The roster -- scribbled on a toilet door -- indicates a 7am start and an 8:30 first dive. The usual dive eat dive etc system is reversed. The first dive is an "orientation," check we're OK dive but the visibility is terrible, it dropped to only 5m at one point. I was thinking back to [our training at] Bovi, it was that bad. Out of the current it was better. We still have to be wary of the no reverse rule which means when on the second dive we [accidentally] go round in a circle (only following instructions!) we were desperately trying to find any depth at all [shoving our depth gauges into the sea bed] to avoid a "reverse" on the third dive. Our dodgy buddy has quietened down a bit in the water which is settling, he's happy to tag along with us, peering into the gloom as the visibility hasn't gotten any better. Have the fish gone home because they can't see anything either?
It's also clear that we're just easy money for the teaching crew. They're here to teach divers, we just get chucked off the tender and left to it. Good experience for us -- even if we can't navigate -- but not the best experience all round. I'm thinking of a letter to the MD to suggest he stop suckering honest divers out of good money and have a boat for guided tours where we might see something. By way of example, despite my suggestion that we might swim right round a bommie in our 40/50 minutes, we were told we wouldn't. Of course, even swimming slowly, we did and come the end of our time we found ourselves back where we were dropped off and had to call the tender to be towed back (which was quite fun). Suggestive of a lack of regard for our skills or opinion -- "just get out there and don't come back for an hour" might as well be the dive briefing.
The night dive was quite plain (dark as well as silty) barring the 1.2m lobster at the bottom of the ascent line. The only excitement was on the surface swim back (they didn't want to send out the tender a third time today). Helen dropped her mask and snorkel which required an emergency descent chasing a carefully illuminated object. I was quite pleased to grad it but had to go 14m down in a hurry to do so. Which necessitated another decompression stop. Handy things these dive computers.
The roster for tomorrow has gone up (on the toilet door again), we're up at 5:45 and in the water at 6 with rumours of a deep dive. Then another couple of dives before lunch to allow the boat to chug at 6 knots back to the Whitsundays for the night dive and the final two dives the next day. Back at the islands we'll have to wear our stinger suits (anti-jellyfish suits). Did you know the jellyfish stinging cells are activated by protein? Hence them firing if they touch you skin. Put anything on, the stinger suits are like lycra jumpsuits, and you're safe.
South Lagoon, Little Black Reef, Grear Barrier Reef S19.17810 E149.36841 Elev. -19m!
Copyright 2003 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.