June 23, 2017February 1, 2020

Underwater Photography Workshop (and a Nitrox course) in Bali

There are few places that we return to more than once. There are fewer places that offer sunny skies, warm calm water, and unbelievable service. This is how we wound up on our second trip to Bali with the Underwater Tribe.

After a relatively quick flight (5 hours) from Melbourne, we arrived in Bali. The traffic was a bit heavy, but soon we were out of the city and on our way to Tulamben. It took about three hours travel the 90 kilometre (55 mile) distance, and we arrived in time for the first of many nasi gorengs at the Safety Stop.

We stayed at the Mimpi Resort, in the same ocean front villa as the previous year.

We spent the first two days doing the practical part of the Nitrox course and a photo workshop with Luca. We reviewed what we’d learned the previous year, and spent time practicing with the super macro converter. We also worked a bit on buoyancy, and I was able to get rid of two kilos from my BC.

We mostly shot macro, so I had the SJCam (a fake GoPro, which is better than a real GoPro because the controls are intuitive and I can tell if it’s working) running in case something big appeared. Unfortunately there were no surprise whale sharks or mola mola, but there was a massive school of scad.

Next, we traveled back to Sanur and checked into a pool villa at the Parigata Villas. There are about 20 villas that surround a massive common pool area (which was empty all the time, probably because most of the villas have their own private pool). The villa had a massive bedroom and bath, and the complex was a few minutes walk to the beach in one direction and Danau Tamblingan (main street with lots of restaurants) in the other direction.

The complex was amazingly lush with varied textures and vibrant colours.

We did one day of diving, a day trip to Nusa Penida, while in Sanur. The boat departed from the beach near our villa, and the crossing took a little under an hour. It was a bit rough, so I was definitely glad that I’d taken Kwells that morning. The first dive was at Manta Point, a relatively shallow dive with decent swell. The second dive was at Crystal Bay.