Since my last post my Dive Master training has kicked off in
earnest. Wednesday saw me start by helping a couple of guys from the AusAid funded
Cleared Ground demining organisation get their Rescue Diver certs. This had me
playing the panicked or unresponsive victim in a number of scenarios. This
included moments where I had to pretend to be so freaked out that I would attempt
to grab the regulator out of their mouth. Also on Wednesday I started on my
Advanced certification. This included a navigation dive and a deep dive to 24
metres (just to make sure I don’t go silly with a reaction to nitrogen). It was
great to get back in and under the water again, I was happy to see I hadn’t
really forgotten anything from my Open Water course from earlier in the year
(must have been the great instructor we had).
Thursday was more rescue scenarios with the Cleared Ground
boys and also a 30 metre wreck dive on the Amatsu Maru - A Japanese tanker that
was sunk near the end of WWII. It is the longest and deepest of all wrecks in
Palau and conveniently located in Malakal bay which is only a few minutes by
boat from the dock at Sam’s Tours. This was my first wreck dive so I’m not sure
how it compares but I thought it was a truly incredible experience. It was very
surreal to be at such depth, slowly and serenely moving over (and through)
something man made with such historical significance. Imagining people climbing
up and down the stairs and in and out of the various hatches was easy. It was
also rather sobering to think how many people would have died when the tanker
was bombed and sunk.
If you’d like to read a little more about the Amatsu Maru
here is a good link I found:
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| keeping a close eye on my gauges |
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Friday I joined in on a normal customer dive trip to
complete my advanced course by doing a drift dive. Where you jump in off a
boat, dive down and use the current to carry you along a coral wall. We did two
of these dives on the day, one at a place called Big Drop Off which I’ve been
told Jacques Cousteau’s once touted “the world’s best wall dive” due to the
varied, colourful coral and great marine life. The second dive was at a place
called Barnum’s wall. Both were fantastic sites with plenty of turtles a few
different reef sharks and a large variety of fish.
My advanced course is now technically complete just awaiting
a few signatures. I’ll be joining many more dives in coming weeks to get my
experience up before participating in the next rescue diver course then onto
Dive Master.
On another note the wet season is well and truly here. It’s
been raining for near 3 weeks straight with minimal breaks. The last
time I saw this much rain in one short period 239% of my home state of
Queensland flooded!
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