Got up at a ridiculous time, 5am, to finish packing up our bits and get ready for our early pickup, although we still made time for a cuppa!
Sure enough at 6.10am we were picked up in the ProDive bus and ferried to the shop, via another pickup. At the shop we checked in and then got back on the bus and were ferried to the marina, where we hopped onto the boat and were presented with a breakfast of croissants and muffins. We were given a briefing and generally introduced to the crew, being told that the cyclone was going to make the journey rather choppy but that it would be ok.
We set sail and within minutes were feeling the effects of the cyclone on the water - choppy being an understatement. The three hour trip from the marina to our first diving stop was more than unpleasant. I have never been seasick before. It was more than horrific! I just spent the whole time stood at the back of the boat 'checking out the real estate' as one American guy described it! The crew called it 'feeding the fish' - with small paper bags of special fish food! Lol! I fed them a lot!
On arrival at the first dive site at about 9am, I was a) soaked through from all the sea water that had swelled and churned over me and b) feeling like death warmed up. We had a dive brief with Arek (our instructor) but decided I wasn't in a fit state to dive, could barely stand and had the worst headache, so went and lay down on my bunk to sleep. When JJ came back from the dive, I woke from my semi-slumber but still felt really ill, so lay back down.
When it was time for the next dive, at about 11.30, the boat was still being thrown about but JJ convinced me to have a go at diving, so I reluctantly dragged myself up from my bunk and down to the dive deck. We had a briefing on navigation, practicing using the compass to navigate around the boat! We then got kitted up and headed into the water. The current was really strong and JJ and I had a good go at our navigation, however due to the dodgy visibility, strong current and general bad-ness, it wasn't the most successful dive, although we did manage to see some fish (including a parrot fish!) and some coral. Getting out of the water involved being thrashed about again on the surface and general unpleasantness!
Back on board, again I felt rough so went back to lay on the bunk. There I stayed until there was a knock at the door and a voice asked if I wanted lunch, I figured not. A few other people checked up on me, but I really felt too pants to move.
In the afternoon, JJ came and once again forced me out of bed to go and dive - this time it was our 'official' Navigation skills dive for our Advanced course, so after a briefing, we headed into the water. During this dive we were tested on compass navigation, reciprocal navigation, natural navigation, navigation of a square and estimating distance. JJ and I managed these skills ok and the viz was a tiny bit better than it had been earlier, so we even saw a few more fish! Again, on the surface it was super mega churny and we were thrown about (serious bruise alert!). When I got out, all the crew were checking on me to see how I was, but again, I still felt rough, so I hopped back into my bunk.
A little later I was awoken to see if I wanted dinner, not a good idea, so I remained in the cabin feeling rough! Then JJ came and dragged me to the briefing of the night dive. I was most unenthused and could barely focus on what was being said. The bit I did pick up on was the possibility of reef sharks - in the dark - scary stuff!
The night dive was quite terrifying swimming around with only the lights from our torches, but actually was quite enjoyable - we were being guided by Arek so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, at least we had someone to follow - even though all we could see to follow was a tiny little blue light on the back of his tank, it did the trick. Just before we had entered the water, it was incredibly choppy, but this time not just because of the weather conditions - the water itself was alive with big red bass, all clamouring at the light from the boat. These fish swam all around us and followed us down into the depths - their reason; to use the light from our torches to find their prey! Cheeky! Whilst below, we had to complete a skill test - navigation in the dark, it wasn't too bad and we both managed OK. We saw quite a few fish, including a flowery cod. Thankfully we did not come across any reef sharks!
Once back on board, I hopped straight back into bed and once again tried to sleep so as not to feel so awful!
No comments:
Post a Comment