The latest so far..

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Since I last wrote I have had a holiday within a holiday, done a bit more guiding on my own and tomorrow I start my instructors course!

My Dad and Alison came to visit at the end of August for 2 weeks which was really nice to see them and also have a bit of time off. We had a few days trips that included things such as white water rafting - something I didn’t expect to see my dad doing, a day trip to Ubud, some diving and a lot of reading. I spent the 2 weeks pretending I was a guest at the beautiful hotel my Dad and Alison were staying at. I was able to enjoy not only a lovely hot shower but also a lovely hot bath too and the multiply pools and sunbeds. It was nice to be able to go out for some nice meals and general relax. I ended up with a cold and blocked ears so I wasn’t able to dive anyway so it quite well timed.

Our first day of diving involved a long journey travelling to the North West of Bali where we got a small boat to the little island called Menjangan for a bit of diving. It was the first time Alison had tried scuba diving and the first time for Dad in a while. It is definitely a beautiful place to dive but there were a few unfortunate events. Dad suffered from vertigo underwater and left really sick so that lead to an unpleasant lunch and a short second dive. Alison had a Kyrgyzstan instructor miss a few of the bits you’re meant to do before you throw someone in at the deep end so not surprisingly that was also a short dive. Even though the journey there and back in the car was over 3 hours each way, it was good to see the West of the island with lots of views of rice paddies and the sun setting. Our second day of diving was a bit more successful. Dad and I made the long journey up to Tulamben, this time on the North East side of the island, to dive the wreck and a shallow reef. On the first dive we had two other people with us which was unfortunate but still a good dive. I have dived this dive site a lot so I enjoyed being able to show my Dad the parts that I wanted to go to. The only thing that went wrong this time was my dad’s wetsuit. I had picked out a size too small which turned out to be pretty uncomfortable so on the next dive my Dad just dived in his cotton, button up shirt and shorts. I thought it looked really funny seeing someone in clothes that are clearly not design ned for the water but it worked so we enjoyed a dive just the two of us.

After almost 2 weeks of resting and relaxing I went back to guiding and it has been as busy as always although I have made a last minute decision to do my instructors course. I had spent quite a lot of time trying to make a decision either way but I am happy that I have made a decision and I’m looking forward to being able to start teaching when I finish. It’s a 3 week course so I will be able to do what they call team teach for my final week here. Team teaching is when you teach with the assistance of already experienced instructor who points you in the right direction. It means that I should be fully prepared to start teaching people once I’m in the RAF and hopefully spend lots of time diving! And if there is anyone wanting to learn to dive, then they will always have an instructor who is willing to teach them.

I hope everyone at home is well. I only have 4 weeks now until I’ll be back in the UK and I’m sure it will fly past.

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