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Oops definitely left the blog a bit late again..
Well Tess and I headed off for Big Blue 1 on the 11th at 10 to meet our new instructor and get cracking on our advanced course. We were really excited about diving again but slightly nervous in case we'd forgotten the ins and outs..kinda like getting in a car after time off driving!! (Yes we're rather nervous about that too when we get back!!) we were pleasantly surprised to find that Rick our previous instructor would be taking us again which was brilliant as he already knew how we weird we are and our favourite bits if diving. Our new group were also very nice with 2 english people, an american and a swedish person (swede sounds strange all of a sudden!). We got our kit bag assembled again complete with BC, fins and the right size wetsuit for Tess this time - the last time she'd got one that was too small and she was too tall for it..pretty hilarious for me as she had to stoop and couldn't zip it right up!!
We set off that afternoon to Japanese gardens to do our navigation dive in which we had to navigate our way around the dive site, completing a reciprocal skill and a square. Typically my kick counts were completed much faster than my buddy's..so ours were completed very quickly but Tess did manage to confuse herself on her square as she'd decided to do it a complicated way!! Eventually we found our way back to rick! He then waved good bye and set off back for the boat whilst apparently terrified that we wouldn't find our way back. But our buddy team of Hampus, Tess and me did pretty well and I had a great time being in charge of the safety sausage and inflating it to let boats know we were just below the surface. We'd also been given exciting dive computers and compasses so used these to monitor our depth and direction, make sure we didnt surface too quickly and remind us of our safety stop.
The next dive was a buoyancy dive where we went to White rock to practice neutral buoyancy and moving yourself up and down just by altering your breathing. I really enjoyed this as my little fins never did much anyway!! We had to limbo under a line and practice hovering on our head which was also pretty funny to watch..especially avoiding sea urchins as we did it!! We then went exploring and the scenery was BEAUTIFUL. The reef was gorgeous and we saw loads of bright fish and sea cucumbers and sea anemones just like nemo's house with fish cleaning themsves in them. I'm also a big fan of Christmas tree worms which are the ones that suddenly disappear when they feel the water pressure change..far too much amusement!! Clams were fun to tease too!!
That evening we grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading back to the boat to do our night dive. It was pretty scary descending into the pitch black depths but absolutely amazing down there. We only had torches and we were worried we'd get lost but managed to keep track if everyone. We saw 2 sleeping blue spotted sting rays which were beautiful and a huge grouper and moray eel. Unfortunately no whale sharks or barracudas for us but the whole experience was amazing being down there in the dark watching the fish..kinda felt like being in space!! Another highlight though was when we surfaced, inflated our BCs and lay on our backs the stars were incredible and everything just looked so beautiful.. We were pretty happy bunnys!
We slept like logs that night only to wake up at 5:30 to get ready for our next diving day. Our first dive was a deep water one which we were rather excited about as apparently you can get pretty affected by nitrogen narcosis and end up 'narked' and pretty spaced out..some people apparently even try to help the fish breathe with their regulator..! We decended to 30m pretty darn quickly and had to equalise our ears A LOT. Down at the bottom we all swore we felt fine but typically acted a little strange. We'd also taken eggs down and when you cracked them the pressure of the water sort of hard boiled them..very exciting! We were asked sums adding up to 11 to test how narked we were and whilst one girl had basically lost it and was fascinated with her egg, Tess and I weren't tooo bad. I got all 3 of my sums wrong and ended up frustrated when rick started laughing at me 30m down but not sure whether its better to blame my poor mathematical skills or narked self..! We then went up shallower to indulge our dive computers which moniter your no decompression limit and were given the cameras we'd hired for the day. We had a great time happy snapping away but the scenery wasn't quite as good as the day before so unfortunately fish snaps aren't in abundance!!
The next dive we did was a wreck dive to the HMS Satturat a WW2 battle ship. We went down to 30m again and it was incredible seeing a proper wreck! Visability was pretty bad with all the silt on the ship but we still managed to make out the gun and deck and found a huge grouper in one of the windows. It sort of reminded me of those puzzles were you put your finger on a black spot and the heat reveals a picture..a torch in each dark corner revealed a new fish!! We managed to lose a couple of people in the mist but found them again quite quickly..I was always frantically checking Tess was still there and vise versa!!
Anyway when we got back we were officially qualified advanced open water divers to 30m which was pretty exciting! We've spent the last couple of days relaxing by the beach, reading our books and listening to music whilst taking swims every 15 mins as its so hot!! We've also developed 'Magmum O'Clock' between 2-4pm where we sit I. The sea happily eating our chocolate truffle and almond magnums!! Life's pretty great and we're planning on doing a fun dive at some point too. We're here till Monday when we set off for Krabi-Kuala Lumpur- Singpore.
Have even found somewhere in town to watch the Grand Prix on Sunday :) woop woop!!
Lots of love, Flo and Tess x x x
Ps. Mama o'Chai who owns our bungalow is basically Bathilda Bagshot (snake lady from Harry potter!!) scarryyy!!
- comments
Hampus Hi girls, I couldn't find you on facebook but I found your blog, just wanted to let you know, I'm going to do fundives tomorrow (15th) afternoon, just wanted to let you know, if you wanted to join //Hampus
M Elliott Best pic yet! Delighted you're having such a great time. ML. MWE
YKW All this diving sounds literally so so amazing! Water babies at heart!