It was early 2016, and we decided to go to Bali. We didn’t have a plan, we just knew that we really wanted to live, work, and dive there. So we packed up our gear and whatever else we could fit into our bags with the little room left, and booked ourselves a ticket to the unknown. When we got there we had no idea what to expect. We were told by numerous dive centers that without a work permit they couldn’t hire us, and they were not going to sponsor anyone for a work permit. It started to seem like a wasted trip and our savings balance was getting lower and lower. We figured we should make the best of it, so with nothing better to do we decided to go diving on the famous USAT Liberty shipwreck. That’s how we found Dream Divers. They were one of the few shops that would just rent us tanks and let us dive on our own as instructors. Those dives were great. The shipwreck is really close to the beach and with our experience in diving, it was easy to find and follow with simple navigation.
As time went on it seemed like we would have to give up on the idea of finding a shop that wanted to hire us legally. It was about this time that two girls from Germany who were staying in the room next to us asked us about learning to dive. What started as a short chat, resulted in them asking us if we could be their dive instructors. We wanted to say yes, but we had to admit that we had never tried to teach a course without being employed at a shop before. After downloading and printing out the necessary forms, we had them complete the theory online using PADI eLearning. While they were doing that, we quickly found a place to rent a swimming pool and equipment to do the confined water training. When it was time for them to move on to the open water dives to complete the course, we went back to Tulamben and rented equipment again from Dream Divers. While we there we started talking to Gede, the owner. It seemed that he was very interested in having some qualified instructors to represent his dive shop because up to that point he had mostly been renting equipment to other visiting dive centers and instructors. On the occasion that one of the guests staying in their bungalows wanted to dive, he would call a local guide to take them. So over the course of the next couple weeks we talked with Gede more and finally agreed to start managing the dive center.
In the beginning things were slow. Tulamben is a bit of a sleepy town and there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic. Plenty of people came there to dive at the shipwreck, but most of them were just on day trips as a guest of dive centers in more populated areas. We immediately got to work making the place look more lively with some paint and signs. We also got to work on marketing the dive center online and noticed some results in the way of bookings. Over the next two seasons we saw our efforts pay off, and we were very fortunate to meet so many wonderful people that came diving with us.
In June through August on 2017, things were really taking off. Through Project AWARE, we had adopted 2 dive sites in the Tulamben area, and were coordinating efforts with help from other dive centers in town to do a Dive Against Debris every two weeks. At first Gede and his staff were a little unsure of our idea to offer people the chance to dive for free to volunteer for this event, but when they saw how much other business it attracted and how the local population responded to the idea, they were in full support of it. For us it was a long time vision that was coming together. Not only were we becoming more successful, but we finally felt like we had the chance to make a difference and take care of the environment in our area. The Trip Advisor reviews and ranking were looking good too as we moved up from #13 to #5 in our area, and we received the first ever Certificate of Excellence for the dive center. We even had repeat business, and it was in September that we had some guys come back from the previous season to do their Divemaster training with us. Everything was looking up, and then…
Mt Agung woke up after almost 60 years of sleep. The whole area was forced to evacuate, the press reports said thousands of tourists were in terrible danger, and naturally all of our bookings cancelled. While the volcano never actually blew it’s top off in a catastrophic ‘fire and brimstone’ fashion, it didn’t seem to matter. The Australian press in particular wasn’t helping by publishing photos of other volcanoes that were actually spewing lava, then adding the headline: “Bali volcano sends thousands fleeing to safety”. We knew we had no choice but to evacuate as well. Actually, there really was no choice because the evacuation was mandatory. So we moved about an hour away to the town of Padang Bai, and brought a few sets of equipment to fulfill the bookings of people still ‘brave’ enough to come to Bali and dive with us despite all the bad press. In November the government scientists gave the “all clear” to return and it seemed like life would move on. Business was slow, but that was to be expected as we moved into the rainy season anyway. However it turns out that volcanoes are hard to predict, and about 3 weeks later the mountain erupted higher columns of black ash up into the sky than before. Once again everyone was told to evacuate. We took it as a sign that things would not be returning to normal any time soon, and so with heavy hearts we realized that our ‘Bali experience’ had come to an end.
We have always hoped to make it back someday. It seems like every time we start to think about returning, something pulls us in a different direction, so for now it’s just not meant to be. Until then, we will remember our time there with warm fuzzy feelings, a gratitude for all the experiences, and a great sense of accomplishment. If you’re even on Bali, go see our friends in Tulamben… Please tell them Max and Liz sent you, and be sure to show them some love!