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Published: March 24th 2009
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Night before our dive
Our German friend Olaf is far right 20th March 2009
Today we start nice and early, 6:00am. We all meet up at the dive equipment area of the complex. After last night's briefing we find our kit exactly where we left it so we start getting our wet suits on. The sunrise is an added bonus and helps distract us all from our nerves. Our dive master arrives about fifteen minutes late, he works damn hard so none of us begrudge him the little lie in, anyway it gives me a chance to take some photos of the morning sun rising above the neighbouring islands, I also snatch a piece of toast and a strong coffee.
In the centre of the complex is a large area of the ocean netted off making a kind of aquarium which is full of large fish, this is where we first get used to breathing underwater with our scuba equipment. I not going to go into all the technical details involved but I can tell you it feels very unnatural being underwater and breathing in oxygen. Pili and Renata at first find it a little unnerving but Zbynek & I very quickly feel very comfortable. It helps that I’m distracted
by all the amazing life swimming, crawling and living around me. This is a whole new World to me and I can hardly wait to start exploring it.
After some instruction on how to clean our masks, regulate our breathing and remove & replace our breathing regulator we go for a swim around the area looking at the wonderful fish that seem equally curious about us. Our instructor is called Remue, he is very patient with us and explains everything very well. After a circuit Remue collects four, large and weird sea cucumbers and makes us each hold them for an underwater photo session, the girls are obviously not that keen to handle these creatures but they persist and the photos are taken. Then our first hour and our first dive is over. The first thing we all notice while climbing out of the sea is how damn heavy the scuba tank and weighted belt is. Of course we’ve been an hour in a one third gravity environment; we are all elated but quite exhausted.
We wash and put our equipment away and then have a hearty breakfast. We are then told we are all off to the
local Sibuan Island for some snorkelling and sunbathing, fantastic! It takes approx 30 minutes to reach the small but perfectly formed coral atoll, fringed with tall palm trees and white sandy beaches. There are about fifty people living on the island, surviving with only a very simple fisherman existence.
Before we beach the boat onto the island we put our anchor at 500 metres off shore for some snorkelling over the drop off from the coral reef below. Almost immediately Renata spots a Green Turtle in the depths below her and calls me over with my new underwater camera. I follow above for a few hundred feet and then it disappears into the gloomy depths. We are all grinning from ear to ear with our encounter and anything else from here is just a glorious bonus. We’ve been told that we’d be very lucky to see turtles here as most are around the Islands of Sipadan and Mabul which are unfortunately booked full so we have no way of visiting. During my first hour in the water over my first coral reef I encounter another two turtles and eventually have one come up for air very close to me
and I manage to get some prized photos, yet another dream like moment in my adventure.
The coral reef is like a psychedelic, alien World. The coral grows up in the water column like exotic, flowering trees and spiny bushes. There are also many large brains and tubes structures all covered with molluscs and anemones of dazzling blue and reds. The coral canopies are full of a myriad of vividly coloured fish in every shape and size. They all know I’m there and a thousand little eyes follow my every move. Some are more curious than others and come close for an inquisitive look at me. Others stay and guard their invisible boarders to their territories, chasing off any intruders, including me! These little animals seem fearless with the courage and spirit of the Japanese samurai warriors backed with the confidence that they can turn on the spot and accelerate away at an amazing speed.
The sunlight pierces the water with shafts of light giving the elusion that the light is actually coming from below us, very weird! I can hardly contain my excitement and have to really concentrate on breathing through my mouth and snorkel and not
through my nose. This is like the first time I paid attention to the bird life in my local woodland about 35yrs ago, so much to see and discover and this new environment covers one third of the World. I feel a new obsession coming on to add to my ever growing collection. I also think my Natural History book library is going to grow much larger over the next few years!!!
After an hour over the reef its time to go ashore, the children of this small community come down the beach to meet us with smiling; cheeky faces and we can see these are happy, untroubled people living in a paradise. Before again exploring the life on the coral reef we set off for a slow thirty minute walk around the island. We’ve also met a German guy called Olaf, he a very fit ex wrestler and has some great stories about his travels. We first met him the previous night after dinner when he joined us at our table. Olaf strolls with us and we make friends with one of the fishermen and take some nice photos. The sea & sky are a crystal blue and
makes everything else in sight even more vivid in colour; it’s very hard to take a bad picture in fact.
After our walk it’s a relief to put on the flippers and snorkel and get into the refreshing sea. We spend another hour just exploring, getting lost in our own underwater paradise. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so happy with a new experience. This is quite a statement for me as in the last few months I’ve realised so many dream on my one time fantasy list. I know I’m becoming addicted to diving in every form and I’m really looking forward to my next scuba dive.
The trip back into the wind, skimming across the ocean is a joy. The sun has been relentless and all of us are suffering a little from sunburn because of the added assistance from the salt water, it’s a small price to pay.
On arrival back at the complex we shower and are served a large lunch and then retire to our rooms. Pili has a little stomach problem and Renata has had a little too much sun. After a discussion we decide to give our dive
master the afternoon off and forego our afternoon scuba dive and re-book it for tomorrow morning. I think this is a good idea as we are tired and I want Pili and Renata to have the chance to recover so that we can all share the diving experience together.
The rest of the day is just spent relaxing, sleeping and eating the wonderful meals served to us. We are even given a free cooked Tuna and platter of sushi which myself, Renata and Olaf consume with some gusto. It comes with Wasabi, squeezed out from a toothpaste like tube, that you mix with Soy sauce. It tastes very much like the English Horse Radish sauce, it really enhances the raw fish.
At 12:30 its time for another well earned sleep in our stilted rooms above the Celebes Sea.
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