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My god our free breakfast was disappointing. We were served one weak tea bag to share between us, very dry, tasteless scrambled egg that was served on a tiny saucer (it was so small we think the eggs came from a quail) and two small stale slices of toast with no butter. Hmm, it wasn't exactly filling but we didn't have time to go out for seconds because we were diving this morning. So after scraping up every last breadcrumb we could from our saucers we met our diving instructor and got suited up. The equipment was really good and brand new. As we walked up to the beach to the wreck we were followed by local porter women carrying heavy tanks and BCDs on their heads! Wow, we were so impressed! I couldn't lift one tank and they were carrying two each, plus they were walking over pebbly stones too! We later learnt that each porter can carry up to 50 kilograms of gear on their head in one trip! Sometimes they make 25 round trips a day and it didn't look like they were using anything more than a thin cloth on her head to cushion the weight of the tanks. The sad thing about it was that they only got paid an average of 22p for each trip but as I've read in a few articles apparently they are happy with their earnings and it is enough for them to get by and provide food for their families.
Once we had reached the wreck we put on the rest of our equipment then started to walk down into the sea. I found the stones and pebbles so uncomfortable on my feet that Chris said I looked like Bambi on ice! I can't balance on the best flat surfaces so this was quite a challenge for me, he had to hold my hand in the end lol.
As we descended under the water the pebbles turned to sand which went down into a steep slope. We noticed the wreck straight away and swam over to it. The ship was huge and completely covered in coral! It was actually really pretty and we were amazed at how much life there was living on it and around it. Our dive instructor pointed out Pygmy Seahorses to us which were smaller than a 5p coin, we would have easily missed them ourselves but he knew what he was looking for. We saw lots of other stuff too, like two Red Ornate Ghost Pipe Fish, they were really cool and looked like bits of floating sea weed, a huge barracuda, a really big, funny looking puffa fish with huge bucked teeth and the usual common stuff too. The ship wreck was so big we didn't have time to linger anywhere for too long otherwise we wouldn't have made it around the whole thing within our dive time. Our guide took us through all the openings in the ship and Chris breathed the air that caught in pockets underneath the ship. He told me to try it but I still refuse, it's dirty second hand air from others lol. Our guide was really excited about showing us one of the guns on the wreck but to be honest it didn't really look like anything lol, so we just nodded and carried on.
On our way back to shore we saw our first flounder fish, only a small one but it was still cool. The dive lasted about fifty five minutes and when we got out Chris had to help me walk again, it was even harder this time after feeling weightless in the water. It also didn't help that my shoes were too tight for me, one of my feet went completely numb half way through the dive lol.
When we got back to the hotel we helped clean our gear, had a nice hot shower then went out for a cup of hot orange and a proper breakfast. We spent some time on the wifi sorting out where we are going next and finally decided to go to the Gilli Islands. Apparently they are quite lively and have gorgeous white sandy beaches so it should be fun, we can't wait!
When we got back to our hotel the manager was there waiting to take Chris to the ATM by moped an hour and half away! Chris really didn't fancy it so asked if there was an alternative way we could pay by our card. Funnily enough suddenly there was, even though yesterday the manager told us there wasn't. He said his friend could take the payment in his office over the road and pay him back after. We didn't care what they did as long as Chris didn't have to waste time driving on the moped, so he went with him and payed for the room and dives.
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly and before we knew it it was dive time again. We put on our gear, walked down to the beach and got ready, this time we had torches which were huge and very bright! It was a good job too because we wanted to see clearly where we were going when swimming through the wreck.
Like before we waddled into the sea holding hands then descended into the darkness. We both really like night dives because there's more mystery when we can't see everything around us and now it actually felt like we were in a ship wreck. Our torches lit up the wreck as we swam through the broken holes and gaps, we tried to imagine what it would have been like before it had sunk.
We saw the same Ornate fish and Pygmy Sea Horses as before but this time we also saw a crab we didn't recognise. It looked very strange, like it was made completely out of little stones and rocks. We showed our dive instructor and he later said he had never seen it before either. We looked online but we still haven't found out what it's called.
The rest of the dive was really good, we saw a ghost pipe fish, a large parrot fish sleeping under the wreck, a huge hump back parrot fish with a really big beak and lots of boxer shrimp. There were three massive moray eels swimming around looking into the crevices for food which was really cool. We got really close to them and watched them for ages. As we turned and left the eels I floated up into some weeds above me, because it was dark I didn't know what the hell it was at first which freaked me out! Chris just watched laughing.
Chris really liked a hermit crab we saw, it was quite big and had all sorts of different coral growing on its shell. The best ones were the christmas tree corals that had attached themselves to it, they retracted every time we got too close.
Our guide took us into a quieter area with no other divers nearby and told us to block out our torch light. When we did we saw a couple of flash light fish darting about around us, their heads flashed a bright blue on and off like a light switch. Photo luminescent plankton sparkled all around us too every time we made a sudden movement. On our way back I showed Chris a huge angel and bat fish hiding together under the wreck. It was a really good night dive and we can see why it's one of the best wreck dives in the world. There was so much life growing and living on the wreck. We could have spent much longer looking at all the small things but our time was up. Chris helped me out again and we walked back to our room for a hot shower, it was cold coming out! We weren't hungry so we skipped dinner and stayed in. We're looking forward to getting to the Gillis in the morning.
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