159 Days- My First Night Dive

So I had a pretty average start to my day. Neil asked me if I’d like to come diving with the one student he had from England and of course I always go diving with every chance I get. I hadn’t dived since Sunday so I was quite keen. I had all my gear literally packed in 2 minutes! We head off to our usual site Bonegi 02. On arrival Neil went through the plan of action and were in the water in minutes. I had a look at my dive computer and the temp was 30 degrees (o_0) it was so lekker! The dive was amazing as per usual =D I saw a blow fish! It was friken HUGE! About half a metre in length and 20cm in width!  We got out the water after about an hour to take on some water and have a snack (coconuts found on the floor from palms in the area)

We got in the water for our second dive and more drills. Shortly after that we went exploring more of the sunken Jap ship. I found so many cool shells that I’m collecting to bring home J sitting on the back of the truck on the way home is always the best! The wind in your hair, locals waving and the beautiful scenery! I had quite an interesting chat with Jamie the learner diver. He’s my age and will be on the Island for another 2 months. I can see us spending allot of time together. The crap thing is though you meet so many cool people here; they come and go before you know it.

After cleaning my gear i went up stairs for a light snack and joined a web site called superbru. It’s a site that you can create a pool for all your mates for sporting events and with the world cup right around the corner, it’s a must!! Come on BOKKE we can do it! I’ve bumped into a few locals here and they support the Boks all the way! Australia and New Zealand are in the pacific so they like to support a team not so close. They say we play with heart and I totally agree with them! They can even name a few of our players! Its amazing! I feel a little closer to home!

I heard Adam (a dive instructor that works with Neil) down stairs, so I went down to say hello. He was preparing for a night dive with one of his students (Joanne). My eyes widened like a deer caught in the headlights and proceeded to beg him if i could tag along. He told me to ask Neil. I had to do a little LOT of begging and he then agreed that i could go J i was so stoked! This was my 20^th dive and my 1^st night dive!  I’ve been on the islands for 21 days now and I’ve done 20 dives – now that’s allot of diving! WOW, how i love it!

We arrived at Bonegi 02 just after dark. We had to rig up our gear in pretty much darkness. At this point i could do it with my eyes closed. I double and then triple checked everything on my rig. If anything had to go wrong I’d be in pretty serious trouble. Being 30m under, tangled up in a wreck in the darkest of night there’s not much you could do.

We entered the water shortly after getting our brief with the water temp identical to earlier that afternoon. When we made it to the wreck it looked like something from the movie Titanic. This experience was a turn of a leaf from what you’d normally see in the day. Most of the fish hide in corals and small spaces. Not many swim freely like they normally would in the day.  All weird and wonderful things come out to play at night =D We made our way to the ship wreck, even though i had dived this site atleast 10 times I had no idea where I was! I made sure to stick with Adam the whole time.

We entered a huge gaping hole in the side of the ship - things really began to get creepy now. It became darker and very quiet. We didn’t have the help of half a moon and it wasn’t possible to make out shapes and figures anymore.  We made our way through twisted support columns and mangled iron to the opposite end of this huge “room/area”, so to say. We made ourselves negatively buoyant and took a seat on the floor. We then turned our torches off... I was in complete darkness with only the sound of my breathing to focus on!

Soon after I saw some of the most amazing things ever! Luminescent fish came out of the darkness and flickered in the distance. I glanced over to Adam and Joe. With every exhale of a breath taken from their primary regulator, “glowing” bubbles would flow out their mouth piece to make its accent through the twisted metal above us to the surface – the friction of bubbles in the water light up thousands of particles of luminescence! With every breath of air and every swish of a hand movement, you get this absolutely amazing extraordinary sparkle in the darkest of water.  This room was filled with so many “sparkles” I felt like Christmas had come early, lol – it’s an experience I’ll never forget!

Some pictures takes en route to Bonegi Beach:

Some local homes

Boys playing in the sea