November 5 - Second Day of Diving
The first dive of the day is at Guraidyoo Corner. It is a channel/reef that is on the ocean side of the lagoon. Most of the island chains in the Maldives are grouped in lagoon areas – when we first looked at the map we thought they were big islands. This dive site was on the outside boarder.
They said that we may have to do an alternate site depending on how strong the current it, but luckily we were able to do this dive; apparently it is one of the more famous sites. The ocean is pretty rough outside the protection of the reef and we are all pretty anxious to get in the water to avoid the bumpy ride. Once in the water we quickly descend and are immediately surrounded by fish!
This dive is by far the best one of the trip so far. The visibility has greatly improved from yesterday, but it still isn’t terribly great – I would consider it “moderate.” It was good enough for us to watch thousands of fish swim around us. We saw Napoleon Wrasse, Honeycomb Eels, white tip sharks, and lots of fish. When we first went down, I didn’t think we were very deep, but when I looked at my watch, I saw it we were 90 feet down! There was so much life and the water was clear enough that I didn’t even notice how deep we were.
I did seem to feel a little weird part-way through the dive. I tried to power through it and it was ok, but my gums are already sore from my regulator and that didn’t help. Once we got back to the boat, the waves were really bad and I’m embarrassed to say that my breakfast didn’t make it…doesn’t happen often.
Second breakfast for me consisted of four pieces of French toast. I was feeling better enough to eat, but I still felt a little uneasy after breakfast, so I went to lie down. I went outside, but all the shaded places were taken so I ended up going back into the room. I remembered thinking I wasn’t tired but I woke up 2.5 hours later for lunch…I felt so much better!
Lunch was good and consisted of Red Snapper and beef burritos. I tried not to eat too much in case my stomach started acting up again. So far it’s been good. After the first dive, the boat was making the 3.5 hour trek to another lagoon of island. There was potential for rough waters (which would have been bad for me) but we were lucky and the water was as smooth as you could ask for! As we approached the next chain of islands, we got some really great pictures of very scenic islands – I was taking mental notes of where Beth and I could come for that classic water hotel spot…so far I have seen a bunch of those but only one or two that fit the bill for truly unique.
After some lounging again, our next dive started at 2:15. This was another wreck dive off the coast of an island resort. The wreck was between 60-90 feet and was surrounded by lots of little fish, several lion fish, and a boat-load of scuba divers (literally!). Apparently we decided to do this site at the same time as another dive boat, so the wreck was a little crowded. We spent about 30 minutes on the wreck and I was getting a little bored, but we spend the next 25 minutes floating along the reef – these are definitely my favorite type of dives on this trip – there was a slight current so that if I just floated it took me at the perfect speed for observing. It got to the point where I didn’t have to kick at all – I would just manage my depth by breathing in and out. It was so peaceful and relaxing – Dad even had to check that I didn’t fall asleep! Unfortunately, the visibility is still moderate which my biggest complaint is at the moment. At least the sun came out, so we are very close to perfect conditions…just need better visibility…
The last dive started at 5, which was pretty close to the end of the second one. This one was a sunset dive that is supposed to end in a night dive. It was supposed to be a drift dive alongside a reef – there was current, but it was going in the wrong direction…so we ended up fighting it the whole time. Plus, there just wasn’t much to see – it was kind of a bust dive. :-/ Tomorrow we are supposed to have good chances to see Whale sharks – I hope the visibility improves!
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