By: Mayawati NH (MyTrip Magazine)

While splashing into the water on the 5th day dive in front of Pura Island, one of the team members shouted, "Wuihhhh...the water is so cold!"

"Pee if you're cold. Only divers warm themselves with their own urine. Yes, I guess it's only divers who are used to peeing in their pants, er, wetsuits, without feeling embarrassed. This warming activity is especially fun when the water is cold, like that morning when the water temperature reached 24 degrees Celsius.

Don't worry, we realize that we often "dirty" our wetsuits. We always douse or soak it with clean water after a dive, or rinse it off while it's still in the water by spraying the remaining air from an octopus (aka a spare breathing hose).

But diving during strong currents, we rarely do. It's better not to waste air just to rinse the wetsuit because in strong current conditions, divers waste more air. Indeed, in addition to the cold water, Alor waters are also famous for their strong currents.

The #XPDCALORFLOTIM team descended several times in strong currents. They were kicking with all their might, but it was still hard to move forward. Even Sila (Reef Check Indonesia) and Prakas (Reef Check Indonesia) from Team B got stuck in the current at a depth of 6 meters, before finally being forced to rise quickly.

I myself had a choice, once the fifth transect was completed, I could either join the small fish and big fish observers and do a 300m or 15-minute long swim as well as a safety stop, or twist the roll master to roll back the meter that had been stretched to the 3rd or 4th transect.

Based on previous experience, the few times I joined the roll master, I got tired of having to fight the current. So on day 4 of the dive, I decided to join big and small fish observers Fikri (WWF-Indonesia) and Kasman (Reef Check Indonesia) for a long swim and as it turned out, I was fighting the current too! It got to the point where we couldn't make it to the slope at 5 meters depth for a safety stop, but were stuck at 9 meters. Finally, we made a safety stop at the column (blue water) while continuing to be dragged by the current.

On another occasion with Prakas (Reef Check Indonesia) and Mr. Izaak (NTT Provincial Marine and Fisheries Office), we surfaced during big waves, plus there was a surface current. We also had to wait quite a while to be picked up by Simba's speedboat.

That's more or less some of the exciting experiences I had, during 13 dives with the WWF-Indonesia expedition team in Alor.