Diver UK – August 2019

45 divEr

unfazed by the numbers of divers trying
to take their photographs. It was almost as
if the fish had woken up and said to each
other: OK guys, let’s get it over with and
go and torment the humans.
For some reason the building of jetties
is not allowed in Bali. That’s a great pity,
because getting in and out of the water
when shore-diving isn’t easy, especially
when fully kitted up and with lots of
boulders to stumble over.
The team at the dive-centre couldn’t be
more helpful, however, and if there’s a bit
of a swell or the waves are breaking, they
will come into the sea and take all your
kit from you and hold your hand –
sometimes both hands – to lead you to
safety. I recommend a pair of sturdy boots
too. Once in the water, the reward by far
outweighs the effort.
So, for the first few days, after we had

Top left: Whip-coral shrimp.

Top right: Batfish.

Above: Fish queue up at

a barrel-sponge cleaning

station.

finished boat-diving, we could waft down

to 20m or so on the house reef and revisit

our favourite subjects again and again

until we got the shot right, or simply to

observe them going about their daily lives.

S

UDDENLY, HOWEVER,all that was

about to change. Over the course of

our second week it transpired that an

international macro competition known

as the Dragon Cup Shootout had been

taking place right on our doorstep.

Organised by UWPixel, there were

more than 60 Asian contestants, all

staying at the adjacent Liberty Dive Resort

with more than 30 local guides at their

disposal.We had encountered them and

their appalling behaviour on several dives

over the previous couple of days,

including on our own house reef.

On the morning of 1 May, we dived a

site called Pong Pong, close to the Liberty.

Without exception, each deliberately

over-weighted diving competitor could be

seen lying with his or her entire body

sprawled across the terrain, huge camera

systems planted firmly on the seabed

irrespective of whatever creatures and

their habitat lay beneath.

The dive-guides, one for every two

divers, were just as guilty (of course,

they were being paid) and we observed

the moving and cleaning of rocks and the

repositioning of subjects into more

aesthetically pleasing locations.

Great dust-storms of sand kicked up by

unwieldy fins ruined many of our shots,

often sending our subjects into oblivion.

Some of the competitors even had the

audacity to try to “steal” our subjects by

attempting to shove us out of the way.

I became so incensed by one diver’s

divErNEt.com

☛

INDONESIA DIVER