<-----this is what we get up to in our spare time!!!

Here we are with our 2nd weekly entry from Gili Trawangan (basically, translated as Little Trawangan!)

More facts about the Gili's - The Gili's is the second largest Biorock site in the world (artificial structures to help assist coral regrowth). The locals did a lot of dynamite fishing which damaged the reef, and they thought about growing sea grass but soon realised there was not a market for it and that they got more money through tourism so are now working with the dive centres to create biorocks. The biorocks allow coral to grow up to three times faster than on their own which obviously enables the reefs to regenerate a lot faster

This week has been action packed; our Divemaster course has stepped up a gear and we have started assisting the instructors with students. Both of us found this nerve wracking but soon found that they preferred us under water....I'm not sure why as half the time I have to hold them by their BCD or tank to stop them crashing into the bottom or rapidly ascending. (the reason being, they can't swim in the first place so why the hell are they diving.....). The other half I am telling them off for finning the seabed, touching the coral or separating from the group.....being a Divemaster is more stressful than it seems.....

As for Nick, he has a much more empathetic approach seeing as its not that long since he qualified...he tries to understand what the students are thinking...

We all said Farewell to Mike, who was one of the IDC (Instructor Development Course) students, Nick stayed out while Helen had a early night as she was feeling iffy. Helen was trapped in her room with a Cockroach as she didn't want to let it out of her sight in fear of it crawling all over us at 3am....and when Nick returned he had a fight with the cockroach.....The battle ended with Nick being the worthy hero...

This week also saw more unlimited diving - visibility has been rubbish (nothing like Stoney Cove though, the vis is still about 10-15m), lots of strong currents - thankfully as its giving us fab preparation for Komodo (but still scary nonetheless)

As part of our course we have to learn the Skills circuit (24 different skills) and be able to do them at a demonstration level...yes we feel kind of stupid with our exaggerated movements but...if we want to pass we will do anything....to be honest I don't really want to pass the course just to avoid the unofficial final test of the Divemaster course.....the...legendary...snorkel...test....

There was a reason Helen felt iffy, she soon found the she had a full on cold (probably due to the rain, sun, sea, cold showers) Helen had to refrain from diving for 3 full days (equivalent to 9/12 dives....) so Nick is slowly catching up...

Our landlord is intent on teaching us Indonesian - I feel like telling him that it is a lost cause...but we have learnt a couple of phrases...we have no idea whether we are pronouncing them properly but...hey it's Indonesian....not the usual French or Spanish!

This week we have been bearing the brunt of a 4 day Storm from Perth, which has resulted in massive waves, daily power cuts (we're talking 12 hour power cuts), a boat sinking at the harbour, trees falling into our paths...you name it we've had it...the worst thing about the storm is that we have had to wade through ankle deep puddles...bleurgh.

At the end of our second week, we took the first of our Divemaster theory exams...which both of us excelled in especially Helen who got 100%...after her cold, this gave her a much needed boost to get on with the course.

Number of Cockroaches killed: 2
Number of Woodlouse killed: 500,000
Number of Vodka Joss: 7