Once again we had a bumpy ride with our quiet Swedish instructor. We arrived at a spot called White Island, which was much calmer. This had to be my favourite dive of the trip. We swam along at a depth of 5 metres and then there was a sheer drop to about 100 metres and we swam along the reef at a depth of 18 metres. It was just stunning.
There were a couple of other divers beneath us that were at about 30 meters, it was fun to look down and watch them. There were a lot more fish to see today, the same colourful ones as yesterday but schools of them. I also saw two very pretty miniature jelly fish, very cute but I still didn't want to get too close...just in case! The dive lasted for 45 minutes and my end bar was 40. Quite respectable I hope!
At one point though I realised my arm was caught on something. It was another girl's regulator hose!!! I quickly withdrew my arm and checked she was ok. This is why you keep your arms at your sides! At the surface i apologied profusely, she was very good about it and says it happens - but I still felt quite guilty.
The second dive of the day was at Caves, the second spot we were at yesterday. But we went in a different direction at a maximum depth of 11 metres. I had to complete the last of my flexible skills, which was using a compass underwater, pretty easy as I only had to go 20 metres. The skills required for the fourth dive were to remove and clear my mask, easy, and hovering, not so easy. I was all over the place trying to hover and kept falling backwards. I can control my buoyancy going along the bottom but not in an upright stationary postion. Will take practice I guess!
During the dive the instructor led us to what I thought was a cave and motioned for us to follow him. I point blank refused and signalled to my buddy that I was scared to follow. All I could see was darkness and I thought that if something went wrong, I would be screwed. It turns out the overhead only lasted for 3 metres and we could have swam straight through (i.e. it wasn't really a cave) but the instructor hadn't explained this at the surface and I couldn't see the other side. The bottom line was I didn't feel comfortable so I think I did the right thing by refusing. I really enjoyed the rest of the dive though and no one made a big deal about me refusing to go in. The second dive lasted for 36 minutes and my end bar was 70.
I'm itching to plan my next diving trip. I have to say that starting the PADI course was the best decision and I have loved every second so far...apart from the bumpy boat rides!
Dives to date: 4
Cumulative time: 2:29
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