Freediving course in Bali?

[ultra-life]

Depends on what standard you want, but most stuff is really cheap. In the hotel I´m staying in now, I pay 800 000 rupiah per week, which is about 56 euros. And I have AC, satellite tv, a fridge, and free in-room wifi. It´s really a killer deal! Most places aren´t this good, though. But you can get your own room for as little as 3 euros per night if you pick a really cheap place, usually with breakfast included!
Normally I´d say that a clean, decent room with AC starts at about 7 euros. Prices vary alot. When I first came here I stayed a week at a place that wasn´t half as good as my current one, but it was double the price.

[ultra-life]

So I went ahead and bought the D3... Guess there's no turning back now! I´ve also started training undulation, since I´m going to skip bi-fins and go straight to a monofin. But boy do I suck! My core muscles and flexibility should be pretty decent, so maybe it´s just a matter of training, alot! Would probably help if I had a pool that was longer than 8m as well..

Now I just need to find myself a partner.

The summer is going to be awesome. I go back to Oslo, Norway sometime in may to do some work. I can probably do a course there. Then I go home to Finland in July, and can go diving with my fellow finns. Then I´m going to unicycle to Denmark for a big unicycle convention, and on the way I can probably stop and dive with the people in Åland and Sweden, and then finally in Copenhagen as well. Can´t wait!

Guess I need to start practising

[salibandy]

Awesome. Bali sounds lovely. You seem to have a lot going on in your life eh? Good to see you're having fun.

[Erik]

The monofin takes a bit of a bad learning curve, kind of like riding a bike.... or a unicycle "i suck, i suck , I suck... hey i got it!" hahaha.

[ultra-life]

Learning to ride a unicycle isn´t hard at all, so hopefully monofinning wont be either. One can hope...

Have you spent a lot of time in Bali, Erik?

I might have to go to Nusa Lembongan sooner than expected. I seem to be thinking about freediving all the time now. In fact, more than I´m thinking about surfing. Problem is, I cant even call myself a surfer yet. Just when I was starting to get somewhere, I injured my knee. First day back surfing today, and I felt like back at square one. But I guess that Playgrounds is as good a place as any to learn...NOT. I don´t want to be in anyones way, anyway. Maybe if I spend two more weeks in Seminyak, and then move out to Lembongan after that.

salibandy, yeah I do tons of different sports, and get deeply involved in every one of them. Finding the time is the hardest part!

[Erik]

A total of about 5 weeks in Bali, 1 year in Jakarta, with some good Indo travels as well. My "surfing" is pretty horrible (another bad learning curve haha) but I sure enjoyed what I've done.
The 3 Nusa's over there are really worth going to at some point. Never did get to Lombok and heard a few horror stories from others, so didn't bother. Also if you go up the East coast a bit you could freedive that wreck that all the scuba guys go to. It's close to shore and not too deep. I didn't make it there either.... next time.

[ultra-life]

Ok, it´s scary how fast freediving is taking over my life now! I can´t wait. I´m going to Nusa Lembongan!
After I thought I´d found the perfect place to stay, freediving comes along and messes up everything. But hey, what can you do...just go with it!

What did you do in Jakarta?

I want to climb Gunung Agung while I´m here. The plan was to start at the beach somewhere, bicycle the 1000something meters vertical up to Besakih, sleep a couple of hours there, and then hike up the 1900 remaining vertical to the top. Then down and back again to the beach.
But NOW, I could start off diving at the wreck in Tulamben, and then jump on the bicycle. That way, I would start off with negative altitude
Then, when people ask me how it´s possible that I climbed more vertical than everybody else, I can just say "Ooh, you started off at sea level. Do people still do that?"

[Erik]

I was teaching at NJISchool. Indo's lovely, especially Sumatra, Jakarta's fun if you're single- but it's a shithole of the worst sort in many ways too. I prefer more remote areas, but the work/money isn't there... need to live in a city to make $$ and just get out as much as possible. Are you working over there or on an extended holiday?
And yes, freediving can be very addictive haha.

[ultra-life]

Extended holiday. I do seasonal work in Norway. When I work I have no life whatsoever, but that also means I can save most of the money I make. Then when I travel, I can just be free. I´m always trying to improve my work:vacation ratio. Currently it´s about 1:2. If I wouldn´t have to feed my geek side with new gadgets, I could probably get it up to 1:3.

Part of what gets me so excited about freediving, is that I can do it everywhere. Most of my other sports are pretty location dependent. Just now, I found out that only 2,5km from where I usually work in Norway, there´s a deep lake with good visibility, in the middle of the forest. Should be excellent for diving! You wouldn´t find a surf break there, or a 50 degree couloir...

[Erik]

I hear you on the ratio brother haha! Good on ya.
I live 1200km from the ocean and do lots of spearfishing in the lakes when I cant get to the sea... COLD sea that is.

[ultra-life]

Where in Canada are you located?

I´m going to order a tailor made Elios suit when I get back to Scandinavia, but will probably need something here as well. Thinking of bying a cheap 3/2 surf suit here, that I can also use when surfing in colder waters. Think that´s a good bet?

[Erik]

I'm in Edmonton Alberta Canada.
That surf suit will be fine for diving down in Bali. The only thing to make sure of is that there is a good tight fit at the neck area, otherwise the suit will balloon and catch water as you dive and move underwater. Not TOO tight, but just a good fit.
Elios 5 or 7mm with Heiwa medium-density open rubber inside, and nylon out will be perfect for northern waters. 5mm is a good compromise and will be fine, but 7mm means hours in the cold water comfortably (even in winter), especially if you're a spearo.

[ultra-life]

Woohoo! I just did a 4 minute dry static, after one week of practice. Did an O2 table first that ended in 2 times 2:30. Then rested 4 minutes and improved my record from three minutes to four, in one go! Go me

Moving to Nusa Lembongan tomorrow, and am really looking forward to diving into the ocean. Think my ears are going to give me trouble, as I´ve never actually diven deep before. But I´ll tackle that hurdle when I get to it. Right now I feel like I can do anything

[MBanks]

As I understand this thread was from last year sometime, but while planning a trip to Bali and Lombok I came across this company on the Gili Islands:

freediving at blue marlin

They appear to run courses

My wife and I will be the Gili Islands and Lombok area from August to September this year so if anyone else is still around then if could be fun to hook up with other freedivers? I'd love to try some spearfishing out there....Any pointers on where I can learn what is safe and legal to catch and eat around those waters?

Cheers,
Martin

[Newbie_spearo]

Best bet would be to contact andre, from andre spearguns, or bali spearfishing, just google it. he does spearing trips, and I'm sure there are other places that do them too. Get friendly with some local fisherman and they will take you out in a boat for like $10 US.