What Lies Beneath

breathing underwater isn’t as easy as it looks. however, while there are indeed a lot of things to master before you are allowed to dive in open waters, the view of what lies beneath is worth all of the hard work

Just call me Bea,” said Beate Goldschmidt, the Bali-based dive instructor from Habitat H20. My initial training, on a one-to-one basis with Bea, took place at a quiet swimming pool in Seminyak. My mood was strangely alternating between anxiety, eagerness and jittery excitement, but I was heartened by Bea’s enthusiasm and professional reassuring manner. We began on terra firma with an orientation session, in which I was familiarised with the hand signals and taught basics such as how to equalise my ears, clear my mask of water and recover a lost regulator – the thing that divers breathe through.

I have been snorkelling most of my adult life, but I have only just become a scuba diver. You would have thought that my enjoyment of donning fins, mask and snorkel, and skimming the surface like a UFO pilot looking down on another planet would have enticed me to venture further.

Living in Indonesia and not learning to dive is the equivalent of being given a beautifully packaged birthday present but never breaking through the wrapper to uncover the magic beneath the surface.

The 3.1 million square kilometres of Indonesia’s territorial waters are home to an estimated 10-15 percent of the world’s coral reefs and the greatest marine biodiversity on the globe. This magnificent ecosystem flourishes with more than 6000 species of life. I was guilty of dispassion; I had lived in Indonesia for 11 years and merely dipped my toe into this underwater paradise.

It was time to do something positive, so I enrolled for the Open Water Diver course. And I trusted my survival training with Bea. Hailing from the Black Forest in Germany, Bea started her diving practice 17 years ago in the cool lakes of her homeland. Her passion brought her to Bali in 2000, and it wasn’t long before she had set up her own mobile dive business, known as Habitat H20, in which she takes clients all over the island with full use of the facilities at the many dive centres around the coast. She explained, “This includes use of the compressors to fill the tanks, and going out with the charter dive boats or the local fishermen. I also arrange rental of dive gear if required, as well as accommodation for my guests when I take them on overnight stops or dive safaris.”

As a diver and dive instructor, Bea always emphasises the vital importance of respecting and protecting the coral reefs. After all, the whole point of going deep underwater is to enjoy these beauties, not to destroy them.

After learning the basic theory, it was time to gear up into a wet suit with a tank on my back and practice my new skills − which included mastering neutral buoyancy along with the mystifying phenomenon of breathing underwater – in the pool, thereby ensuring that all of my initial mistakes would be made in safe surroundings.

I had been a bit scared that I might forget to breathe but with the technique effortlessly accomplished, together with various safety exercises and emergency procedures, I was ready to hit the open water. For this, Bea’s driver took us to Padang Bai, and the 90-minute journey gave us the opportunity to work on some of the theory in preparation for the multiple choice exam, which I would later have to sit in order to qualify for my licence. Arriving at the dive centre, we donned our gear, boarded a traditional jukung fishing boat and headed out to the beautiful Blue Lagoon. I felt a bit daunted at the prospect of rolling backwards off the edge of the boat, James Bond style, with a tank on my back, but I just went for it and was surprised – once more – at how easy it was. Despite the weights around my waist, my inflated vest kept me buoyant in the water and I was barely aware of the tank.

At first I could barely take in the scene. I was thinking too much about the strange Darth Vader-like sound emanating from the mouthpiece. It was only me! When I looked around, I felt just like the alien UFO pilot who has finally donned breathing apparatus and penetrated the barriers into a new world. I was no longer watching the movie; I had now swum into the set. The reef was teeming with psychedelic underwater creatures and extraordinary coral. With Bea constantly at my side continually checking that all was well, I swam through clouds of ultraviolet fish daubed with splashes of luminous orange. I saw a blue spotted stingray, an octopus, and a huge puffer fish skulking in the shadows. I gawped at markings reminiscent of wallpaper, soda bubbles, printed fabrics and traditional batik. I even saw a fish in a leopard-print coat and soon I began to spot the cleverly camouflaged creatures hiding in the reef crevices.

The coral was like an exotic vegetable garden boasting white-stemmed asparagus, juicy Chinese mushrooms, purple-sprouting broccoli, succulent lady’s fingers and the finest globe artichokes. Awestruck by the abundance of brilliance and life, I mused on how the denizens of the reef could be so vivid in their imagery. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope of incessantly changing patterns and colours; as if God had taken a paint brush, dipped it in a rainbow and splattered every creature. It was a reminder of the beauty and splendour of creation and I suddenly felt very humble. I was hooked!

Three more dives followed over the next couple of days, together with “classroom” instruction from Bea on the all-important theory, which led to me passing my test and achieving the internationally-recognised Open Water Diver certification. Clearly, the underwater world is now my oyster!

Beate Goldschmidt, PT. habitat-h2o Diving, T: 0812 363 8529,
www.dive-bali.de