Towards the end of the road along the beach on the way to the Blue
Lagoon is the Geko Dive scuba diving shop. It is a nice looking place
and they have a pretty good team there.
It is run by a Dutch guy,
Steven Wolters. Gekko Dive, Water Worxx, and Absolute Scuba Bali seem
to be the main 3 operators in Padang Bai.
Absolute Scuba has nitrox and seems to have about a 50% Japanese
clientel. Geko Dive and Water Worxx appear to get most of the European
traffic.
There are a couple of smaller operators in town also that dive
the same sites.
The Tepekong, Mimpang, and Nusa Penida sites get quite a few divers.
Tepekong and Mimpang are near to each other so it is common to dive one
then dive the other after an hour or so surface interval.
The dives are kept to less than 30 meters and usually last about an
hour. If you haven't been diving for a while it might take a dive or
two to get back in the groove with your breathing, buoyancy and the
rest. It is only natural.
No need to push, as diving is not a
competetive sport anyway. Just enjoy the under water world and all its
beauty and don't worry about setting records. If your ears are
bothering you descend more slowly. If they just will not equalize you
can just scratch the dive.
At times there might be another boat at the dive site.
There are
moorings that the boats tie up to because this avoids tearing up the
reef with repetitive anchoring. It is rarely
crowded at the sites but occasionally you come across another party.
On Nusa Penida there is usually a brisk current so it makes for a great drift dive where you use very little energy and you don't go through your air
as fast.
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