Naomi's travelbug adventures: Taking the plunge

Back when I was communing with the sea turtles at Sipidan, I jealously imagined the kind of creatures the divers were seeing at 20 metres below the surface. I resolved then and there that I would take the plunge (literally!) and get my PADI Open Water license in Indonesia.

So after my week in Bali, I headed to Gili Air, one of three tiny tropical islands off the coast of Lombok and the site of several highly reputable dive centres. It turned out to be the perfect place to take my diving lessons - the waters were crystal clear, the white sand beaches pristine and with no cars or motorcycles on the island -- just the clip-clop of horse drawn carts -- the atmosphere was decidedly calm.

After some hemming and hawing, I decided to go with Dream Divers, a German-run outfit, mainly because they had several cute cats hanging out in the lounge area. Unlike Bali, few tourists make it to the Gili Islands outside of July and August so I was pleased to find out that it would only be me and the instructor that week.

After handing me a thick text book, my instructor had me get into the wetsuit and strap on the heavy scuba gear. We then waddled straight into the shallower part of the beach to begin learning the fundamentals of breathing from a tank of air, holding my nose and blowing to reduce the pressure in my ears, and inflating and deflating my "jacket" so I could float along the the ocean floor. My hardest challenge involved taking my mask off underwater, placing it back over my eyes and breathing through my nose to clear the water. For the first two days, I would panic as soon as the water hit my face and after several futile attempts would flap to the surface to gasp air.

My lessons also involved learning a great deal of scuba theory - the physics of the water pressure in your ears and sinuses, the geographical features that produce different kinds of waves and currents, the biological affects on your body as you dive to 20 or 30 metres. Complete with quizzes and a final exam, I spent my evenings studying the text book and working on mathematical calculations to figure how much nitrogen builds up in your body after a dive -- I think this was my first "homework" assignment in 10 years!

The highlight of my lessons, of course, was putting all the theory and newly learned skills to practice in a real deep water dive. On my third and fourth day, my instructor took me to four different spots around the Gili Islands -- and I'm happy to report that it was every bit as thrilling as I imagined! At first, I was a bit out of control as I kept bumping into my instructor or hitting the bottom of the ocean floor, but by my fourth dive, I was learning to control my buoyancy with greater confidence.

Best of all, the animals were even more colourful and weirdly shaped than I had ever seen along the surface. Lion fish, cuttle fish, stingrays, eels, sea turtles -- the waters around the Gili Islands were teeming with life. I wish I had an underwater camera so I could capture this beautiful new world.

Here are some photos of Gili Air -- whether you're a diver or not, it is a tranquil place to spend a few days.