Mon 19 - Sat 24 Nov Mari Liveaboard
Beautiful. Tiring (four dives a day). Challenging - first dive with hooks and strong current. Lots of eating. Not so much drinking.. we aren't allowed to dive if we drink even a beer :(
We get woken at 6 each morning for first breakfast and first dive. Then second breakfast and second dive.
Lunch. Then afternoon dive. On the 19th, we dived the following sites:
- Friwen island
- Citrus ridge
- Gam ridge
On the 20th we dived "Why Pretty Shallow, then the famous "Melissa's garden". The afternoon dive was at Yebben.
We fed the sharks...
And then went for a night dive at Keruo. No sharks :)
On the 21 we did "My reef" for morning dive and then "Melissa's garden" again.
For the afternoon dive we did Keruo channel.
And for fun, we walked up to the viewpoint which was truly awesome.
And then stopped at a small homestay to watch the sunset.
For the night dive, we went to Swandarek jetty.
On the 22nd our first dive was Manta ridge which was quite intense! We had to do a negative entry (jump off boat and go straight down) because of the strong current. We got the edge of the reef and then hooked in and waited for the mantas, like watching a moving show. The current was strong. At times I held onto my mask and mouthpiece so it wouldn't get washed off. But no mantas for us (the German group saw one).
The reason you go where there is current is not for the thrill (can't say I enjoy it) but because the big fish hang out in the currents where their food source is rich.
Strong current again in afternoon dive at Swandarek jetty, with loads of big fish and Barakudas as well as a black tip reef shark.
The afternoon dive was at Cape Kristen and night dive at Batu Lima.
Oh my word. What a night dive.
I didn't want to go as IIwas really tired (and still sick) but Zara said I must and she'd reward me a large 🍺.. and as it was our last night dive I agreed.
It was a really shallow dive which isn't dangerous. In the beginning we all kept close together, but it got annoying bumping into each other so we ended up spreading out, each shining our torches on what we found interesting.
Four of us got a bit distracted and hadn't realised the current had taken us far from our dive master. Zara noticed and signed... We better go join the light... We all lined up and finned like mad, the current really strong, until we reached them. We saw lots of walker sharks, very cool.
An enormous crab, carrying a shell on his head as if that would camoflage. Lol. He was eating a big star fish.
Then the group was quite far ahead when Roy and I saw a beautiful big cuttlefish. The group was so far we couldn't see their torches anymore!! Naughty. But it was so beautiful.
Eventually Zara came to look for us and saw the cuttlefish too. We all surfaced but her boyfriend and Chris wanted to see it too, so I asked Unke, our Dive master if we could quickly go back down. He didn't want to say yes but eventually, grudgingly said ok.
So I thought I was going back to where we'd just seen it... Roy and Zara soon found they were going too deep and went back up. The two guys stupidly followed the blond back down .....
Down and down I went.... Way off course.... No cuttlefish. So I soon realized I had no idea where it was, and suggested we go up, signing my hand in front of my torch. I turned around, and "oh my god", an enormous Wobigong shark, coming straight for us!! I screamed while frantically waving my torch.. then grabbed the first person (who turned out to be Chris, who heard me scream under water) and neatly used him as a body sheald between me and the 2 meter weird shark. He held up his GoPro and it swam right to him, he tensed, then it turned and swam away. Exhilarated, we swam up to the surface.
Lights.
No boat.
I laughed nervously...loudly...
How can they just leave us???
Chris put his head under to check for sharks. I suggested we take turns, although... Did I want to see?
Not realising... My diving directions are so bad... currents, we were so far from the boat we couldn't see it!! Thanks goodness Zara heard me laughing..
A boat came towards us. Safe. Much laughing. Shared a bottle of wine with Ela over dinner 🙂❤
Chris (my human shield) sent me his video.
On the 23rd, our last day of diving we did "Blue magic". Hooked on as the current was strong, and sat next to big shoals of fish. Andrej pointed out afterwards that they were all shitting on us, lol. They did..a lot :) And then....a manta swam over our heads ❤
Everyone else went back there for second dive as they hadnth seen the manta, but still no luck.
We dived "Mios kon" instead and saw a large swimming moray eek and lots of Wobigong sharks under rocks. Andrej's mask strap broke and Roy's was leaking so they were a funny pair.
No more dives today. We can relax.
We get woken at 6 each morning for first breakfast and first dive. Then second breakfast and second dive.
Lunch. Then afternoon dive. On the 19th, we dived the following sites:
- Friwen island
- Citrus ridge
- Gam ridge
Wobbegong shark
Black tip reef shark
Box fish? They remind me of Staffies the way they look and behave.
We fed the sharks...
And then went for a night dive at Keruo. No sharks :)
On the 21 we did "My reef" for morning dive and then "Melissa's garden" again.
For the afternoon dive we did Keruo channel.
And for fun, we walked up to the viewpoint which was truly awesome.
On the 22nd our first dive was Manta ridge which was quite intense! We had to do a negative entry (jump off boat and go straight down) because of the strong current. We got the edge of the reef and then hooked in and waited for the mantas, like watching a moving show. The current was strong. At times I held onto my mask and mouthpiece so it wouldn't get washed off. But no mantas for us (the German group saw one).
The reason you go where there is current is not for the thrill (can't say I enjoy it) but because the big fish hang out in the currents where their food source is rich.
Strong current again in afternoon dive at Swandarek jetty, with loads of big fish and Barakudas as well as a black tip reef shark.
One of them bit my finger!!
The afternoon dive was at Cape Kristen and night dive at Batu Lima.
Oh my word. What a night dive.
I didn't want to go as IIwas really tired (and still sick) but Zara said I must and she'd reward me a large 🍺.. and as it was our last night dive I agreed.
It was a really shallow dive which isn't dangerous. In the beginning we all kept close together, but it got annoying bumping into each other so we ended up spreading out, each shining our torches on what we found interesting.
Four of us got a bit distracted and hadn't realised the current had taken us far from our dive master. Zara noticed and signed... We better go join the light... We all lined up and finned like mad, the current really strong, until we reached them. We saw lots of walker sharks, very cool.
An enormous crab, carrying a shell on his head as if that would camoflage. Lol. He was eating a big star fish.
Then the group was quite far ahead when Roy and I saw a beautiful big cuttlefish. The group was so far we couldn't see their torches anymore!! Naughty. But it was so beautiful.
Eventually Zara came to look for us and saw the cuttlefish too. We all surfaced but her boyfriend and Chris wanted to see it too, so I asked Unke, our Dive master if we could quickly go back down. He didn't want to say yes but eventually, grudgingly said ok.
So I thought I was going back to where we'd just seen it... Roy and Zara soon found they were going too deep and went back up. The two guys stupidly followed the blond back down .....
Down and down I went.... Way off course.... No cuttlefish. So I soon realized I had no idea where it was, and suggested we go up, signing my hand in front of my torch. I turned around, and "oh my god", an enormous Wobigong shark, coming straight for us!! I screamed while frantically waving my torch.. then grabbed the first person (who turned out to be Chris, who heard me scream under water) and neatly used him as a body sheald between me and the 2 meter weird shark. He held up his GoPro and it swam right to him, he tensed, then it turned and swam away. Exhilarated, we swam up to the surface.
Lights.
No boat.
I laughed nervously...loudly...
How can they just leave us???
Chris put his head under to check for sharks. I suggested we take turns, although... Did I want to see?
Not realising... My diving directions are so bad... currents, we were so far from the boat we couldn't see it!! Thanks goodness Zara heard me laughing..
A boat came towards us. Safe. Much laughing. Shared a bottle of wine with Ela over dinner 🙂❤
Chris (my human shield) sent me his video.
This doesn't do it justice.. he was already moving away, but better than nothing.
Ships cat
On the 23rd, our last day of diving we did "Blue magic". Hooked on as the current was strong, and sat next to big shoals of fish. Andrej pointed out afterwards that they were all shitting on us, lol. They did..a lot :) And then....a manta swam over our heads ❤
Andre and Ela hanging off a hook
Everyone else went back there for second dive as they hadnth seen the manta, but still no luck.
We dived "Mios kon" instead and saw a large swimming moray eek and lots of Wobigong sharks under rocks. Andrej's mask strap broke and Roy's was leaking so they were a funny pair.
No more dives today. We can relax.
So a few questions: 1) why are you sticking your finger in a large fish's mouth. 2) what the heck is a 'walker shark' 3) where is the gopro video of the Wobigong shark ( sounds like a sad shark, poor fella...) and 4) what does a moray "eek" look like... ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks like GREAT diving!!
Kerry