Free dive courses in Bali

[nedgrater]

Hey I'd love to know peoples experiences of the free dive courses in Bali. I'm looking to spend about a month training free diving at an intermediate level and Bali seams a nice place to head to, although I'm open to other suggestions as I'm traveling from NZ back to the UK so at the moment almost anywhere is possible.
I notice in Bali there are a few out fits Fusion free diving, Apneista Bali and Apnea Bali all based on the North east coast all look like well established schools with lots of students going through them, Free dive Gilli looks cool and Free dive Nusa looks a newer school on a pretty cool island. Just wondering if anyone had spent any time at these places and what people would recommend or not recommend. Thank you!

 

[Ben12345]

Fusion free diving = as far as I could tell mostly catered to spearfishermen

Apneiesta = most established school but also a too cool for school, seemed like heaps of jerks training and hanging out there

Apnea Bali = probably best school in terms of facilities and reputation as a training/coaching location but in tualumben not amed, so less good non diving location

 

[nedgrater]

Hey thanks for the info Ben, Ive now booked a course with Nusa free dive as the location looks great and the owner Kirill has been super helpful so far. I think its a smaller and quieter outfit than the others but that's ok with me I'll post on here how it goes. Cheers!

 

[nedgrater]

Hey, a few weeks ago I finished my courses with free dive Nusa and I can say I was very happy indeed. Nusa is a small island off Bali near Nusa Lembongan. The diving here seamed great, good visibility, warm water, and a reasonably healthy coral reef.
One of the things that makes this location unique is the strong ocean current, as far as I could tell it was more related to ocean current than tidal currents. This does have the advantage of sweeping fresh clean water through every day. To dive We caught a boat out which stayed with us, and In an hour of free diving we could drift from between 3 and 7 km! The set up at Nusa free dive I thought was fantastic, I cruised through my level 1 and 2 SSI and achieved 30m depth and a static of 6 minuets which I was pretty happy with. The instructors were excellent, my instructor was Hiko and he put a lot of energy into the courses and really felt like I had a great experience.
Has anyone else had any good or bad experience with Schools in and around Bali as its great to share info. Thanks!

 

[BrownE50]

Can you tell us what was the cost of this course?

 

[georgeofthejungle]

Hi Ben, thanks for the info.

Was just curious to hear what gave you such a negative impression of Apneista? I first trained there for a couple of months last summer and have been back repeatedly since--every time I've had very positive experiences. Hence why I keep returning!

The reason I ask is that it's the atmosphere and just how welcoming it is that's kept me coming back! Sure there's maybe a larger focus on the yoga and psychology aspect of free diving than other schools, but in general it's a real mix of people from all backgrounds. When I was diving there in January I was training with everyone from 19 to 70 year olds, with backgrounds as diverse as yoga instructors, lawyers, students like myself, and even an Australian sheep shearer! There is a real community focus , but new people are coming in and joining the group every couple of days, whether for a L1/2 or for a month master course or even a few weeks. You get everyone from complete novice to 90m+. I honestly cannot stresss just how welcoming and supportive the community is, both for the diving and generally on the social side of things. A lot of the guys from Tulamben join us for social stuff anyway!

Anyway, really not wanting to be confrontational at all--I just wanted to put in a word for them as they've taken me from nothing to loving free diving and I couldn't have wished for more with my experience there. Instructors are fantastic and extremely supportive whenever you need them, and the facilities are top-notch, especially with the developments in the last few years.

I'd be very curious as to what your experience actually was? Maybe you just happened to speak to someone at a bad time?

All the best,
George