Luko, did i say something wrong to you ? Your answer is full of assumptions, agressivity and judgemental while the point of my post was just to say that i do understand that some people do not want guides, and that it is not mandatory in Tulamben nor in Amed as long as you comply with local regulation and pay for what you are entitled too Period !
Unfortunately for you, you're wrong on many of your assumptions about me. I do enjoy and learn from local knowledge and foreigners too (as long as people have knowledge to share, nobody is worth better than another whatever their skin color), i am diving on a regular basis for fun with my friends which happens mostly being local dive guides. I am just saying that as a diver i do like to be on my own and take more pleasure finding stuff myself even if i surely find less critters than a local guide, is it wrong ?. Did i claim that i knew better than anybody or that receiving knowledge from a peer is useless ? You, on the contrary seems to knows a lot about me but i dont recall meeting you on my 3 years living in Karangasem regency.
I won't even bother reply on your disgression about biology and science as this is not the theme, once again i just enjoy more finding things by myself and teach diving (being a guide as a Bule(foreigner in bahasa) is forbidden and definitely not my job), wwhile you enjoy having your private guide and find super rare critters, and an other one enjoy playing with clownfish, thats'it ! you should not judge fellow diver about what they prefer to do underwater because you've been 'i dont know how many times on this and that place' and take nice pictures. Marine Biology is not everybody's passion.
I haven't dived that much in Tulamben ( just a few hundred times ) and anyway i do not pretend to know the area better than anybody nor i would dare brag because i know better and i am not gonna argue with you as i do not know you and, once again you assume things coming from nowhere and i find it offensive.
And eventually you assume i dont go with local guide, bad luck for you, i ve always worked for local people, in the rare shops that are owned by balinese, barely hang out with other foreigner and therefore speak fluently bahasa indonesia and not that bad balinese. Now i moved to Sulawesi Tenggara and live on an island where i am the ONLY foreigner so please dont play the card of the 'pretentious bule that knows better than local' with me : I am offering diving class to the local community for free on a regular basis and have nothing but respect for everybody, including you.
As for the stingy Bule, well there are some black sheep in every community, oh by the way have you heard about this guy in the area that kept the money of one of the dive site ticket entrance for himself for 3 years and moved away with the money ? Its not because someone did something wrong that i will blame the others.
Dear Luko you maybe a great photographer and your extensive knowledge of Indonesia dive site is a great asset to this forum and i myself take a lot of pleasure reading your posts. However your posture and assumptions on my regards are agressive and based on nothing. Maturity calls for more care about other people, and YOU should be more humble, you do not know my history as i do not know yours.
No hard feeling though, may this post keeps going nicely and the OP find the answers he was asking for.
Robin.