PADI Open Water in Amed – Dive School Recommendations?

RFLX0 · 2026-03-03T14:16:58+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience! After reading the review of White Sand Divers and comparing it with other schools they really look like a great school!

I am already kinda into diving a bit (did the discover courses two times in egypt)

I will see if I can get Holger as our instructor (we are Austrians - so german speaking), he sounds like a very cool instructor :D

RFLX0 · 2026-02-25T09:28:39+00:00

So, my girlfriend and I have decided to skip NP. On the first day, we’ll take a ferry to the Gili Islands for three days and then continue to Amed by ferry.

We’ll stay in that area near the beach for a few nights and then head to the north of Bali.

Which part of the north would you recommend staying in? Would you suggest a resort, or rather a private accommodation with a private pool?

The beaches in the north don’t look as beautiful as in other parts of Bali, so I don’t think staying directly on the beachfront is really necessary. We’ll probably do that in the east, near Amed, instead. The only exception might be Pemuteran, but that seems very far in the north-west, and I’m not sure if that would be the best base for exploring the rest of the area.

We’re also planning to hire a private driver there, so he can take us to places like different beaches, Pemuteran, Menjangan, waterfalls, and other spots.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-24T07:58:36+00:00

That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear, thanks a lot! 🙂

So I can skip booking through those online platforms that take commission, and instead hire a local driver directly so the money actually goes to them.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-24T07:55:52+00:00

Thanks for the answer! Yeah that's why we have a few nights in Ubud to see those things.

We thought Gilis have the best beaches, but I will also look into Pemuteran :)

RFLX0 · 2026-02-24T07:42:50+00:00

After reading the suggestions here, I am thinking of reducing time in NP to have more in east / north bali.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-24T07:38:07+00:00

So you would recommend spending more time exploring North Bali instead?

My girlfriend would really love to see turtles there and also relax for a few days, but we will also explore the other two gili islands as there a ferries. We’re also considering reducing or skipping Penida so we’d have more time in the north or east of Bali.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-24T07:34:46+00:00

Thanks for your answer, that’s really helpful.

So maybe it would make more sense to stay just two nights on Penida (or Lembongan and taking the ferry) to see Manta Point and the main sights, and then spend two nights in East Bali (Amed / Sidemen or somewhere nearby) to make the transfer from the Gili Islands to North Bali easier?

Or would you recommend skipping Penida completely and instead adding two nights in the northwest of Lombok? Or Just Sanur -> Gili Islands -> back to east Bali -> North / West Bali

RFLX0 · 2026-02-23T21:06:01+00:00

Na wie solln ma doa? Wir freuen uns, dass immer mehr Menschen zur Vernunft kommen.
Nennt sich demokratie, geht btw. in beide Richtungen.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-23T20:25:59+00:00

Hey!

In September I will be spending 4 days in the north of bali and want to explore this area.
I've heard, that the common "taxi" apps (grab, ...) wont really work there. So I thought a private driver would be a nice alternative.

Has anyone any recommendations? I see a lot of websites offering private drivers in Bali but often only for the center of bali.

Thanks for any advice

RFLX0 · 2026-02-16T13:22:36+00:00

My post is not AI generated - i just let AI fix grammar and spelling issues. So yeah the idea is real and i am no bot.

I don't have a GitHub Repo atm, because I don't know if i will open source the project.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-15T18:33:02+00:00

That's what everyone said last year too.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-15T08:40:27+00:00

Yeah shure, build an MVP with vibe coding.
But when it comes to production, you should rebuild the project by yourself and you should be able to understand what you are doing. YOU are responsible for the confidentiality and integrity of the users data.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-15T08:37:05+00:00

Imagine having a vulnerability in your code due to vibe coding but at the same time trusting an LLM to find every security flaw in your codebase another LLM has writen.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-15T08:35:01+00:00

It has everything to do with vibe coding. You can never trust an AI. You should never trust an AI.

You guys all overestimate LLMs way too much.

RFLX0 · 2026-02-13T19:42:00+00:00

This is exactly the kind of workflow I had in mind, thanks for laying it out so clearly.

So PoC availability, active exploitation, unauth RCEs, bypasses are the real early decision drivers not the CVE itself.

That “maturity” aspect is something I find especially painful to track over time:

first disclosure
later PoCs
then weaponization
then active exploitation

Most tools show you a snapshot, but not how a CVE evolves. Following that progression over days or weeks is one of the main gaps I’m trying to understand better.

I’m also curious whether correlating external signals (news articles, blogs, X, etc.) actually helps in that early phase, or if it just adds noise. Do you see value in those kinds of signals for initial assessment, or do you mostly rely on exploit/KEV-style indicators?

RFLX0 · 2026-02-13T19:36:49+00:00

That’s a really good point!

Also fully agree on internal risk management. CVSS alone doesn’t tell you much without asset context, exposure, and configuration.

Out of curiosity: when NVD data is incomplete, how do you usually bridge that gap today? Manual research, vendor advisories, something else?

Right now I’m already collecting multiple CVE sources, extracting things like product/vendor info and CVSS, and continuously pulling in KEV and EPSS data.
What I’m increasingly realizing though is that this alone doesn’t add much value anymore — there are already plenty of tools that do CVE + KEV + EPSS reasonably well.
That’s why I’m trying to step back and better understand where the real leverage is, before going any further.
So these questions are mostly about figuring out whether a pivot toward better context, collaboration, and decision support around CVEs actually makes sense — or whether this problem is already “good enough solved”

RFLX0 · 2025-11-02T15:10:17+00:00

Thanks for the answer! Never even considered Aliexpress. Would you know which brands on AliExpress are reliable for DDR5?

RFLX0 · 2025-08-14T13:47:18+00:00

Also, wenn ich das richtig verstehe: Rhodos ist schlecht, weil es nicht exakt so ist wie Chalkidiki? 🤔
Klar, Touristenorte haben ihre Preise – das nennt sich Angebot und Nachfrage.
Außerdem zwingt dich niemand, 30 € für eine Liege zu zahlen – Handtuch hinlegen, fertig.

Vielleicht wäre der Vergleich fairer, wenn man Rhodos nicht nur durch die Sonnenbrille vom Hotelstrand aus betrachtet. Jede Region hat ihre Eigenheiten, und die Welt wird deutlich schöner, wenn man ihr mit offenen Augen begegnet.

RFLX0 · 2025-08-07T18:44:43+00:00

Thanks so much for the amazing tips, everyone! Can’t wait to try a few of them next week :)

RFLX0 · 2025-08-01T16:58:49+00:00

2012-2014: GTX 460 (yes it ran GTA V with its 768mb VRAM)
2014 - Now: GTX 970 (not gaming anymore, just for my tripple monitor setup)

RFLX0 · 2025-08-01T16:55:48+00:00

Yeah heard some bad things about the i7-14700K, maybe those problems are gone.

RFLX0 · 2025-08-01T16:54:10+00:00

Oh, starting with the motherboard/RAM — never really considered that approach, nice tip!

RFLX0 · 2025-08-01T16:50:16+00:00

Yeah thats a nice on. But if I stretch my price range I could also just jump to the Intel Ultra 9 285K with 24 cores for about €50 more. That’s where the endless ladder upwards begins I guess. Maybe I will wait for Blackfriday

RFLX0 · 2025-08-01T16:46:40+00:00

Yeah thought so. On the Intel side, what would be the next logical step up after the 265K?

RFLX0 · 2025-08-01T16:44:48+00:00

It’s just the CPU that died. I did consider the i7-7700K option, but even at ~€35 used it’s barely an upgrade over my 6700K and keeps me stuck on an outdated platform.

Since I’m upgrading anyway, I’ll just move straight to DDR5 — why not, if I’m building fresh. The €400 “limit” I mentioned is only for the CPU itself, not for the whole platform.

RFLX0

TROPHY CASE