longboat Key in '87, and emerged to see a 12' hammerhead 30' above me near the surface.
I ducked back in and signaled my partner with my hands doing "jaws". She peeked up and went wide eyed. I pointed to the gauges (lots of air) and my watch.
Sure enough, gone 3 minutes later.
Not much of a close call, but that and a few eels are it.
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originalpmac
Mountain climber
Timbers of Fennario
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Mar 18, 2018 - 03:44pm PT
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^^^ The hell is your issue? You sound drunk.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Mar 18, 2018 - 04:24pm PT
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Maybe an aggressive drunk
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
but to scared to climb them anymore
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 19, 2018 - 06:56am PT
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Doing a Unionidae survey in an Alabama quarry, the landowner informed us it was 87 feet deep. We all thought "crap!" Wading out it got up to my neck in the middle then gradually got shallower! After finishing the survey the owner came back down. He stated, "it's a good thing they didn't have you survey the one behind my house, it's bottomless!
We never told him his quarry was 5 feet deep, but made me wonder that bottomless may be around 15 ft for that fellow. :)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mar 19, 2018 - 09:45am PT
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^^^^ Ya, sure, that was some craziness!
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