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Indonesia 1997

¤ Getting There ¤ Gili Air ¤ Reefseekers - Resort Course - 1st Dive - The Dive Center ¤

Gili Air

We found a nice place to stay which, like most of the accommodation on the island, had a view of the beach, a little veranda and a hammock - perfect. Even the mosquito net didn't have any large holes. The island itself came very close to my idea of paradise. Nice people, good food, white beaches and as much pineapple and coconut as the heart desires.

On the way to my first dive

The reef around the island was very good for snorkelling. The best opportunities for snorkelling, however, were near the "harbour" on Gili Air, because there was a gap in the reef here. As the reef rose almost to the water surface it was a bit difficult to reach the beginning of the reef, except by trampling over the roof/top of the reef. Us ecologically-minded Europeans would never dream of doing such a thing, of course. The locals had fewer scruples and cheerfully gathered seaweed and sea urchins on the reef at low tide. The visibility, in comparison to Mexico, wasn't so great, but a visibility of between 15m and 20m was still enough to see all the colourful fish and corals.

Reefseekers

Wow - I'm really going diving!

Our accommodation was only 50m away from the diving base Reefseekers. Since I had recently found out that I was not, as I had previously been told, unfit to dive, I decided to do a diving course. Unfortunately this base(?) only offered courses at two different times during the week: Wednesday to Sunday and Saturday to Tuesday. We had, however, only planned to stay from Saturday to Friday, so it wasn't possible for me to do a complete course. But I really wanted to find out what it's like to be able to breathe under water and soI decided to do a compact course(??). If I had already heard the horror stories about courses like that in Egypt and Australia which I now know, I don't think I would have done it. However, I didn't know any better and so, completely carefree, I went and signed up for a PADI Ressort Course.