I love being spontaneous and I love extreme adventures in my travels. I don’t do thorough planning and research, I feel that kind of spoils the fun and excitement.
This particular story changed my behavior in planning my dive trips.
On board The Cecelia Ann sailboat to Krakatua...
I got an invitation from a fellow diver. This was my second time diving in a group with him. He organized this trip but its not his fault, he was also a victim. A friend of his recommended Kyle, who is the owner of The Cecelia Ann Sailboat also known as Java Sea Charters (they have a website, look it up).
The usual me, I paid for the trip in advance and I didn’t bother doing any further research or
background check. I just trusted the
‘universe’... what could possible go wrong? The part that I was most guilty about... I invited one of my diver
friend, Grace, to join the trip.
It was for 2 nights, 2 days LIVE ABOARD DIVE TRIP to Krakatau. It’s in Krakatau Volcano. We didnt dive in the volcano, we dove around the volcano. That was not the "life and death" story here. Anyway, IT WASNT A CHEAP TRIP. We each paid IDR 6,000,000 (about 500 US dollars). At that rate, you’d be paying for first class
or high end level live aboard dive trip.
Plus its a mandatory to pay in advance, 100%. No money back guarantee.
I
wasn’t able to take a lot of photos because 90% of the time (it was really
bad) I was restless, I wasn’t even sure if we are going to make it back in time
or in one group or in healthy condition or on that same old sailboat.
The
whole trip I was diverting my attention to anything POSITIVE and BEAUTIFUL. Krakatau is beautiful. The ocean, sunrise, sunset, underwater marine
life… ALL WAS DIVINE.
BUT EVERY
BEAUTIFUL PHOTO HAS AN 'ADVENTURE' STORY TO TELL...
I took pretty photos as much as I can, I was trying my best to look on the positive side of this experience.
There
were five of us who booked this trip; Michael, Michelle, Joe, Grace and
myself. None of us are local. We traveled by land for 2 hours from central
Jakarta to Anyer Pier. When we reached
the pier, it was already dark, around 9:30 at night. I got out of the van and I was looking for a
decent size white sailboat (as shown in their website) but there was
none. I saw a dark brown, wooden, old
small boat that looks like a village fishing boat.
Kyle
(non local, been living in Indonesia for very long time) was in the
trip with us running the whole ‘show’ and who is also a certified PADI dive
master (I seriously don’t know how he got the certification). Or was he certified?
He gave
us the usual orientation about what to expect; sea condition, boat condition,
dive sites, etc. We were on the sailboat parked at the pier from 9:30pm until 1:00am because we were waiting for the high tide
so the boat can get out of the pier.
The
sailboat is really small, there were 4 rooms located at the lower deck: 3 were at
the front end of the boat and 1 was at the back end of the boat - Joe picked
that room and little that he know it was the worse place to be at inside the boat.
We
sailed away and found out that the electrical wiring of the boat were faulty.
Kyle knew about this even before we boarded but all 5 of us were clueless until
we were already in the middle of the sea.
Faulty wires mean that the boat will not pump fresh water; kitchen,
toilets, bathroom, all no fresh water.
NO
FRESH WATER for 2 days and 2 nights, none of us had taken a shower. We were all covered with salt water (and OMG my hair!!!). The boat had a gallon of drinking water which they refill... I don’t know how and
where they get the refill from.
QUESTIONABLE
FOOD served to us for breakfast; strawberry jams with molds, coffee with
cigarette butts. For lunch; bread with
molds and pie from a box that’s been sitting on top of the dirty kitchen
table. For dinner; roasted chicken with
large bowl of gravy and rice… I don’t want to know how they
prepared the food without fresh / clean water.
SMOKING
POT while we were having dinner. The
whole crew, all 4 of them were getting themselves high. They were inside the lower deck while we were eating dinner at the upper deck. When they were not smoking pot,
they were smoking cigarettes like it’s their oxygen. I never saw them without a stick of cigarette in their mouth.
NO
MOBILE PHONE SIGNAL in the middle of the sea.
At first, I thought this was a good thing so I can free myself from the
internet and from work emails. I WAS
WRONG! I can honestly survive few days
without internet but during this trip I was literally begging and praying to
God for mobile signal, I was desperate to call somebody.
NIGHT
TIME WAS A NIGHTMARE. First night at the
boat, I wasn’t able to sleep at all because of the sea condition, the aircon
was not working due to faulty wires, no air coming in from the top window, the
room was very stuffy.
Second
night was beyond terrible. It rained and
we were all soaking wet. Our beds were
wet and our rooms were flooded. Joe’s
room had rats running around and the generator was beside his room, the noise
kept him awake for 2 nights.
QUESTIONABLE
PADI DIVE MASTER CERTIFICATION. Kyle didn’t
do safety check on all our equipment. He didn’t do the initial check if the tanks were filled. In one of our dives, he's supposed to be Grace's buddy but didn't do buddy check, he let Grace jump into the water with empty tank, Grace had to go back up and
skipped the whole dive.
He
doesn’t have a dive computer, he asked us to let him know how deep we were and
when to do the safety stop. He threw
Grace’s dive gear into the water without inflating the BCD and whole gear sank
to the bottom of the sea.
Michelle’s
hose regulator were tangled and Kyle said its okay and suggested Michelle to
use the octopus (alternate air source).
I find that really weird coming from a dive master, so I refused to
agree for Michelle to use the octopus. THIS IS CLEARLY AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN. He can still untangle the hose as we were still at the surface. I bitched about it, so he fixed it anyway.
The
itinerary says 6 dives but we only dove 3 times during the whole trip.
BONFIRE. After 2 dives on day 1, Kyle gave us an
option if we want to take the 3rd dive or we could set up a bonfire
at the nearest island. Without
hesitation, I voted to set up a bonfire, anything to get me out of the
boat!
It
was a relief to set foot on land even though just for few hours. We sat there to watch the BEAUTIFUL
SUNSET. There’s no human permanently
living in the island like village or tribe people. It’s an empty island but judging from the
trash and garbage around the seashore, it does look like there are regular visitors.
ISLAND
TRASH was scary as hell. Its not just
plastics or empty bottles but I found a lot of USED SYRINGE (with yellowish
liquid in it, disgusting!), a lot of used INJECTION PORTS FROM IV DRIPS & IV BAGS with
disgusting residue. Its really disturbing,
I would assume these were used for illegal drugs, maybe there are some people
who hang out on this island just to get high.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole boat crew are regular island visitors.
This island is a HORROR MOVIE SCENE. I
also found some CREEPY DOLLS like voodoo dolls and CREEPY DOLL HEADS with deep
scratches on the face. This island is probably where junkies hangout and where witches
craft black magic or something. I didn’t take too much photos because its really creepy and disgusting.
RESTLESS
AND DISGUSTED... on our way back to the pier, I wanted to
take a nap so bad because I never had a good sleep but I was wide
awake. We sailed for 6
hours, we were all feeling disgusted with no fresh water, our bodies were all
sticky and salty, none of us pooped for 2 nights and 2 days. Michelle was feeling terribly ill, suffering from food poisoning.
Kyle’s
chef, Kori (a kid, he looks like 16 or 17 years old), I cant recall where he is originally from. He proudly commented, “well, to make you feel
better, none of us had fresh water and none of us took a shower”, after hearing Kori made that
comment, my head was screaming “THAT DOESN’T MAKE ME OR ANYONE OF US FEEL
BETTER, BECAUSE WE PAID 500 USD DOLLAR FOR THIS FREAKING TRIP!!!”. Makes me want to push him off the
boat but I calmed myself down and continued praying for safety.
THE STORY Kori proudly narrated to us was about their last
trip when they took a group of surfers with them.
SENDING
DISTRESS SIGNAL. One of the surfers had a serious accident, he was surfing
and hit a huge sharp corals which left a deep open wound on his
thigh. Kori tells the story
with pride that they DIDN’T HAVE FIRST AID KIT on the boat, they have a radio
but IT WASN’T WORKING TO SEND OUT DISTRESS SIGNAL so NO ONE COULD COME TO GIVE THEM IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE.
So
all of them waited for another boat to pass by to help
them. God knows how long they waited. This was not a good story
to hear while still on that freaking boat. I was praying so hard to reach the pier as
fast as possible but the boat was the slowest boat I’ve ever boarded.
REACHING
LAND. It felt like I woke up from being
dead. I will never forget that very
moment I took my first step on land. I
wanted to fall on my knees so bad and cry, thanking the universe I survived that
trip. Next thing I did was to look for a
bathroom to take a shower. The
best shower I have taken.
LESSON
LEARNED. I will take planning dive trips
seriously. Invest time to research, ask
recommendations from reliable sources, always have options and don’t settle for
one. After Krakatau dive trip, I went to
2 other dive trips: one in Phuket Thailand through Bubba Diving in Feb 2015 –
our dive instructor was Lexi, extremely professional and safety is her number
one priority. A friend recommended Bubba
Diving, I researched for other options but Bubba Diving was on top
of the list.
Second
dive trip was in Gili Trawangan Lombok in Mar 2015, I booked Blue Marlin, a
friend recommended them, I still did my research and read
reviews about Blue Marlin and other options.
Blue Marlin staff and dive instructors were very professional and safety is also their number one priority.
IT PAYS TO DO A PROPER PLANNING AND RESEARCH FOR DIVE TRIPS.
My
next dive trip is in April in Bali. I
booked my dive itinerary through Crystal Divers, a friend of mine who is a dive
instructor in Thailand recommended them to me.
I’ve also checked other dive centers in Bali just for my reference,
read reviews, etc.
I really need to build my diving network, it’s really helpful when I need recommendations and options.
I really need to build my diving network, it’s really helpful when I need recommendations and options.
I AM
ALIVE PEOPLE, I AM ALIVE! THANK GOD!
Other Scuba Diving Adventures and Underwater Photos:
TOMIA ADVENTURES - Wakatobi Indonesia
BALINESE MANTA RAYS - Bali Indonesia
A CLOSE UP WITH A HAWKSBILL TURTLE - Bunaken Manado Indonesia
MY FIRST TIME TO DIVE IN THE PHILIPPINES - Anilao Batangas Philippines
MANTA RAYS DECIDED TO TAKE A DAY OFF - Manta Point & Nusa Penida Bali
UNCOVERING U.S. ARMY CARGO SHIP - Tulamben Bali)
STROLLING AROUND CORAL GARDEN - Tulamben Bali)
Underwater Videos:
UNDERWATER WORLD Video Playlist
My Beautiful Life Adventure continues at....
http://mybeautifullifeadventure.tumblr.com
https://www.youtube.com/MsDeviant
https://msdeviant.blogspot.com
http://idivetoday.blogspot.com
Follow me on INSTAGRAM: @icqnd
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