first day of diving
the 5 other divers joined us late last night - after i was fast asleep. apparently their flight from singapore was delayed a bit because of weather and a medical emergency from one of the other passengers. i think they got to the boat around midnight or so. jason was the first one i met. we watched the sunrise together from the back of the boat. not much of a sunrise as the cloud cover was still fairly heavy from the rain last night. still, it's always nice to watch the world wake up. slowly everyone else made their way out of their cabins. the other 2 i met were ken and vincent who were there with their wives - didn't catch their names. plenty of time for that.
it was pretty windy still which made the sea quite choppy. our first dive was at the house reef of a nearby resort called kurumba. i have no idea why anyone would book a vacation to the maldives and stay so close to the airport. with all those planes flying overhead it hardly seems possible that one could relax and feel away from it all. to each their own. not really much to see on this dive and we were all fairly preoccupied with dealing with the chop and the less than ideal conditions - medium current, low visibility. i'm quickly having to adjust to the way they measure tank pressure here - in bar as opposed to psi. i ended up starting the dive with a less than full tank of air but still managed to end it with just barely above what would be considered a safe amount left.
bruce was having problems with his equipment on this dive which was exacerbated by his taking some actifed to help him clear up a sinus thing he caught in the similans. he ended up getting a real bad case of vertigo and said that he thinks he may have blacked out for a split second. really scary in hindsighht but his training gave him the ability to not panic. "do i have air? yes. everything's fine.", as he put it. note to all who may take up diving... 1) proper training is essential. 2) stay off all meds before diving since you have no idea how your body will react below the surface and 3) either make absolute sure your rental gear works or bring your own.
afterwards we ate breakfast which i'm learning will consist of fried eggs, toast and your choice of spreads, hot dogs and coffee/tea. fine by me as eating on these trips generally becomes more of a utilitarian exercise than anything gourmet.
our second dive was at a wreck near the airport landing strip. the current and chop here was stronger than the first dive and though it wasn't a great wreck dive it would have been more enjoyable if the conditions weren't so crappy. one point in the dive we were surrounded by schools of fish of all colors and shapes. among them hiding on the deck of the ship was a lone scorpionfish and a lion fish. i fought the current all the way to the prow which i could grab hold of and look over the side. really cool. the chop was so strong that almost knocked myself in the face with the ladder as i was getting out of the water. seriously. fuck these choppy conditions. give me some maldivian diving conditions that i'm accustomed to.
we left malé and headed north for about 2 hours for our third dive at lankan reef by the paradise island resort - much, much better. much calmer waters, the sky had cleared up considerably and patches of blue sky could be seen. the current was strong but without the stress of the entry and exit conditions weighing over us we were able to enjoy this one a lot more. the medium current pretty much just carried us along the reef effortlessly resulting in a much longer dive. we saw this enormous yellowfin tuna that looked like it had survived it's share of nets in it's day, a small school of batfish, a few white-tipped reef sharks and a white crested toilet fish... ok seriously, there was an discarded toilet down there sitting on the reef. really sad. makes me want to get away from this atoll - the most populous one in the maldives - asap.
we were treated to our first sunset tonight. still a lot of clouds but at least you could see the sun as it went down. gorgeous. two of the crew went fishing and brought back some fish for dinner. 3 of which we then gobbled up as sashimi - vincent had thought to pack wasabi and soy sauce! that's priorities for you. the conditions tonight were pretty near perfect. slight breeze, not cold... lovely. even got treated to stars too - the clouds parting just enough to showcase orion.
i can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
it was pretty windy still which made the sea quite choppy. our first dive was at the house reef of a nearby resort called kurumba. i have no idea why anyone would book a vacation to the maldives and stay so close to the airport. with all those planes flying overhead it hardly seems possible that one could relax and feel away from it all. to each their own. not really much to see on this dive and we were all fairly preoccupied with dealing with the chop and the less than ideal conditions - medium current, low visibility. i'm quickly having to adjust to the way they measure tank pressure here - in bar as opposed to psi. i ended up starting the dive with a less than full tank of air but still managed to end it with just barely above what would be considered a safe amount left.
bruce was having problems with his equipment on this dive which was exacerbated by his taking some actifed to help him clear up a sinus thing he caught in the similans. he ended up getting a real bad case of vertigo and said that he thinks he may have blacked out for a split second. really scary in hindsighht but his training gave him the ability to not panic. "do i have air? yes. everything's fine.", as he put it. note to all who may take up diving... 1) proper training is essential. 2) stay off all meds before diving since you have no idea how your body will react below the surface and 3) either make absolute sure your rental gear works or bring your own.
afterwards we ate breakfast which i'm learning will consist of fried eggs, toast and your choice of spreads, hot dogs and coffee/tea. fine by me as eating on these trips generally becomes more of a utilitarian exercise than anything gourmet.
our second dive was at a wreck near the airport landing strip. the current and chop here was stronger than the first dive and though it wasn't a great wreck dive it would have been more enjoyable if the conditions weren't so crappy. one point in the dive we were surrounded by schools of fish of all colors and shapes. among them hiding on the deck of the ship was a lone scorpionfish and a lion fish. i fought the current all the way to the prow which i could grab hold of and look over the side. really cool. the chop was so strong that almost knocked myself in the face with the ladder as i was getting out of the water. seriously. fuck these choppy conditions. give me some maldivian diving conditions that i'm accustomed to.
we left malé and headed north for about 2 hours for our third dive at lankan reef by the paradise island resort - much, much better. much calmer waters, the sky had cleared up considerably and patches of blue sky could be seen. the current was strong but without the stress of the entry and exit conditions weighing over us we were able to enjoy this one a lot more. the medium current pretty much just carried us along the reef effortlessly resulting in a much longer dive. we saw this enormous yellowfin tuna that looked like it had survived it's share of nets in it's day, a small school of batfish, a few white-tipped reef sharks and a white crested toilet fish... ok seriously, there was an discarded toilet down there sitting on the reef. really sad. makes me want to get away from this atoll - the most populous one in the maldives - asap.
we were treated to our first sunset tonight. still a lot of clouds but at least you could see the sun as it went down. gorgeous. two of the crew went fishing and brought back some fish for dinner. 3 of which we then gobbled up as sashimi - vincent had thought to pack wasabi and soy sauce! that's priorities for you. the conditions tonight were pretty near perfect. slight breeze, not cold... lovely. even got treated to stars too - the clouds parting just enough to showcase orion.
i can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
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