onwards
we woke up early to get to a nearby dive site called kudarah thila before the rest of the liveaboards that were docked at dhangethi could. not a bad site... there were tons of tiny fish that i couldn't even begin to name. lots of small stuff. a couple of morays, 2 juvenile napoleon wrasses, a big porcupine fish. business as usual for the maldives.
we picked up anchor and headed east for about 3 or 4 hours toward the south malé atoll to a place called medhu faru - near a local island called guraidhoo that was apparently devastated by last year's tsunami. all the usual suspects on this dive - wow that sounded so completely blasé. like anything about where i am is usual.
anyhow... i'm slowly picking up on the names of the the other crew members.. there's keku who like to surf... falaa dragged him around in our speedboat so he could do some wake surfing... looks fun. i have to learn to do that someday. then there's hossein who is a general help around the boat - tanks, cleaning up, fishing...
that afternoon we were taken around guraidhoo by a local guide - a friend of ayaa's - to see the reconstruction efforts on the island. everything happens slowly here and rebuilding is no exception. apparently there were 2 waves that hit guraidhoo. from what i remember him telling me, the first was about a meter and a half high which after it receded took with it 4 children. the second wave was what levelled all the buildings on about half the island because of all the debris from the first wave that got carried along with it. the rebuilding efforts are amazing though. the houses they're building are really nice reinforced concrete 2br/2ba houses that, once they're finished, will be completely furnished - keys handed to the families that lost everything in the tsunami. the saudi government donated tents - temporary housing for the families while they wait for their houses to be built. proof that your red cross donations actually do help.
later than night we did a night dive at a nearby site called vilivaru giri. tons of lion fish, cleaner shrimp... even saw a turtle sleeping in a cave. for about 10 minutes of the dive i was alone diving around this site. couldn't have been happier or felt more natural. totally zen. i feel like i'm beginning to come into my own as a diver - lie a rhythm that i was struggling to achieve has finally been found. what a confidence booster.
on the way back, our dhoni ran up on a hidden low-lying reef. just cruising along on our way back to the handhufalhi like after every other dive and then BLAM!... our dhoni marooned on this reef. we all got out and spent about 30 minutes trying to push it free - i can't imagine the damage to the reef - but it was no use. it was stuck there for the night until high tide occurred in the morning. luckily for us there were other groups diving at vilivaru. the one that came to our rescue to take us back to the boat was - again - the japanese group. they must think we're a bunch of idiots at this point.
i got news tonight that my flight to filitheyo will be departing malé tomorrow at 1:30 and that i have to be at the airport by 12:30... bummer. i would have liked to have done 3 dives tomorrow. looks like it'll only be 1. i suppose there are worse problems to have.
we picked up anchor and headed east for about 3 or 4 hours toward the south malé atoll to a place called medhu faru - near a local island called guraidhoo that was apparently devastated by last year's tsunami. all the usual suspects on this dive - wow that sounded so completely blasé. like anything about where i am is usual.
anyhow... i'm slowly picking up on the names of the the other crew members.. there's keku who like to surf... falaa dragged him around in our speedboat so he could do some wake surfing... looks fun. i have to learn to do that someday. then there's hossein who is a general help around the boat - tanks, cleaning up, fishing...
that afternoon we were taken around guraidhoo by a local guide - a friend of ayaa's - to see the reconstruction efforts on the island. everything happens slowly here and rebuilding is no exception. apparently there were 2 waves that hit guraidhoo. from what i remember him telling me, the first was about a meter and a half high which after it receded took with it 4 children. the second wave was what levelled all the buildings on about half the island because of all the debris from the first wave that got carried along with it. the rebuilding efforts are amazing though. the houses they're building are really nice reinforced concrete 2br/2ba houses that, once they're finished, will be completely furnished - keys handed to the families that lost everything in the tsunami. the saudi government donated tents - temporary housing for the families while they wait for their houses to be built. proof that your red cross donations actually do help.
later than night we did a night dive at a nearby site called vilivaru giri. tons of lion fish, cleaner shrimp... even saw a turtle sleeping in a cave. for about 10 minutes of the dive i was alone diving around this site. couldn't have been happier or felt more natural. totally zen. i feel like i'm beginning to come into my own as a diver - lie a rhythm that i was struggling to achieve has finally been found. what a confidence booster.
on the way back, our dhoni ran up on a hidden low-lying reef. just cruising along on our way back to the handhufalhi like after every other dive and then BLAM!... our dhoni marooned on this reef. we all got out and spent about 30 minutes trying to push it free - i can't imagine the damage to the reef - but it was no use. it was stuck there for the night until high tide occurred in the morning. luckily for us there were other groups diving at vilivaru. the one that came to our rescue to take us back to the boat was - again - the japanese group. they must think we're a bunch of idiots at this point.
i got news tonight that my flight to filitheyo will be departing malé tomorrow at 1:30 and that i have to be at the airport by 12:30... bummer. i would have liked to have done 3 dives tomorrow. looks like it'll only be 1. i suppose there are worse problems to have.
posted by michael | 8:50 PM
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