A stunned silence greeted my announcement that I planned to scuba dive and paraglide in Bali. Family and friends were sceptical because of my frequent attacks of sinusitis compounded by a recent fracture of the elbow. My mental faculties received an even poorer rating. My eldest son declared that I was suffering from a “bad case of mid life crisis!”

Bali is a lush tropical paradise. All flights and hotels are packed with middle-aged Australian, Dutch and Danish pensioners. With so many Australians in Bali one was prompted to ask: “is there anybody left in Australia?”

The first day at the Dive School: Bali International Diving Professionals was a classroom affair. My instructor, a pleasant ex-marine, Mohammed Farish, guided me through the various quizzes and tests and put me through the exercises of the confined water dives in a swimming pool.

The first open water dive at Sanur Bay saw me fulfilling a long standing desire to emulate the divers on television by tipping backwards into the water. The visibility was just fair but the bay was teeming with marine life. Huge Batfish stood tall and motionless in the water. Farish suddenly pointed to a brightly coloured fish with a clenched fist, the sign of danger. It was a scorpion fish, whose sting can cause painful spasms and even death. The same underwater “Marxist Salute” was reserved for a couple of sea snakes, which thankfully rarely bite. The cure for a sea snake bite is reincarnation!

The next six dives were at Tulamben, mostly near the wreck of a US Liberty Class ship. Tulamben beach is unique as it is covered with black, round cobblestones due to a volcanic eruption, some 40 years ago. Dive sites, are just about 50 meters away from the shore. Old and young women porters transported our air tanks to the beachfront.

The first sight of the wreck through the blue haze of the depths was awesome. The torn innards of the mid section of the ship with its engine room exposed seemed straight out of a television program. Yellow gorgonian fans, coral and sponges sprout from every section of the wreck, which for 40 years has served as an artificial reef. Fish of every hue and colour; darted to and fro, from clumps of black coral. Angel Fish, flounders and anemone fish, lived up to their reputation of being the friendliest fish on any dive, by gently nuzzling the bright chrome valves of our air tanks.

On the second dive I saw a massive barracuda, closely examining us with a “What’s on the menu” glassy eyed stare? We swam slowly away, keeping a vary eye on the creature.

We made our way back to the shore, stumbling over the volcanic rock and pebbles. Whatever macho image I had, took a severe drubbing when a pleasant old woman porter, whom I nicknamed as “Mama san”; held my hand and assisted me to the shore.

The deep dive lowered the depth limit of 18 meters down to 30 meters. The danger of nitrogen narcosis is omnipresent during deep dives and one of the tests to detect this condition is to write ones name with reverse spelling underwater. I decided to cheat and memorised my name. But after descending down to a depth of 28.9 meters, I found that after scribbling “NURA”, almost in an instant, it took me two passes and almost 41seconds to get the spelling correct in reverse order! The depths are not to be trifled with!

I lead the adventure dive, going past the 120 mm cannon on the stem and then descended to 25.6 meters to inspect the bow of the ship, mired in the sand. While descending through an exposed section of the cargo deck; we came across a venomous stone fish. Small pipefish, exotic sweet lips fish and a mean looking grouper, greeted us. Coloured crabs darted from the volcanic stones. The creator must have used his full palette of colours under the sea.

The night dive was in the Coral Garden. The instructor reluctantly agreed, as one of the criteria for night diving is familiarity with the dive site. He warned me not to irritate predator fish of the likes of our monster barracuda or shark, by flashing light straight at its eyes. We strictly observed diving etiquette and accorded the large creatures respect.

We started the dive from 5 meters, torches in hand. The activity of marine life at night, was truly amazing. Red and yellow, brain coral, antler coral, gorgonian fans, were displayed in full glory. Fish seem to appreciate being in the spot light. Probably their 15 minutes of fame!

I missed seeing a black tip shark circling nearby, as my mask was flooded and when I eventually cleared the mask was rewarded by the sight of squirrel fish, puffer fish, feather star, porcupine fish and flute mouth fish. We douse our lights to see the spectacular fluorescence of the corals; a sight, which I am informed never, ceases to amaze even the most experienced divers. The dives completed, I was elated that I had fulfilled a dream for which I had waited 15 long years.

On the last day in Bali, I rode a Quad bike supposedly over mountains and rivers. In actual fact; the mountains were small hills. The much-touted white water quad bike run, turned out to be a ride through a flooded canal. Nevertheless it was wholly enjoyable experience, which turned the clock back 30 years. I left Bali thankful that my body and mind had passed the test of endurance. The mid life crisis was over.     

Fact file

Best time to scuba dive in Bali: April to July. Log on to padi.com, bidp balidiving.com and baliquad.com for more
information