This morning started very uncomfortably. Whilst we may have conquered the mountain of food last night, we were paying for it this morning. Both of us just had a plate of fruit for breakfast, and I didn’t even finish all mine. I was still full and uncomfortably bunged up.
We also ached all over. It could have been the bed, but I thought it was quite good. Aimi thought it was because walking on the uneven stones down to the water makes you twitch to catch your balance, but with a heavy tank on your back, this probably takes more effort than we are used to?
But after some food, an I-bru-bro and my mandatory sea sickness tablet, I felt a little more up for the day. Aimi was continuing her course, so I’m diving with the Ozzy again. We picked up our fins and donned our wetsuits before watching our tanks, BCDs and regulators disappear. A very skilled Indonesian chap had balanced two of them across the middle of his moped, and put a 3rd on his back, before setting off to the beach. If any dive professional in the UK saw this, they would lose their shit. If one of those drops of and ruptures, it would take off like a metal missile. I hope I’m not here when that happens.
But they obviously do it often enough that everything arrived in one piece and loaded into a boat. Today we are going a little way around the coast in what looks like a tall, thin canoe with huge outriggers. It’s not big enough to put your kit on while in the boat, so you inflate your BCD, push it into the water, jump in, and then put on. This means you’ve not only NOT assembled your own kit, but you’ve got to do all the checks in the water. Yesterday I had an issue with my BCD inflator button getting stuck open and freeflowing air into the jacket. I responded by holding open my emergency dump valve and grabbing the guide who managed to unstick the button. It was a bit freaky, but recovered well and carried on the dive. Not having the opportunity to do the checks before actually beginning the dive, is a little disconcerting. It’s a little too relaxed for my liking, especially for a German establishment.
But all things went well and on the first dive we even saw two turtles. One was happily swimming along past us, and the other was on the coral, chomping down on his lunch. Its incredibly lucky to see one turtle, but 2 in one dive is amazing. The second one was so happy and chilled out that I floated a little closer to him than maybe I should have. I was just drifting in the slow current and when I got close, took a deep breath and floated right over the top. He didn’t move and carried on eating so, like me, when food is involved, there is nothing that is going to distract him.
The second dive I had real trouble with my mask. I’ve shaved down my moustache as short as I dare without looking like a complete boob, but still it wouldn’t seal. I’m even using some of Aimi’s raspberry scented, special pink lip salve, in the hope it will gum up my beard enough to seal. It probably helped, but I was constantly clearing the mask for about 10 mins when I got in. Even then I would have to do it again regularly. I think a larger set would fit my fat head better.
This second dive was from the boat too, but instead of returning to it. We swam all the way back to the beach. It was good that we didn’t cover the same ground twice, but did give us a long swim.
Back on shore, Aimi was getting ready for another dive in the ocean. When I emerged at the end of my dive, she was just heading in. I don’t think she appreciated me trying to get a photo of her on her course.
Once Aimi had finished, it was time for lunch. I was waiting patiently, but also holding off because I wasn’t feeling great. I struggle going from sea to land repetitively, I just get land/sea sickness easily. It was putting me off lunch. But I thought I’d have some nice healthy salad with chicken and a mango smoothie. Aimi did the same and we were enjoying it, till a small caterpillar or grub crawled out of a leaf on Aimi’s plate. We both sort of went off lunch at that point.
And that was our diving day. I spent a relaxing afternoon reading and watching YouTube. Aimi spent a tense afternoon (if her forehead crinkles were anything to go by) reading her study material, and is now taking her test. I’m confident she will pass if she keeps cool.
