Today we continued our PADI Advanced Open Water dive training with Dive Komodo,  to practice our diving skills such as Underwater Navigation, Drift Dive, Underwater Naturalist, and Underwater Photography.

Before our first dive, our dive instructor Wai gave us a briefing about how to use an underwater compass. It was great fun, and not too difficult on the boat. We were ready to practice it underwater at Sebayur Kecil divesite. I buddied with Rafid, and Retno and Amel were buddies. One person from each buddy had to navigate using the compass, while the other buddy was tasked with measuring distance by counting their fin kicks. Next we tried navigating by observing natural features, such as looking for substrate formations and the position of corals. It was really awesome to learn about underwater navigation for our diving skill.

Rafid and Miko practice underwater navigation

Our second dive was at Sabolo Kecil, where we learned about drift diving. This was the first time we had tried a negative entry! We emptied all of the air from our BCD, entered the water and went straight down. It means we must be very prepared before we leave the boat, and we must not panic. Manta rays are often found at locations that have current, and so drift diving will be a very useful skill for our manta surveys, We also must remember to control our buoyancy carefully, and to maintain good contact with our buddy and our group so that we don’t become lost!

For our final dive today we went to Sabolon Besar to practice Underwater Naturalist and Underwater Photography. Amel and Retno practiced underwater naturalistwith Wai to identify the aquatic animals. Rafid and Miko practiced Underwater Photography with Andy. Underwater photography requires us to keep our buoyancy when taking photos, as well as remembering to maintain safe contact with our buddy and to avoid getting lost.

It was so amazing to do our dives today. We encountered hawksbill turtles, cuttlefish, garden eels, giant clams, parrotfish, schooling damselfish, and beautiful butterflyfish. But remember, we can take the photos of these creatures, but we must not touch the marine wildlife!

And we all completed our PADI Advanced Open Water dive training! We are ready to start manta surveys!