We went diving to the outer reef today with a company called tusa dive. It was about an hour and half to the dive site and we were greeted with rain, sun and waves on the way. Once there we were all debriefed and told what was going to happen. Since this was Katies first non-training dive we went witha guide for the first dive, which turned out to be a mistake. We were paired with two intro divers and an instructor. Both the other divers and instructor didnt speak english very well and thus we basically were on our own. Once down the three did their own thing and in doint so ended up knocking the reef around and stirring up all sorts of silt and basically made a mess of the dive. And then to top it all off the tanks we had were shorties so we only had about 30 minutes of dive time.
All that being said it is still the best thing in the world to dive and the scenery was magnificent. Once we decided to stay back a little we were finally able to see more of the reef and sea life that we had come for. It is truly undescribable unless you have experienced it. For us it is the ultimate feeling of freedom and exhilarating experience. The weightlessness, the open water, the calmness, the immersion into natures most powerful element, combine all that and add in beauty and wonder and you only start to understand it.
once we were back on the boat we decided to do the next dive on our own. So we had lunch and relaxed a bit before heading back into the water. Once we were in the water it was much MUCH better, the reef was ours to explore and nothing was making a mess of things. We swam around some bommies (pillars of reef coming up from the sea floor) and were able to experience many types of coral, fish and sea life. Unfortunately we did not see a shark or a turtle yet. Katie is a little hesitant to want to see a shark, even though i have assured her that it is not the sharks that we have to worry about, but the barracuda's (nice husband right :). They will take your arm, not the shark!
The second dive was far better than the first and we are looking forward to going again tomorrow for 3 more dives. It has been awesome and katie is very glad that she got her certification and now wants to go again and again and again and aga... you get the picture. The only bad thing about the second dive was the amount of air as once again the shorties on allowed us to have 30 minutes bottom time.
On the boat ride back we met a man from germany whop we talked with about diving and he has suggested that the Red sea is the best place he has been to, so we have begun planning our trip to egypt for the next diving adventure. This was seconded by another couple we met from the Netherlands. It is amazing how many people we have met on this trip, and how many times katies has whispered in my ear "Meet any new friends Clarence..." i guess i am more like my dad than i thought. However my sweet talking and chatty nature has and continued to help us out throughout the trip (see great ocean road).
Once home we again tried to go to the city, but as is custom for the tropics it was raining and didnt stop, so we had dinner and watched a movie. Tomorrow should be fantastic.
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