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Written by Ania Rocka, translated from Polish, her account of her recent trip to Bali and Diving Indo with disabled divers.

June 3 2016, was the date many people had anticipated with excitement. That was the day of the first organized expedition to Indonesia for Disabled Divers

With great passion and the financial support of Monica and Peter of the Fundacji Mniejszy Błękit, 11 people with various disabilities departed to Indonesia to realize the dream of distant travels and dives in exotic locations. It was the fifth expedition of the Foundation – and like the previous – very successful 🙂

Travel was not the easiest – a lot of cars, two flight changes, great distances to the terminals, but as always – with the help of our brave staff – we managed. We already had some experience with disabled divers, about assistance at airports for disabled people in various areas the world and by far the best comes to our home Warsaw airport :). Balinese people are nice, but everything takes a very long time, with quite a lot of confusion and no end of questions “Are you sure you cannot get to the plane on your own?”

But despite all these difficulties the journey went smoothly. Because the longest journey spent traveling was 40 hours
Visitors from different parts of Poland, we were quite tired when we arrived in Indonesia, but the first breath of hot Balinese air made everyone forget about the fatigue. Well – for some of it was cold Bintang beer 🙂

At the airport we were greeted by Mariusz – the owner of Diving Indo, who hosted us for the next 7 days. It is also thanks to him we had the opportunity to realize such a big project for disabled divers from the outset. Thank you very much!

After 40 minutes, our transfer arrived at the hotel Taksu Sanur, which, we can recommend to all disabled persons. Zero stairs, ramps, elevator, wide doors, flat floor showers definitely easier and nicer for everyone to stay on this island paradise.

Another nice thing about this stay was delicious food. Although some argue that they will not touch rice for the next month, there was many variety of dishes, so we could not complain. In the hotel we ate breakfast, lunch with delicious peanut sauce were served after the dives on the boat, and for dinner every day for a variety of bars and restaurants to satisfy every taste, so different from Polish food.

During the trip we also had the pleasure of celebrating birthdays – first Magda, and then Ani. Mario took care of birthday cakes, and his charming wife of Ike – By dancing in the hot Cuban rhythms! Oh it has happened on the dance floor. On Asian Facebook we are kings, because when we all moved to dance floor and took it over, so many amateur photographers were taking videos

Because there were a total of 20 people, including 19 divers (11 tourists, 7 persons staff, two people accompanying the diver and buddies;) we dove with two boats. One with Ania, the second with Szymek. On each of the boats we had two local guides to help plus boat captain and crew. Thanks to them, despite “Not the end of the fittest” for divers on the HSA boats, we managed to achieve three beautiful days of diving, in the areas of Nusa Penida. The next two days shore diving on the north of the island in the village of Amed and Tulamben, where we dived deeper to 30m on the beautifully preserved wreckage of the USAT Liberty.

As you might imagine diving in the ocean for disabled divers is no joke. Fortunately, most of the participants are experienced divers and diving efficiently and safely, despite strong currents and high waves. Apart from the last day, the water temperature was very nice (26-28 degrees), the last day a little surprised us falling suddenly without warning up to 20 degrees. But still higher than Zakrzówkowej lake that we are used to 🙂 It turned out that day not far from Bali there were 3 earthquakes! This also explained strange currents and very high waves, which made quite low visibility in shallower water, the color of sand

Underwater we met rays, turtles, barracuda, tuna, sharks, moray eels, lionfish, leaf scorpion fish, nudibranchs and many other beautiful creatures. Just ran out of time, we have reason to come back 🙂

As we were very far away and with so many hours in the plane, we were trying to see something more than just the beauty of the underwater world. We were able to visit some very interesting places on land. Some temples with lots of stairs for us were not possible but what we saw for sure be in our memories for a long time

Monkey Forest with numerous monkeys Macaques provided much joy in our group, especially when the monkey jumped on our shoulders, or even the head 😉

We also saw a beautiful temple Bat Cave Temple with bats and the Temple of the Holy Water Pura Tirta Empul, with several swimming pools, in which the local people make their purification.

We also visited a coffee plantation where we had the opportunity to try the most expensive coffee in the world Kopi Luwak and purchase local spices and fruits

The crowning visit was lunch with stunning views of the volcano Mount Batur

The only drawback of the trip was that, unfortunately, very quickly it was over … The next time we plan to stay a bit longer to take advantage of the beach and pool, because this time so much has happened that was not even time for that 🙂

And this time to the success of this trip helped a few people, without all of you would not have done.

Thank you:

– Monika and Peter with the Fundacji Mniejszy Błękit, for the opportunity to realize another trip. Also all those who have financially supported the Foundation. So distant and exotic trip would not have been possible without large financial support.

– Mariusz Radyko, his wife Ike and crew Diving Indo. Not only for accepting us and help dives, but also for the unforgettable atmosphere.

– Szymek “El Comandante” for organizational support and watch over our safety.

-, Staff: Coval, Grzesiu, Gieniu, Kondziu, Maciek – without your support (and strength;) would be hard to us to realize such a daring project. You are irreplaceable.

– Asi and Andrew. We know that accompanying persons on such trips is not a light thing – thank you for every smile and help and no complaints 🙂

And of course we thank those for whom the trip was realized: our divers HSA. For the trust, which placed in us. For many jokes, smiles, dances, and above all the desire to see distant part of the world despite the absence of many facilities.

Magda, Ewa, Jola, Wasik, Mark, Michael, Staszek, Waldi, Vladek, Artur, Zbigniew – we hope trip fulfilled your expectations. See you on the next trip  🙂

Ania Rocka,

On behalf of the Fundacji Mniejszy Błękit. Asi Kułakowska.

To find out more about the Handicapped Scuba Association click here