With the instructor course looming, it was a packed boat on Sunday as the happy bunch of divers headed out of Sai Kung. There were 17 on the boat, 15 divers, 1 guest and 1 frustrated photographer. The spring weather wasn’t playing ball though and the skies began to darken, some may say ominously, as we approached our diving destination. But the prospect of getting wet kept some spirits high, mostly.
The heavens opened as the first wave donned their suits and prepared to dive in the usual faffing fashion. The team split down the middle in terms of drysuit versus wetsuit donning. It’s that time of year where the water is just about tolerable dressed in soggy neoprene (albeit with electrical help in most cases) but the prospect of emerging from the water dry and toasty is still too appealing for those with the option. Well. That was the plan anyway.
Perhaps the scene had been set by the tales told by our frustrated photographer of his recent trip to some little islands somewhere off the coast of Ecuador - basically a few fish, lots of birds and drysuit vandalism. Determined not to be out done, drysuit brigade got to work. Two total flooding events complete with holes and two opting for extra ventilation in the zipper area meant there were some pretty damp divers at the end of the first dive - much to the amusement of their soggy neoprened counterparts. Lucky they all brought a change of clothes! Oh wait…
It was a busy day on other fronts too. The training season kicked off in style with trainee ADMs and DSMB deployments springing up all over the place. The camera’s also returned to the boat, although nobody told the fish that and it seemed they weren’t quite camera ready on this dive. Still a few decent nudis helped keep our flashers happy.
Viz was decent and the water is warming up nicely (luckily for those in the ‘drysuits’ this week). A dedicated few returned to the water for the second dive (the majority in wetsuits!) and we were soon on our way to Rocky Harbour for a post dive feast. The weather improved and the boys played with their toys before heading home to Sai Kung. A good day was had by all!
All the photos are here