Ava is now a certified Junior Open Water Scuba Diver

I'm going to roll back the clock to Ava's tenth birthday this past February.  As part of her birthday gift we enrolled her in the PADI online course – just as her Dad, Mom, and big sister had done before her. Ten is the minimum age allowed in scuba diving. Ava was more than ready to go through the series of online videos, slideshows, and quizzes needed to progress to the confined water (translation= pool) dives in Shanghai.  Too bad our internet wasn't on board with us!  What should have taken seconds…or worse…minutes…ending up taking hours and DAYS to complete as the videos took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to download.  Ava had an extremely tight deadline in which to complete the online course and she finished!  Woo hoo!

Mark and Ava flew to Shanghai the following weekend for her to complete the confined water diving portion of the certification at place called Big Blue.  We like Big Blue…the rest of us also completed our confined water dives with them. The bad news is that Ava came down with her first ever fever (okay, it's not her first fever but I seriously can't remember the last time this girl came down sick. I mean it!  She never gets fevers…until now that is). Mark notified the teacher and we kept Ava's temperature under control with Ibuprofen and Acetominophen.  We also gave Ava other options that would allow her to complete the scuba diving certification elsewhere BUT THIS LITTLE GIRL WAS DETERMINED TO GET IT DONE!!!! Once she had the notion that she could finish the pool dives in Shanghai – she was absolutely determined.  No stopping this one!  And you know what???  She did great!  Thankfully she was the only pupil in her class – great for kids to have one-on-one especially when it comes to learning about scuba diving and scuba gear. Her teacher was from Iceland.  Have you ever met anyone from Iceland???  Not me! (still not me as I didn't go to Shanghai that weekend).  And of all the darndest things- her teacher has actually met the only Icelandic person I've ever known Bjork (you know the singer known for her odd swan dress???? Yep, that one). Weird, huh?

Anyway getting back to Ava and scuba diving – she finished the confined water dives.  Moral of the story?  Don't mess with Ava when she's on to something!  For better or worse when she gets something in her head she goes for it with every ounce in her body. 

So, why the rush to complete all of this?  Well, at the beginning of April our school had spring break (China also had Tomb Sweeping holiday) and we decided to go on a family scuba diving trip in northern Bali. And wouldn't it be awesome if we could go diving as an entire family???? YES!

While I have to work up the courage to go underwater (and trying not to listen to my friends that tell me they'd never ever go diving…isn't that what I said a few years ago??? Am I sure I can do this?) Ava doesn't need this encouragement.  She's a natural. Just like her Dad. Annika is more like me- but even she is more relaxed about the idea of diving than I am. 

But hey, don't worry about me.  I did great!  As soon as I went under water all my worries seemed to wash away and I loved my dives.

We worked with Bali Diving Academy located at Taman Sari Resort (nice place!  I could have stayed here too….loved their restaurant…and nice, super-friendly staff).

Here are some photos from either snorkeling or scuba diving in northern Bali.

Bio-Rock in Pemuteran Bay, Bali (Indonesia): 

Bicycles???  Really? 

 This area is working on a project trying to promote coral growth/coral reef by "seeding" wire structures with corals and running a mild electrical current through the wire structures to accelerate coral growth.  It's working!  Visit this page to read more about the reef restoration happening in Bali.

 Annika and Ava are scuba buddies:

At Menjangan Island (Deer Island)…a boat ride away (on our very own boat). Stunning!  This area looks like a vast, huge, colorful coral garden.

A muppet!!??:

Lionfish:

These fish are pointing straight DOWN the vast reef wall. 

Too bad there isn't a good way to demonstrate just how large this moray eel was:

A new kind of family photo:

I think I should get this one blown up and framed.  We certainly need a new family portrait. 

Check out the pretty colors in this coral reef.  It's difficult to accurately capture the colors of the corals and fish.  Using a red filter on our GoPro certainly helps. 

Annika chilling out in our 3 minute, 5 meter stop:

And here's Ava chilling out:

Going up!:

Our boat:

Coral Garden at Menjangan Island:

 And now our littlest one is a certified scuba diver! Yahoo!!!!  She completed all of her tasks on our dives. She also set up her equipment and took it apart. I'm a little bit annoyed with myself for not getting a photo of Ava with her diving instructor but I just plain forgot!  That happens when you either get too busy being chatty OR you end up hungry after a dive and anxious to get some food.