So I met Rich at the dive shop at 7:30 AM at the dive shop. There was another group of three from the shop, but they would be diving separately. We wandered down to the pier, got into a Zodiac and headed out to Ko Bida Nai. We reviewed everything again, then dove off the boat. After doing our buddy checks, we descended to about 10m, then did a review of 3 skills: mask clearing, regulator recover, and regulator clearing.
I must say it was fantastic to return to the undersea world. I could easily blow through a whole tank of air, simply watching my bubbles rise to the surface, marvelling at the versatility of the human body, and contemplating the fact that I'm underwater without any immediate need to surface.
Fortunately, there are also many more things down here to gaze at than my bubbles and my navel. Once you're below 10m, you start to see a lot different marine life than you do snorkelling. On this dive, we saw two octopii, a moray eel, pufferfish, groupers, and a multitude of other fish I cannot remember the names of. Octopus are amazing creatures; they are masters of camoflage, and it is truly creepy to see one adjusting its body colour. After 43 minutes, we were back on the surface, my tank was empty, but I think Rich went through only half of his.
The second dive we reviewed another three skills: alternate air sources, fin pivot, and hovering. On this dive, we saw, a peacock mantis shrimp, two leopard shark, lionfish, and scorpionfish. The coral on both dives was amazing, in some cases it was two stories high, and to swim beside a wall of it, looking up at the plethora of sea life beside it was truly incredible. This time on the dive, I was finally getting the hang of managing my bouyancy better, and thus using less effort and less air. This time we managed to stay down 56 minutes.
The only disappointing part of the day was having to head back. I met up with Carole, who spent the day enjoying the beach. We went back to Shark Point and snorkelled some more, hoping to see some shark, but they were no longer there. We then headed back, had dinner at Papayas again; as with most evenings here, the heavens opened up and it rained profusely.
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Wow Ron. I'm so happy for you getting your recertification in such an amazing place. It sounds like the underwater conditions are much better now than when I have been there in the past.
You may wish to consider doing a dive at Ko Lanta when the monsoon will be over.
Nice to hear about Papaya. I'll have to check it out. I found it very difficult to find good, inexpensive restaurants in Phi Phi so consider yourselves fortunate.
Excellent info on the fish!
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