Schcuba Schcott!

Trip Start Sep 09, 2004
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Trip End Ongoing


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Thursday, October 14, 2004

PASSED!

Did the final two deep dives today and passed. It was a bit more difficult than yesterday, but nevertheless achieved. I had problems equalising on the first descent as I had difficulty clearing my left ear. But after a bit of patience and perseverence, I got it sorted and carried on to the bottom. We went to about 18 metres/60 feet today and had to complete our skills again sitting on the bottom. It was a lot more involved this time with underwater compass navigation thrown in and the 'emergency ascent' was a bit hair raising to say the least. The fish were as inquisitive and friendly as before, they were just great.

Four of us passed in the end which was good.

So another great day, though I did get sunburnt a bit. Not that it matters cos' I'm chuffed to bits!

Waz and Junya went for another dinner hunt on the way back. Junya had a good run this time and managed to catch five crayfish.

We were almost back as far as Russell when out of the blue, the skipper swung the boat round shouting everyone to get to the bow where there were five or six dolphins jumping in and out of the water playing and splashing. It was awesome! They were really fast too, really difficult to get a shot in time, though I did manage to get one as they were just landing back in the water.

We got back, washed our gear and made our way up to the classroom where we updated our diving logs and received our PADI Open Water Certificate and card. The certificate's pretty cool actually, as is the card which will now authorise us to dive up to a depth of 18 metres - nice.

After a quick celebration at Mako's with a couple of beers, Waz gave us a dozen scallops from his bag - bonus! I cooked them for dinner when I got back. They were still alive when I prepared them so it was another new experience for me. Had to shuck em', trim em' and clean em', then I cooked em' and ate em' - beautiful! It doesn't get much fresher than that - they were absolutely gorgeous!
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