The plan for today was to do the early
morning dive. The reason behind getting up at 5.30 am being, that
apparently sharks and co. tend to be more active. Got geared up
before having anything to eat and set of towards the Thomas Reef in
the Zodiac. Salah was our dive guide today and I was buddying up with
Johanna.
Dropped out of the boat after Salah
looked at the current. Our plan had a minor set back, as we had to
take a different direction as planned. Went down rather fast and the
first few minutes where spent with getting the right buoyancy. I
dived down a bit deeper down than I should but got back up to
cruising level after a short notice. Near to the beginning we also
saw a few open water fish like mackerel and tuna swimming in the
ocean and when we continued along the reef a few lion fish, clown
fish and masked puffer fish. Salah pointed out a turtle about ten
metres above us, but she did not want to come down and hid between
the corals instead. Whilst watching Salah gave a shout and I just
spotted a white wing take a downwards stroke before the owner of it
disappeared. Turned out later that it was a eagle ray. Salah and
Johanna saw it, I saw the wing and Jon didn't see it apparently.
Surfaced a while after that encounter, but just as we where about to
breach the surface Johanna pointed to a murrain eel which we then
observed for a few more minutes.
Back to the hotel for some lunch,
watching families pile loads of food (which they don't all
necessarily eat) to leave it unattended to get some more. The birds
liked it and a whole flock of sparrows descended down to take the
bread. Also saw two rather large birds of prey being harassed by some
crows.
After lunch we then went to Woodhouse
Reef (inside). The sea had some big waves but was not choppy at all,
weird conditions which they don't have that often. Also no currents
this afternoon, in the morning we had strong currents pushing us
everywhere. Went down to 18 metres and continued along the reef with
a canyon worming underneath us. The most interesting thing on that
dive was a balloon we had taken down with us to see the water
pressure taking effect on an enclosed air condition. Underwater I
could fit both my hands around it, above not. Surfaced after a few
minor encounters with colourful corals and a few fish. Nothing new on
this dive.
Went back and had some dinner before
going to the old market.
Diving time: 124 min.
Deepest depth: 24,8 metres
Special: Half an eagle ray in the
morning, sea turtle and murrain ell
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