Today is the start of a new phase of our trip in as much as we have to say goodbye to Nina and Anne who are going home and our Hawain friends Fred and Julie who are moving on to a new destination.
Will it be just us on the boat? Well, I suspect not as they’re are a couple of new names on the dive planning board, fresh meat perhaps, let’s see what transpires.
Today, in the tropics we have a gentle rain though the sky is full of broken cloud so it may not last all day, even if it does, we are here to get wet, so get wet we shall! Bonus here in as much as the rain is warm!
We meet our new boat buddies who are from Japan and speak only slightly more English than we do Japanese, so chat is thin on the ground!
Dive #21
Dari Laut
This is the Casino wreck but we spend most of the time hunting for nudi’s etc.
On the way down we pass a painted frog fish then during the dive it’s nudi’s, Christmas Tree Worms, a spotty nudi and a psycadelic nudi (they are super small!)
Back on board for the surface interval we head over to Olympic Point where Oreos and coffee are served as we watch several crabs float by that are hitchhiking on driftwood!
As the time for the next dive approached it was announced that there was too much current so we moved to nearby Minilog.
Dive #22
Minilog
More nudi action including the giant one that looks like a healthy portion of pink broccoli. Other sightings included various shrimps and more Christmas tree worms.
After the dive we head back to base for a light lunch of B. L.T. With fries and Tuna Ceviche which today had extra red chillies, I’m still recovering!
This was followed by a quick dip in the pool, we were they only folk there though I noticed that they had put out several towels on the sun loungers, obviously to dry I thought, how thoughtful, especially as I was without one. After our dip I use one of the aforementioned on order to dry myself, I put it back in place to dry off again ready for the next user.
I believe that there are other europeans at the resort, possibly from Germany…
This made me chuckle, just before lunch, in the post dive shower area, one of the Spanish team let out an almighty sneaze, much to the amazement and delight of the rest of his party. Various cheers were heard from all around then, after the briefest of pauses I hear ‘Anybody Hurt’! Well, it made me laugh!
Time for the afternoon dive and we had out to Mainit Corner – very close the resort, this is a dive on the peninsular where where is lots to see – though today the visibility was challenging – still some silt kicked up by winds the day before and it is drifting down that part of the coast – still plenty to see and some interesting diver interactions ….
After the dive it’s hot drink and biscuit time before we head out for the dusk/night dive – just Jo and I.
At this point it’s tipping it down with rain and the sea is absolutely flat. We make our way to ‘Twin Rocks’ – so called as there are to massive rocks that almost break the surface, possibly around 12-15m high. We roll in and the sea is positively hot! Well, at least in comparison with how we were feeling sat in the rain! A quick instrument check revealed that it was the same 29 degrees that it had been all week.
Perfect vis with lots to see – Jo bagged a pygmy Seahorse whilst I managed to capture some shrimps that had made their home on whip corals.
We also found a mahoosive turtle and a large crab which made those on the T’Pot look quite tiny!
During the dive there was a lightning storm which illuminated the entire site from time to time – another awesome dive.
Back on dry land it seemed that we were the only people nightdiving, their loss!
Dinner was Pork Kebabs, Chop Suey Vegetables and Fried Rice – then back to the room to look at the days pictures then pass out, recharge and get ready to do it all again!