Advanced Open Water baby, it was all worth it!

Adventure time!

Singapore to Pulau Batam, 1 hr ferry.
Overnight stay on the island eating KFC and MacDonalds.
Pulau Batam to Dumai, 6 hr ferry.
Dumai to Pekanbaru, 3 hr minivan (disastrous road conditions).
Touring Pekanbaru for the day by foot. Living on sate.
Pekanbaru to Medan, overnight bus (horrendous road conditions).
Touring Medan for the day by foot again. Living on sate
Medan to Banda Aceh, overnight bus (atrocious road conditions).
Finally, Banda Aceh to Pulau Weh, 1 hr ferry.
Pulau Weh ferry terminal to Gapang beach, 45 min (again, terrible roads).

Aceh ferry!
Hahaha, just kidding, its a fishing boat.
Similar to my dive boat

I've spent almost 80 USD, taken 3 ferries, 2 overnight VIP buses, a cramped minivan and chewed through 3 days on my 30 day non-renewable visa to get to Pulau Weh. Why? Because the Lonely Planet said that this place was a dive island. Why is that a problem? Because i no longer have that copy of the Lonely Planet! I have a 2005 edition of Rough Guides instead (thought i'd switch things up a bit). So with no guide book for the first time, a lingering thought that Banda Aceh was omitted from the Rough Guides due to recent violence in the area (that was 2005 mind you), alone, with little sleep and no shower since Pulau Batam, i headed off for a destination that i knew little about.

Some random hard coral

When i say that i knew little about Pulau Weh, i meant it. No maps, no ferry departure times, no hostels or guesthouse listings, no warnings or points of interest nicely laid out for me. I didn't even know what beach i was supposed to goto. I was finally roughing it the way that traveling should be done. As exciting as it is frustrating, i must say it was an experience that i will not soon forget. Arriving at 5:30 am at an empty ferry terminal with no one around in a strange country really makes you think, what the hell am i doing here? When you sit there fighting off mosquitoes for the next 3 hrs you begin to wonder if you're even going to the right place. What if there is no diving there? What beach is the dive shop on? Should i just go back to Medan or should I just stick it through?

Ah, there are some fish

Thankfully, every ordeal I encountered has amazingly been dealt with by the kindness of both locals and foreigners. One guy I met on the ferry bought me lunch. Another told me where to stay in Pulau Weh. And another gave me the name of a good dive shop (probably the longest running one on the island, they even got hit by the tsunami!) Most of them just pointed me in the right way, told me where to stay, and gave me directions to the bus terminals. But i know i never would have made it here without other people's help. Its amazing what can happen when you just start talking to some random strangers! Or maybe they just felt sorry for me as i was normally in the fetal position, crying my eyes out in some dark corner of the bus station. Hahahah!

Shy eel

Back to Gapang beach, Pulau Weh, Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia (long address eh?). I arrived on what was not the most beautiful beach, nor the greatest accommodations. The water on the other hand was a whole other story. Clear aqua blue, with coral right up to the beach. I was considering going snorkeling the next morning but instead, i went straight to the local dive shop, Lumba Lumba, and signed up for my PADI advanced open water course.

My room's view

Just enjoying the view

This place (at least this beach) was truly setup for diving. A nice short beach walk into the crystal clear water for shore diving. There was plenty of coral off the coast, a few wrecks and nice sloping walls all accessible by boat. Accommodations ranging from basic to nice (of course i was in the most basic), 3 resteraunts (all serving the same stuff unfortunately, one of the reasons i needed to leave) and 2 dive shops. The beach itself couldn't have been more than 500 m long, and with nothing to do here but dive, its pretty much all i did. I was doing 2 dives per day up till my last day in which i did 3. Totaling 9 dives (4 fun, 5 adventure), i'm now on my way to the required 20 logged dive minimum (15 to date) for some sites i'd like to see in Borneo and the Philippines.

Frog fish and shrimp pal

The adventure dives, 5 in total required by PADI (more of a money making scheme than anything i my opinion) were 1/2 adventure, and 1/2 monotonous skill development. I should have ditched Peak Performance Buoyancy for something more fun, but whatever, its done, i maybe learned one thing? The dive itself was great as i got to see a turtle, peacock mantis shrimp, and tonnes of other fishies. But the really cool stuff came with the other dives (don't have my log book handy so i can't tell you exactly what i saw).

Cool looking puffer

I switched the underwater photography adventure dive for drift diving instead because it just seemed so much cooler. Was it? it was pretty cool to drift but unfortunately, disagreements on the surface about currents lead pretty much to us swimming against the current instead of drifting with it. As a newbie diver it was pretty difficult to handle everything at the same time but it all worked out in the end (buoyancy, backwards roll of the boat, not touching the reef, swimming into the current, etc...). We did get to drift a little bit, but that was because we swam into the current and then drifted back to where we were. Hahaha. I got a good taste of drifting when i did my deep dive, another high current dive!

Fish are gone again? What's happening?

Deep diving! Probably my second worst fear in diving following getting eaten by some kinda sea monster on a night dive. Going 30 m (100 ft for you imperialist) underwater and getting narced was not something i was looking forward to. And this adventure dive was nothing short of a true adventure. Starting off, up to this point i have only done buoyant backwards rolls for entry (one if you're counting). These are usually done to ensure everything is ok on the surface before descending. However, at The Canyon (our deep dive site), the current was quite strong which required us to descend quickly to the bottom so as not the get swept off the reef.

Lion fish, there are so many of these guys around its not even cool to see them anymore!

I double checked my gear to make sure that everything was functioning. Then checked it again just to be sure that i knew what i was doing so that i wouldn't end up drowning (yeah drowning is pretty much the top fear i have in diving, but thats a real fear so it doesn't count). My instructor checked if i was ok, and then 3...2...1...splash! I was in the water. My BCD wasn't fully empty so i had a trouble sinking but i took care of that quickly with the bum dump (that's what i call it). Up ahead i saw my instructor swimming head down to the bottom. I quickly followed her. I didn't realize that the current was so strong and by the time i reached the bottom, i was about 10 ft down current from her hanging onto a rock for stability.

Can you see the octopus?

We just descended 23 m in what felt like a matter of seconds! Prior to this point, i've never gone past 18-20 m (if i remember correctly) and that was usually a nice gradual drop to allow our ears to equalize. This time all it was was equalize, swim, equalize, swim...all the way to the bottom. I didn't realize that when i reached the bottom i was breathing like a maniac. My instructor looked over at me and signaled me to relax, breath slowly. I was sucking at my my air like Marlboro man on top of a mountain!

Or this one?

More octopi!

I instantly slowed down my breath, relaxed and started following my instructor around. We swam/crawled the last few meters to our maximum depth of 30 m. I was still very nervous at this point but in reality, 30 m doesn't feel any different from 10 m. They are different, but that is a completely separate issue.

Looking up

When we found a nice spot behind a rock, shielded from the current, i got the chance to stop and look around. For me, this was THE most amazing dive experience to date. To my right was a slope down into oblivion, to my left, the rocks sloped 30 m up to the surface (which of course was not visible). All around us were giant sea fans the size of myself, schooling fish and other divers on a fun dive. Words really cannot describe the feeling I had when i was 30 m underwater in what felt like a giant aquarium!

What are you looking at?

Now if i went back again, i'm not sure if i would think it was the coolest place on earth. But i'll bet there is a good possibility that i'll think it was pretty high on my top 10. Now i'm thinking that this is probably due to the depth we were at. At 30 m a lot of people start to get narced. And I, being a member of that distinguished group, was definitely getting narced. I would say it was a very euphoric feeling for me, almost unnoticeable (i thought i was running off adrenaline) as nitrogen narcosis but very obvious when i did a simple skills test underwater. On the surface it took me 40 sec to calculate the navigation headings for a clockwise and counterclockwise square. At 30 m, it took me 45 sec. Not bad right? Yeah well, the first of my calculations were completely off, making the next 2 very off (but mathematically correct to my credit). If I was to use those headings to make a square, who knows where i would have ended up.

Couple more eels here, these guys were everywhere in Batee Tokong

As we acended to shallower depths, the 'narced' feeling that i had slowly left but the dive itself still had me going full throttle! I was loving it and couldn't stop talking about when we got back to the surface. I have to do it again!

Beautiful honeycomb eel

Towards the end of the deep dive (well, the end for me as my air was getting low), my instructor led me to some rocks where we were planning to hang out the remaining portion. Me, still being a newb, was being pressed against the rocks by the current. I decided that i would join her at the top and rolled myself over (while carefully avoiding the coral) to get up to her. What i didn't realized was that the grip i had was really weak. The current caught me and swept me upwards off the rock into oblivion. There i was, floating off into the great blue yonder. My instructor realized i couldn't make it back and joined me for our safety stop at 5 m. The current was so powerful that in only a min, the reef was gone and all around us was blue, blue, blue. The only reference point was the surface at 5 m above us and our instruments. We chilled there for 3 min and headed for the surface. Its strange to float around in what felt like the open ocean. I was quite calm, not afraid of something coming out of the deep to eat me, but i did have to keep my eyes moving around just in case. In every direction you looked, there was just...nothing. Got quite boring after a while. Even when you're afraid of things that go bump in the night.

Another one!

Night diving, terror in the deep for someone that is always wondering, what is out there just beyond the range of my light?

As the sun was setting and the sky became black, we loaded our gear onto the boat and headed out for the dive site. Tonight’s dive was a dive of multiple importance which really helped build the anticipation. First, it was my inaugural dive at night (hence the name night dive, duh!). Second, we were going to dive a wreck, also a first for me. And lastly, it was my final adventure dive to finish my certification as an Advanced Open Water diver!

More lionfish

I’m just kidding about the pressure actually. There really is no tests to pass, its just dive at night and don’t die. Hahha. I guess if I didn’t complete the dive due to panic or something then they could have failed me but that wasn’t going to happen. And if I died, I guess it wouldn’t matter anymore if I passed or not now would it.

Just swimming about

I’m deathly afraid of what I cannot see. Especially in water. It’s a foreign environment that we left a few million years ago. Who knows what may have evolved in that time while we were out of the water swinging from trees and eating bananas? Haha, I know its just my mind playing tricks on me.

Poser!

We double checked our gear on the surface as usual. I checked that my light was working a few times just in case. Don’t want to be under and have a light go out! We rolled in and met on the surface to ensure that everything was good. I buddied up with my instructor and gave her the ok to descend. We let the air out of our BCDs and I entered a totally different world.

This guy must have been a little self conscious

I was surrounded on all sides by darkness. All I could see was what was illuminated by my torch. A few other divers, a buoy line and blackness below. At first I was like, stay calm, this is soo great! The first few seconds were fine. At least up until I saw the top of the wreck. I was descending right on it! When something that large suddenly appeared out of the darkness my heart skipped a beat and I started to really freak out! This thing was massive! What the hell was it?!? Where is the bottom? Shit I’m going to drop right into it!

Calm down Brian, its just a small tug boat. Nothing strange here I told myself over and over. But the thing was freaking huge! Like a ghost wreck emerging out of the blackness! My breathing was out of control at this point. By the time we hit the bottom I had probably gone through 30 bar of air! I turned to look over and looming out of the muck was the bow of the massive ghost ship. I turned to the other side and there was nothing but darkness.

Not very well hidden are we now?

We started the dive by circling the ship. By the end of the dive we had swam around it 3 times! It was actually quite small and by the time I made it to the stern the first round I was all calm again. In fact a little bored as there is really very little to see. Well that’s what I thought initially. But after a little while I began to absorb my surroundings. It felt like being on the moon! Just mud, a few rocks and total blackness all around. A very cool experience. Now I want to see larger wrecks! And do some more night diving!

Some more corals

Batee Tokong

The best dive of my entire trip was the fun dive we did here. It’s was considered the best site by my divemaster and it did not disappoint. In fact, it made all my other dives besides the night and deep very disappointing. Hahah, I guess I expected too much after that point. But what do you expect when in one dive you see 2 black tip reef sharks, a school of barracuda, an eagle ray, more eels than I care to count, lionfish galore and massive schools of fish from tiny to 15 cm long creating little highways all over the reef? I really didn’t want to leave but air supply always has a way of deciding for you what is going to happen next.

Sea cucumber! Couldn't run away could you?

Watching so many fish swimming around you you get the feeling that you’ve been plunged into another world. Well, of course it is a different world, its underwater! Its so strange when you float there and watch these beautiful predators swim by effortlessly. When you look up and see a big ray just flying away off in the distance. When the underwater expressways laid out by the little fishes circle around and under you like a trail of ants. The views are breathtaking and so humbling. I’m so sold as a diver. I’m gonna do my best to dive the world!

Nemo and dad

I wish I had some more pics, but after a little while with the camera, I realized it was just getting in the way of my diving. I was more concerned with photographing stuff than enjoying the moment, which I now realize are so painfully rare.

My one of my prized sightings, a beautiful school of Barracuda