The good weather is back, mostly. The ocean is flat, the diving is superb. Our big boat is back, so no more diving off the POS Pasadena. And I am in a great mood, mostly. The past week has also been tremendous financially. Big bahts were made!
Highlights of the past few days:
New friends were made and I sent two new very capable divers into the world. If you’re reading this, congrats Russell and Veronica for all your hard work!
Did one wreck trip mid week out to the King Cruiser. It was the first palatable trip I’ve made out there. First, the ocean was like glass, so I didn’t spend the speedboat ride over convinced I was going to die. Second there was virtually no current, so the wreck was actually navigable. Thirdly, the viz was so good, that we could see the wreck down at 20 meters from just below the surface. It’s still a hunk of steel at the bottom of the ocean and I still prefer pretty colorful reefs, but it was enjoyable. Fourthly, I actually got a good night sleep the previous night, which brings us to fifthly. I wasn’t narc’ed out of my skull this time thinking that the massive fishball that was in front of me was out to get me and convinced that I was going to get myself and my divers lost in an overhead environment. Narcosis is real and it sucks!
I certified 3 Advanced Open Water Divers, two of which had done their Open Water with me the previous week. Russell and Veronica are traveling together from jolly old England. Russell goes back to jolly old on November 1, but Veronica will be staying on in Southeast Asia after that. I’m trying to convince her to come back to Phi Phi and do her Divemaster with me (and I don’t put that invitation out to just anybody).
Chris finished his Divemaster. It was celebrated in Phi Phi Barakuda fashion with a snorkel test in front of the shop. It was a very strange experience participating in this fratboy ritual which I think is a little silly. But, as Chris’ certifying instructor it was my responsibility to pour a bucket of Sangsom and Coke down one end of snorkel (via funnel) while he chugged at the other end. It was not me that chased the bucket down with white vinegar though. That was all Adrian. The disturbing part is that Chris never flinched even when the taste changed from Sangsom to vinegar. Just looking at them do this always churns my stomach. I think Chris was still belching up vinegar 24 hours later. Ahhhh boys and their party tricks! Anyways, there is video evidence of all this which I’ll have to get from Chris.
Yesterday and today I was treated to some deep and long dives with more experienced divers. I had a Disco and her boyfriend yesterday. After taking about ½ an hour trying to get her to equalize and not being able to get below 3 meters I finally had to put her back on the boat so she’d stop stressing her ears out. Her boyfriend and I then went on a nice leisurely dive down to 20 meters on the deep side of Bida Nok. I’d not explored down that deep on the reef before and it was stunning – gave me even more to appreciate about that site. Bida Nok is by far my favorite site here. I love the big boulders – it’s like swimming through mountains. We came back up and swung around where I generally take my divers to see the Black Tips and were treated to a couple of appearances. His girlfriend worked her ears out to about 10 meters on the second dive (so glad I convinced her to have another go at it) and she was treated to a turtle and TONS of black tips – I ran out of fingers and toes on which to count them.
Today I took a Disco again. He did the first dive and came out feeling really seasick. Lunch break did not improve how he felt so he opted out of dive 2. The owner of Barakuda was on the boat so he and I did dive 2 together. We went to Bida Nai and we did a super long tour around Fantasy Reef, again down to about 25 meters or so. When Lee told me he was going up about 45 minutes into the dive, I hitched onto one of our group’s tours. Just like a ramora jumping from one shark to another and finished out my dive with them for a total of 68 minute dive. It’s been a long time since I’ve sucked down a tank. I saw the smallest little lionfish – about 3 inches long – so cute! I also saw a lobster and the biggest barracuda (4 of them) I think I’ve ever seen – a good meter long and very, very beefy!
Ryan has been busy as well working at Adventure Club. Right now he’s got so many different classes going on, it’s amazing he can keep straight what student is doing what.
High season is so close I can taste it.
Tomorrow Barakuda is planning a trip to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. That’s a big day trip 90 km south of Phi Phi (about hour and a half by speedboat) to two phenomenal dive sites where the mantas and whale sharks hang out. I’m hoping to get out there, but I’ve been stuck at Shop 2 all night and it’s been rather quiet. It will be the first such trip of the season.
I can totally get behind this high season thing. Conditions are so much better, the diving’s so easy and the customers are pretty much guaranteed to be happy.
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