Expedition 2019 Daily Updates
January 17th Update
Abhay P, Natasha L, Fieke E and Matt D
Sadly, today marked the day that we could do our final dives. On the night dive, Matt and Mr. Mountford saw some Moray Eels and a large number of Crabs. Rose, Anna, Quoc Linh and Yodai went exploring around Big Clams and saw a number of Rays. On the morning dives, Mr. Mountford and Ms. Davies went down to a deep wreck.
As for the rest of us, today we enjoyed some well-earned relaxation time. Some of us made use of the spa, went snorkeling and witnessed a beautiful sunset. Our last dinner was amazing, consisting of Italian food.
Tonight we are preparing for our visits to the local primary school tomorrow. We have several activities planned for our visit; from origami sessions to football.
January 16th Update
Written by Anna M, Ratul M, Fieke E and Rose M.
Today the open water divers finally finished their course and received their certification. We are proud to be qualified divers, and it was super relaxing to get into the water and swim more freely. Rather than completing our skills we got to explore the coral reef and enjoy seeing all of the different kinds of fish. We saw frogfish, puffer fish, mantis shrimp and loads of sweetlips, a true variety.
Ratul, our rescue diver also completed his course, and went down on his final scenario to search and retrieve an unconscious diver underwater. He had to ensure that his breathing apparatus were working, check his pulse, and then ascend safely to the surface. After bringing him up and to the shore then he went into emergency first response mode, giving him CPR and rescue breaths as they were needed. Ratul described the experience as “fun but challenging”.
This afternoon, all of us went for a 4pm fun dive! We saw a lot of really healthy, colourful coral, huge sea cucumbers, batfish, lionfish, juvenile midnight snapper, barracuda and, more impressively, finally, a beautiful and enormous turtle! Lots of us have wanted to see a turtle for ages, so this was an amazing experience!
Later, in the evening, some of the girls - and Mr.Mountford - went on another nightdive. We went down to the dock as the sun was setting, getting prepped and getting out torches. Then we took the boat out to the Sabang bay, before dropping in and lighting up the reef with our lights. On the dive the saw baby squid, lots of free swimming eels, a decorator crab, hermit crabs and Mr.Mountford kept on blinding us with his torch. Then after coming back, during dinner, we had an impromptu acoustic singalong performance for Christine’s Birthday!
January 15th Update
Written by Will M, Tina D, Jack B and Bion N
The Advanced Divers did their wreck dive today and visibility was excellent. We saw batfish, Octopus and an Electric Fire Clam. We dived past three wrecks and saw a variety of marine life. In the afternoon we took a break and napped, before our knowledge tests and all of us passed!
The Open Water Divers today dived in the morning and afternoon. In the morning we went to Giant Clams and saw loads of Clams as well as coral reefs. Tina particularly enjoyed the batfish spotting. In the afternoon we went down for our 18 metre dive. Tomorrow we go out on the fun dive and the navigation dive. We are also hoping we get our certificates tomorrow, fingers crossed.
This evening we are playing board games and enjoying some free time.
January 14th Update
Written by Natasha and Ashyle
Today the Advanced divers did their deep dive and managed to get down to an outstanding 29.1m. They braved the cold of the night to go on their night dive, flashlights in hand to navigate and search for a variety of marine life.
The Open Water Divers finished their pool sessions and then did their first dive and saw a turtle (the advanced group were jealous!) and some electric clams. The groups went down to 12.6m and then swam for a good amount of time at 8-9m searching the coral for more animal spots.
Today the weather was better than yesterday, pretty good actually. During our free time we did some tanning and went for a swim in the sea, we also did some snorkelling.
January 13th Update
Written by Rose and Anna S
Today the open water divers began their skills in the pool to prepare for their first dive tomorrow. We also spent some time in the classroom learning our theory. Jia Yu made a leap of faith and jumped into the pool with unbridled enthusiasm. The group worked on breathing techniques and ascending and descending all in preparation for tomorrow's open water dive.
The advanced class focused on navigation and peak buoyancy performance. The navigation was difficult, using a compass to navigate in a square was a great challenge. During the dives today we saw some notable marine life such crabs, puffer fish and stone fish. Tomorrow we will do both our deep dive and night dive; we are all very apprehensive for the night dive especially.
The food has been exquisite and we are all having a great time.