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Published: January 21st 2007
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Clown fish in anemone
Clown fish or more correctly called Anemonefish which is in the Damselfish family. So how is the Divemaster training going? We are not done, but getting closer. We have passed 4 out of 8 Divemaster Theory Exams, and if we’re lucky maybe we will complete the rest during this week. The practical skills tests are getting done slowly while we keep busy learning the day to day business at the centre. Our days are quite busy when we are not studying. We start at the centre at 8.15-8.20 where we will help to open the center, and as before every dive, we assist customers with rental equipment and/or get the air bottles and equipment down to the boat. The boat first leaves at 9.00 and we are normally in the water for our first dive around 9.30. The boat is bustling with people setting up gear, briefings and other pre-dive activities. This first dive is usually a deep one so there is a better chance for big things like Sharks, Tuna, Barracuda, Eagle rays and other fun stuff. The boat then comes back to dock around 10.30 and the experienced divers will have a break until the afternoon while the boat files up with try divers and students. The training site is called
Corsaire reef, and is a very nice dive site with plenty of fish and corals. Joachim and I help out with try dives, introducing diving to first timers. This is hard work, but lots of fun! I love seeing the happy faces when someone is introduced to the underwater world! The try dives are normally finished by 12.30 so we have some time for a street snack before the afternoon dive leaves the dock at 14.00. This dive is shallower than the morning dive and better for taking pictures as the light is better in shallower waters. The day for us at the centre finishes around 4/4.30 when everything is nice and tidy in the equipment room and all customers/staff are happy.
Some of our favorite dive sites in Trou Aux Biches in the North Corsaire Wall - A deep dive with current and if you are a diver you know that can mean Sharks, Barracuda, Tuna, Eagle Rays and other big stuff. Depth is about 40m.
Moray Reef - A set of reefs just north of the island filled with little stuff. It’s the kind of reef where when you thought you seen it all, just look a
bit closer and you will discover another little thing. The reefs are filled with morays, stonefish, eel catfish, ribbon eels, lionfish, nudibranchs etc. Max dept 12m so the light is often good.
Stella Maru - Wreck that is standing up right on 24m with a resident frog fish and a friendly moray eel.
Diving with MUG at Flic en Flac BSAC diving with a little boat on the West. After 4hrs of sleep (we were having a good time at a birthday party the night before) we got up at 5am to make it in good time for our first MUG dive. This was also the first time I have seen the sunrise down here. It is very pretty so Nina might have to get up for that more often… but maybe not Joachim. Due to very little traffic on Sunday morning and very helpful policemen leading us to an open gas station we made it down in good time. We where about 13 from the club going on this first dive, unfortunately we could not do the dive we had planned as the currents where quite strong. The currents are stronger in the East, South and West compared
Stonefish
The Stonefish’s mouth on the left side of picture and are eyes in centre. Can you see it?
to the North, but we like current as you just drift along and watch the underwater world go by. Anyway, the first dive was nice and relaxing, not too much fish, but nice underwater landscape with rock formations and boulders. Once back on the beach Jan showed up with a sort of “Roti Chaud”, but made from lentil dahl and coloured yellow; so a bit of breakfast while changing tanks and getting ready for the second dive. On the following dive we saw an octopus and that always makes Nina very happy! We loved the end of this dive where we puttered along the shallow reef at 6m. The club day was rounded off with some Chinese with Ross before going back for shade and a good nap. We look forward to our next dive with MUG, hopefully it will not be too long.
Great friendly people, local wine We have made new friends here and that is adding a lot to our stay here. We have only been here a little over a month, but we are out and about many nights of the week. It can be another lovely dinner at Estée’s, BBQ at Bruno’s home or
gourmet food at his restaurant, dinner with some good wine with Amed, birthday party at Delphine’s, having Laurant over just hanging out on club night’s at MUG. We had our first dinner party in our flat on Friday and discovered that we only have three dinner knifes, good thing you can eat a fish curry with only a fork! Was a great night, I am sure the neighbours could hear us but they missed Joey balancing his ukulele on his head. We have discovered a white wine that costs 63MUR (59 on sale), which is less than £1, less than 10NOK for a bottle - And it is quite drinkable! Chaptalin Blanc by
Oxenham is saving us money, since we seem to like to keep some of that vacation feeling most nights even though we work quite hard.
Still sunny and warm? Yes, 30 degrees and sunny most days! There is a bit of rain at times, but we don’t mind at all!
Leaving for Thailand on the 17th of March with an aim to start our instructor course in April We have decided to leave for Thailand on the 17th of March. We planning to do the Instructor course with www.diveasia.com as they seem very professional and have a course starting in the beginning of April. It is also a plus that there is a Scandinavian link as our contact out there is called Bjorn Tackmann. 😊
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Trond
non-member comment
quite the opposite, but still enjoyable..
great blog guys! I particularly like the sunny pictures (and joey's balancing acts..) anyway, I'm happy to report from Norway that this weekend we had a major snowfall!! Dream weekend in Hemsedal with Ollie, David, LT, Peter and Bendik.. Too much wind to ride the top lifts, but it didn't matter as we spent all our time pumping knee and hip deep powder in the woods and along the Roni ridges! My muscles are aching too much now to write any more..