Sunday, 8th August 2004
Day two of our Indian Ocean diving!
Another reasonably early start and onto the boat, with a mixed crowd (including a fruighteningly young looking couple who are students at Newcastle Uni) - some from yesterday, some new faces.
Out to a different dive site (although again I can’t remember the name), kitted up and off we went. A few new tests, such as a backwards, seated entry into the water and some more buoyancy practice (and finishing with an emergency ascent). And this time, a little longer to spend exploring - I think my air lasted for over 40 minutes for the first time, and I wasn’t the first to go up to the surface, either.
It really is a quite amazing experience, and I especially like the view looking back up to the surface through shoals of sparkling fish. It’s so surreal watching your own breath slowly rising to the surface, scattering fish as it bloops upwards.
Another picnic lunch of fruit and samosas (talking to a Brit who worked for the UN development agency, and was in East Africa for his job, so had decided to come over to Zanzibar for some diving!) and then back in the water for our final test-dive.
Loads more fish! I’d love to be able to recognise them, but like bird-spotting, my recollection never seems to match anything in the guides (although I quite liked the waterproof field-guides you can take on your dive with you!)
Eventually time was up (back down to 35 minutes again, but we went deeper than we had previously, to about 24m, I think) and we headed back to Stone Town. Sat our final tests, and we were done! Qualified divers! Piece of cake!
Before wandering out to Mercury’s for some well-earned beer and grub, we set out on a mission to find Sébastien a present of some tinnies. This should, of course, have been easy, but it turned out to be anything but, as all the “proper” shopes were closed, and we couldn’t find anywhere in the old town that looked suitable. Until a guy lounging on some steps offered to help, and we set off at high speed through the passageways and alleys. After covering a huge great circle that brought us out once in a large market square (wish we could remember how we got there!) and through various back yards, we reached a small square with a cafe, selling 6-packs of Tusker! Headed back to the dive centre, and toasted our fabulous teacher!
The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, sat at a table overlooking the beach at Mercury’s, with another incredible sun-set, eating great sea-food, drinking cold Tuskers.... It’s a kind of magic...
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