Tag: Indonesia

Indonesia: Part 4

By Mike Huber

It was a relief to be back on the boat and done diving for the day.  My anxiety level was still pretty high having run out of air 10 meters below the ocean’s surface on my second dive.  Nonetheless, I registered to dive the following day.  There was a sense of relief knowing that I would have the same diving partner.  He understood the emotions going through my head and he would be right at my side to help me through the next dive.

The remainder of the boat ride back to the dock consisted of me pulling sea urchin spines out from everywhere on my body with needle-nosed pliers. That’s one way to pass the time. The spines under my fingernail would need to be pulled out by a doctor at a medical clinic somewhere in Flores.  My biggest concern was that it might become infected. The closest clinic was a few kilometers outside of town so I would have to taxi to get there.

Then, upon disembarking from the boat I looked up and saw an Indonesian Naval Base.   Right behind the gate was a giant red cross. I decided to give it a try, not expecting any success.  The Military Police stopped me instantly ,asking what I was doing.  I showed them my finger and pointed to the red cross behind them.  They invited me in and within 5 minutes I had an Indonesian Naval Officer using a razor blade to pull the pines out from under my fingernail.  After about 45 minutes of him carefully removing all the spines, he gave me some antibiotics, he only charged me about $12 (US), and he sent me on my way.  During the whole ordeal he and I were chatting quite a bit over our past military experience and we even exchanged phone numbers.  We trade texts every few weeks.

With the sea urchin spines removed, the next day came and it was time to get over my anxiety from the previous dive. The first dive of the day proved to be challenging and my only motivation was to just survive it.  I wasn’t too concerned with the enjoyment or the wildlife. Fortunately, by the second dive I had regained my confidence and was back to enjoying this hobby again.  Swimming by seven manta rays changed my mind and helped me reprioritize my goals.

My 30-day Indonesian visa was nearing expiration.  Indonesia has around 7,000 islands and was much too large to cover in 30 days.  Even having experienced 10 of the islands felt rushed.  I knew I would need to slow my travel to more deeply absorb these countries. Having done SCUBA dives in two countries, racking up 19 dives, and overcoming adversity provided renewed confidence.  I was ready for the next country: Thailand.

Indonesia: Part 3

By Mike Huber

Having found myself in Flores, Indonesia (one of the scuba diving meccas of Southeast Asia) I took it upon myself to dive as much as I could.  On my second dive of the first day I saw some manta rays up close and personal and I managed to get a lot of sea urchin spines under my fingernails, hands, and pretty much everywhere. I was bleeding green as I was deep enough underwater that colors would change, and it looked like I had been rolling around in some saguaro cactus or been on the losing side of a fight with a porcupine. I had spines sticking out from every part of my wetsuit.

This was part of the adventure and part of the learning.  What I didn’t expect was upon our ascent my air ran out, even though moments earlier I had checked and confirmed I was at about 25%. This was another “So this is how it ends” moment.  There wasn’t much time to think about that as I was not prepared for running out of air.  I figured I just had moments before I would black out due to no oxygen.  Being about 10 meters deep I knew I could have just surfaced quickly to get air and many people probably would have done that.  Well, just as in jumping out of airplanes, you train for these type of scenarios.  Also, the approach is to take your time as you have the rest of your life to resolve the no air issues, just as you would with a parachute malfunction.  The problem with that mindset is that the end of your life is only seconds away.

Fortunately, my dive partner was only a short swim away.  I swam over to him as quickly as possible, signaled him I had no air, and calmly (I was actually panicking by this point) grabbed his secondary air hose, and took a much-needed breath in.

That first breath in was a relief on every level you can possibly imagine.  We then performed our 3-minute safety stop off using both of his air supplies before we surfaced. Even with my fingers still bleeding from the sea urchin spines and having run out of air, I managed to make a couple jokes as we swam back to the safety of the boat.  This is where we learned that my regulator was faulty and provided a false reading on the amount of air remaining.  That was a bit of a relief that it wasn’t some rookie mistake by me.

The joking ended on my next dive that day.  As soon as I hit the water I had some massive anxiety about the no air issues and going under.  It was so intense that everyone on the team had already submerged and I was just sitting there on the surface having fear to let the air out of my BCD to sink and join the rest.

After a few moments, it passed and I did join them.  I don’t think I have ever swam as close to a dive partner as I did on that dive.  My air barely lasted 32 minutes as my stress and anxiety were causing me to breathe faster, using up my air rather quickly.  This was fine with me, as I really had no interest in staying underwater.

Once back on the boat, I was seriously thinking that scuba diving wasn’t for me and would bow out of it using one excuse or another.  The lack of air experience was that traumatizing.  I began to think back to the Army and our jumps.  Whenever someone had a bad jump the best thing to overcome it was to put them on the very next jump ton regain their confidence so they could continue to be effective.  Since diving and jumping had so many parallels, I thought this would be the best way.  I booked three more dives the next day with the mindset if I didn’t overcome it I would quit diving.  I owed it to myself to give it one more try.

More epic adventures are here!

Indonesia: Part 2

By Mike Huber

It took about a week to get to Flores, Indonesia from Bali, as it is over 1,000 kilometers away. This was accomplished via three ferries and finally, a 4-day cruise.  The cruise was a blast, but once aboard I realized it was a one-way cruise and I would have to find a ferry back (which could take up to 36 hours) or book a return flight to Bali.  Normally this would alarm most people, but I had time to kill and quickly learned Flores was an Indonesian scuba diving mecca.  Some of the most beautiful wildlife could be seen diving here.  This was not a bad place to have a several-day layover.

It didn’t take long to find a scuba company.  It had only been a few days since my prior dive and I was already itching to get back underwater. I chose a dive center based on its three-dives-in-one-day regimen. Most the other dive centers only offered two dives in one day.  This would help rack up my dive numbers (and my experience, as I would soon learn).

Diving the Komodo Islands is just amazing on so many levels.  The biggest draw is the wildlife.  The second draw is the strength of the underwater currents.  On an average dive we would float with the current for close to an hour and travel several kilometers during the dive. The current was a constant underwater river that was at times overwhelming, depending on the direction it was taking you.

If you got caught in a side current it would feel like you were on the Space Station and someone just cut your tether and you were floating off into nothingness.  Feelings of anxiety emerged when this happened, and this caused me to go through more of my air and shorten my dive.  It was always important to remain calm, move slowly, and not over-react.  That’s easier said than done.

The cool part about these currents is when I was in a “controlled” area I could just watch the beautiful corals go by.  The downside was if I saw a turtle or another cool species of wildlife, I really couldn’t get to it as I was swept along with the current.  We were told, if possible, to get low to the ocean floor and grab a large rock as an anchor so we could enjoy the wildlife.

I took this rock grabbing suggestion as I happened upon three beautiful manta rays. They were huge, about 12 feet in width. While blowing by them in the current it was like they were in an underwater thermal hovering in place motionless unaffected by the strong currents. It was like watching a stealth fighter Jet hover. Meanwhile I was doing my best to slow down to try to remain close to them. As I descended to the ocean floor seeking refuge from the currents behind a large piece of coral, I grabbed a rock.   I instantly felt something sharp on my fingers.  I had accidently grabbed a sea urchin and the spines were in all my fingers to include deep under my fingernail. Almost instantly a large gushing of green fluid began pouring out of my fingers.  This is when I learned you bleed green when you are deep under water.

Realizing there was nothing I could do about the bleeding until I surfaced, my focus was on watching the manta rays flying by as the current pulled me just underneath them.  During this time, I religiously checked my air levels on my respirator.  Once I hit 60 bar (25%) it would be time to slowly return to the surface.

We began our ascent to a 3-minute safety stop at 5 meters below the surface to allow our bodies to adjust to the pressure.  At around 10 meters and still being abused by the strong currents I went to breathe in and there was nothing there. It was as though I was breathing through a straw and then suddenly someone put their finger over the end.  I was out of air. This was a good time to see how much of the training I actually retained and how much of I ignored while being distracted by the beautiful scuba instructor in Australia.

More epic adventures are here!

Indonesia: Part 1

Mike Huber

My visa was nearing expiration in Australia (I had 90 days left), and my speeding tickets were exceeding $1700 Australian.  The speeding tickets were from cameras.  In the United States, the Constitution protects us (you can fight and win those tickets 100% of the time in the USA, but not in Australia).  It was time to choose a new country to visit, at least for a short while. To me it made sense to leave my beloved Oceania and head north.  Looking at the map, Southeast Asia beckoned.

Indonesia, in particular, seemed to be the best choice, and it would be my next destination.  Bali, to be exact.  This would provide a less westernized culture than the previous countries I had visited.  Another advantage was it appealed to my new interest.  I kept hearing how magnificent the scuba diving was there.  So that would be incorporated into my adventures.

After the whirlwind trip through Australia, the first three days in Bali (except for some morning surfing) were spent resting in my hotel room.  I needed the time to recharge and just sit back and pretend I was on vacation.  Yes, I know I am sort of always on vacation, but even with this laid-back lifestyle the constant moving becomes a fulltime job.

Once rested it was time to book several ferries and boats out to Komodo National Park (it isn’t easy to get to).  Visiting this epic National Park would provide me with the chance to see Komodo dragons, the largest lizard on Earth, as well as plenty of opportunities to hone my new skills as a diver. This was an experience that I could not miss while visiting Indonesia.

The day trip to Komodo Island was fantastic.  What made it most memorable was actually seeing a few of these giant reptiles in the wild, as up close and personal as I was comfortable with.  That distance happened to be  about 6 feet for me I soon learned. Even though being in a tour group of 20 people when the Komodo dragon chose a path, our group was instructed to let it through.  The crowd parted like the Red Sea and the giant reptile chose the direction it wanted, and it moved with a purpose!

These giants can move up to 12 miles per hour.  Some weigh as much as 150 pounds.  They can take down local deer and they have no natural enemies.  This meant we were guests on their island and without a stick or other type of weapon we were not on the top of the food chain. It’s always a humbling moment when you realize this.

After a day exploring Komodo National Park with large sticks in hand, I found myself in Flores, Indonesia.  It’s a small island about an hour’s boat ride from Komodo National Park.  Little did I realize how much of a scuba diving mecca this was (see any of my previous articles about my lack of planning).  There were literally dive shops and tours every three to four buildings.  It was that densely populated with the scuba community.  It was perfect.  This would be a great home base for a week or so to dive and continue catching up on rest from the Australia travels. It now was time to book a scuba adventure in Bali, Indonesia.

More epic adventures are here!