Until this point, I did not realize that Gili Trawangan was an Islamic island. I had a rude awakening, literally and metaphorically, to this fact at 5:00AM when I heard Muslim singing and prayers put on speaker blast all across the island. After it continued going on strong for over 20 minutes, I put my AirPods in with a white noise on blast in order to fall back asleep. Although it was frustrating to be unexpectedly awoken in the middle of the night, I still appreciate the new and unique experience being in a place of strong Islamic faith with prayers playing aloud over speakers, multiple times per day.
Today is the first of three days for the SSI Open Water Diving Certification at Manta Dive. I did “try diving” 11 years earlier in Puerto Rico and vaguely recall having enjoyed the experience, so I have no fear of diving and was eager to get certified. Our group consisted of my friends Nicole and Liv, Solly (Australia), and Amanda and Jessika (Brazil), led by instructors Simo (Finland) and Maury (Italy). Since we had the Nicole and Liv added to our group the day before, we had a large group that warranted two instructors. The three day certification agenda includes day one in the pool learning the equipment and basic skills, two ocean dives on day two, and on day three, two more ocean dives and the certification exam.
Day one started with going over the different pieces of equipment, assembling the different diving systems, and checking the configuration. After the equipment lessons, we took our gear into the pool for basic skills training. The basic skills included how to breath through the regulator, different hand signals for communicating, clearing the mask, removing and putting back on the mask underwater, protocol for sharing air with a buddy who has no air, protocol for running out of air with and without a buddy nearby, basic breathing buoyancy and mobility underwater, and buoyancy compensator control. All very important things to know, and good to practice in a pool before the open water. We spent a total of about 6 long hours in the pool, with a lunch break in the middle. For lunch, Nicole, Liv, Solly, and I enjoyed some really good Italian food at Pasta Pojok.
When we finished with day one, we cleaned our equipment, then left Manta. After rinsing off the chlorine and throwing on a fresh set of clothes, I met up with Liv and Nicole at Coco Cafe to work on the mandatory online diving course materials. We completed several sections before our appetites took us to a beach restaurant for dinner. Following dinner, I did coursework until the reading put me to sleep.