Jon was the first up today again. He
went for a jog and met a Russian from Kiew. He also filmed the jog
and under the yeti with his Garmin camera.
When we where all ready we went to
breakfast and after that to the first dive of the day. First one was
at the Jackson Reef, the diving site was overcrowded a bit as there
where many safari boats there. Jumping in I lost Ulis snorkel,
another artefact lying at the bottom of the ocean. When we went down,
there where already dozens of people diving along. Joined up and
proceeded along the reef. Johanna saw a grouper fish, a rather large
fish which looks similar to a Napoleon fish. In total we also saw
three lion fish, all seemingly inactive, just sitting around on the
corals. Also saw some small sea slugs, rather colourful fellows.
Hiding behind/underneath a rock was a blue spotted ray and the
highlight of the dive was a massive murrain eel, of which I only saw
the tail. Hidden between some rocks where rather big sea urchin.
Dropped of a bit at one point to see a big soft coral, but Hussein
(our dive guide) reminded me to come back up as it was our safety
stop. Had no problem with air today, as I had a 15 litre bottle on my
back, is heavier thought. After getting back (jumping the waves with
the Zodiac) and cleaning our gear, Mohammed tried to fix/clean the
electric components of the GoPro, the results being that it can now
film whilst being plugged in to an electric socket (which completely
fails the point of the camera, but you could use it as a web cam).
Whilst we where doing that, Johanna and Jon ran of to lunch and I had
some later before going out to the Gordon Reef with Salah. Jumped
down into a rather shallow sandy bank, once again a lot of people
being around us on safari boats. Dived along the sand bank and
spotted a crocodile fish lying in the sand. He swam away when the
current of one of our flippers hit him and Uls (a fellow diver,
sounds like he is from Switzerland) hunted him with his camera. Saw
even more blue spotted rays in the sandy area. Reached some barrels
from a Russian ship which had run on to the corals in 1981. After
that it was flying along with the current across the corals. Bonked
Johanna in the head with my flippers at one point and didn't
understand most of what she was trying to say under water. Jon shot
up like a rocket at one point whilst simulating a motorbike drive in
the current. He came back down at top speed after letting out a lot
of air from his jacket.
At one point Salah and Johanna motioned me to
them and I swam above them to see what they wanted. Turned out there
was a fire fish stuck to the bottom of the coral and it took me a
while to find out what they actually wanted to show me. Later they
also showed me two small crabs hidden inside a hard coral and I took
some time to realise what they wanted again. Salah lost his diving
boy for Captain to find us, so when he drove past he let a blast of
air out of his breathing gear. Got on to the boat rather fast as
Captain had said he had spotted some dolphins a bit away, so we raced
to that point. Could already see three boats following something so
we tagged along and a short while later spotted the dorsal fins of a
few bottle-nose dolphins. Drove along with the small shoal and saw
that they had been hunting, as they had a colourful parrot fish and a
big tuna in their mouths. Took me twenty years but at last I have
seen some dolphins (my favourite animals) and what to we get to see,
one pooped right next to us. Once they left we carried on and some
flying fish rounded of the experience.
Back at the base we cleaned all the
gear again and then sat down to write our log books. Then back to the
accommodation to write the blog. Of to dinner after that.
Diving time: 115 min.
Diving depth: 20,4 meters
Speciality: Underwater: Blue spotted
Rays and Lion Fish
Above: Bottle-Nose Dolphins and
Flying Fish
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