Well today I passed the first of 5 parts for my Advanced Diving course. Today was underwater Navigation and basically consisted of us (there are 4 of us doing the course) starting from a point swimming 30m in a set distance and then getting back to where we started using various techniques.
Despite many attempts by my co-students I do seem to have passed. I think Anthony (my instructor) gave me credit for the fact that I did get back to exactly where I started from, but the other 3 had moved the rocks and the anchor a few metres to one side to try to confuse me. I think that was unfair of them to be honest, I didn't do it to them.
He also let me off a little bit because he distracted me by pointing out the Turtle. This was especially distracting as I'm fairly sure I was already distracted by the other Turtle, but it may have been the same one, i can't be sure (Anthony thinks there was only one), I think it may have been a Green Turtle.
Anyway, i got plenty of time to practice my underwater skydiving http://malpas-chronicles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/diving-cheddar-gorge.html which we're going to be tested on in a few weeks time (Peak Performance Buoyancy it's called).
Apparently there are a lot of Whale Sharks around at the moment, Anthony has been diving with them and depending what happens we may also get the opportunity if they hang around :) here's hoping!
Wednesday 30 January 2013
Tuesday 22 January 2013
Update
Well, I've been back nearly a fortnight. And I've been busy, and lazy, well mostly lazy, except when I've been busy.
The first weekend back was a little hectic as I went Diving early Saturday and then tried to buy food as the shops were closing (after breakfast). Last weekend I couldn't dive as the water was too rough, so I got up late and shopped before breakfast, mainly.
The dive was quite unusual, firstly there were 11 of us, which is the biggest group I've dived with so far, but by judgement, or fluke, Anthony got us all back to the boat before anyone ran out of air, but anchored us on an interesting reef so we could keep diving and surface when our air was getting low - a nice safe way to dive in a large group which doesn't make everyone's dive as short as the shortest. One other particularly interesting feature was the thermocline. This is an underwater break in water temperature. I first spotted what looked like a heat haze (I guess it was) and so I reached out to touch it, and suddenly it went cold. It was, in places, really small so my feet were warm, my torso cold, and my head warm. Not seen one like that before.
The final cool thing about the dive was I had some new gear I bought in the UK. So I knew what direction we were going in thanks to my compass, and I had the actual time, as opposed to just the dive time, thanks to my watch. Next time I'll have my knife (safety only) and Torch to use if needed. But I am beginning to think the camera would have been good, that and a photographer of course!
Work is busy - we're cracking on with surfacing, but whilst better progress than I think the Island has seen for a while, I don't yet think we're making the sort of progress we need to. Added to the Roads Section (I can't remember what I've blogged before, and can't be bothered to check) there is a restructure going on, I am now the Acting Transport Infrastructure Manager - which sort of means roads; but as an interim measure I've also picked up a variety of oddball sections which don't fit anywhere else - such as the billing unit for Energy and Water??? I'm hoping that this is only for a couple of months until I am left with simply Transport Infrastructure, but we'll see.
So that's an update on my world (the real world).
The first weekend back was a little hectic as I went Diving early Saturday and then tried to buy food as the shops were closing (after breakfast). Last weekend I couldn't dive as the water was too rough, so I got up late and shopped before breakfast, mainly.
The dive was quite unusual, firstly there were 11 of us, which is the biggest group I've dived with so far, but by judgement, or fluke, Anthony got us all back to the boat before anyone ran out of air, but anchored us on an interesting reef so we could keep diving and surface when our air was getting low - a nice safe way to dive in a large group which doesn't make everyone's dive as short as the shortest. One other particularly interesting feature was the thermocline. This is an underwater break in water temperature. I first spotted what looked like a heat haze (I guess it was) and so I reached out to touch it, and suddenly it went cold. It was, in places, really small so my feet were warm, my torso cold, and my head warm. Not seen one like that before.
The final cool thing about the dive was I had some new gear I bought in the UK. So I knew what direction we were going in thanks to my compass, and I had the actual time, as opposed to just the dive time, thanks to my watch. Next time I'll have my knife (safety only) and Torch to use if needed. But I am beginning to think the camera would have been good, that and a photographer of course!
Work is busy - we're cracking on with surfacing, but whilst better progress than I think the Island has seen for a while, I don't yet think we're making the sort of progress we need to. Added to the Roads Section (I can't remember what I've blogged before, and can't be bothered to check) there is a restructure going on, I am now the Acting Transport Infrastructure Manager - which sort of means roads; but as an interim measure I've also picked up a variety of oddball sections which don't fit anywhere else - such as the billing unit for Energy and Water??? I'm hoping that this is only for a couple of months until I am left with simply Transport Infrastructure, but we'll see.
So that's an update on my world (the real world).
Thursday 10 January 2013
Home Again
After a month back home in the UK and a few nerves on the journey back to St Helena, I am now back home. And it is Home, home is not in the British Isles, it is in the South Atlantic. Which is something of a relief, I was expecting to feel a little homesick for the UK and I don't, although it would be nice if family and more friends were a little closer.
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