Freediving course in Bali?

[ultra-life]

Hi!

Does anyone know if there are any courses in Bali? I googled it and did a quick search on the forum, but didn´t find anything.

I´m staying here for a couple of months, learning how to surf properly. It would be really fun to try out freediving too, and it would help me after wipe outs when surfing.

I´ve always felt very natural in the water, but never under the surface. I almost panic when I´m under water. Thus, freediving would be very difficult for me initially, but the feeling of mastering it would be all the sweeter after really working hard to accomplish it.

 

[ultra-life]

Anyone got any info at all about freediving in Bali?

I noticed in some earlier thread that there were a couple guys from Bali posting. Might have to browse through those threads.


I´m guessing there´s no official courses here then. But it would still be nice to get in contact with some freedivers here. I mean, I already started training Did a couple of independent breath holds, after which I did the tables once, and got up to three minutes.

 

[Erik]

I seriously doubt you'll find a course there. Try to hook up with someone- hit the scuba shops in Kota and ask around. There are scuba spearos and a few freedive spearos. Be careful if you go out by yourself.
Cheers,
Erik

 

[ultra-life]

I haven't found out anything more about freediving here. Most dive shops don't even know what it is...

I did find a skin diver course, though. PADI Skin Diver Snorkeling Course | Bali Indonesia

What do you think? It's better than nothing at least.

 

[Erik]

If you have almost no experience snorkelling, then go for it, but it's extremely basic. You could learn a lot more by reading DB and getting in the water with an experienced freediver.

 

[ultra-life]

Yeah, I think I will give it a miss. They wanted almost USD 100 for a one day course anyway. I guess I got seduced by "Skin Diving can be discribed as "Breath Hold Diving" "

Just moved to a new hotel today, which has a pool. So once I find a buddy, or pay someone to look over me, I can start practising there. Mostly static unfortunately, as the pool is pretty small.

 

[Erik]

If you can get over to Nusa Lembongan (take the local boat for cheap out of Sanur), the rooms are cheap and you can get on the scuba boats as a snorkeller for really cheap- 5$ or so per 2-tank dive. Also great surfing over there.

 

[Lobo Marino]

If you are in South East Asia ,why not travel around ?
Air Asia flights are really cheap ,there is an instructor staying in malapascua (philippines) for the next 2 month.
or try thailand ,there are freediving courses available on Koh lanta and Koh Tao.

 

[ultra-life]

I´m definately going to Nusa Lembongan at some point. But I need to get a bit better at surfing first, so I´ll enjoy it more.

I´m mostly here for surfing, so travelling to Thailand isn´t very appealing. Maybe if I come back another time, but not now. In fact, I´ve just planted my roots a bit, so I can get my living costs down. Found this perfect hotel in Seminyak which I´m going to have as my base for at least a month now. It´s got all the amenities I need, including in-room WiFi, and I´m only paying 150 euro per month! Couple that with the 125cc scooter with board rack that I´m renting for under 40 euros per month, and I have a pretty sweet setup that suits my budget. So even though flights may be cheap, it´s still so much cheaper just to stay here, which means I can stay longer.

 

[Erik]

Awesome! Yeah lots to see and do where you are right now, for sure.

 

[ultra-life]

I found the webpage of a store in Sanur that apparently sells both the Sphera and the Falco. Going there to try out some masks today. Then it´s off to the pool so I can start getting used to being under water. And yes, only for really short bursts. I´ll have someone look over me if I do any real training.

 

[ultra-life]

I bought a Sphera, but haven´t tried it in the water yet. Just got back. They also had a couple Suunto D3s left, for USD 240. That´s a pretty good price, right? Not that I really need it yet, but they only had three left.

I know I´m thinking way ahead now, but would it be foolish to skip normal fins, and go straight to a monofin? Not now, but later, when I move out of the hotel pool I don´t think I´ll find any proper freediving fins here anyway, so if I´m going to import something, I might as well get something good.

 

[salibandy]

Hey bro, how much is the Sphera over there? I'm in the market for one.

I live in Singapore, which is pretty close to Bali. I would love to go down to visit soon.

Lobo Marino, who is the instructor in Phillipines?

 

[ultra-life]

I bought it for USD 45 from Dive Masks » Blue Season Bali

Let me know if you decide to come here. Then we can go diving!

 

[salibandy]

Will do. How's the accomodation there? Would like to get some pricing, but currently too lazy to find info. Haha.

 

[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!