Similan Islands Trip Report, November 2009

I just got back from a trip to the Similan Islands. We also visited Richelieu Rock, Koh Tachai, and Koh Bon, which are within a day’s travel to the north of the Similans and not technically part of it.

The Boat
We spent 4 days and 3 nights aboard South Siam Divers 4. South Siam Divers is quite a big operator with 2 day boats and 2 liveaboards. The boat was quite large, sleeping more than 20 and with room for 70 divers (!) on the dive deck. In my opinion, the right maximum number is probably something like 40 to avoid overcrowding. There was a large deck, sundeck, a small saloon, and 6 bathrooms on board. All were adequate. Each day, new divers boarded the boat at 10am, while divers leaving the boat departed at 3pm – I would have preferred no overlap as the boat got quite crowded and chaotic during those few hours. The boat was quiet and stable compared to what we have out here.

The Food
I had high hopes for the food on board given my experience with the Black/White Mantas and the fact that it was Thai food. I was quite disappointed. Most of the food was bland and dumbed down for foreign tastes. There were only 3 meals a day with no snacks offered in between. On the second night, I got a mild case of food poisoning, with stomach discomfort and diarrhea. Thankfully, it went away about 12 hours later. Out of our group of 9, more than half got food poisoning or stomach upsets. Divers from other groups also got sick. We couldn’t trace it to one particular source, so I suspect the food is either not fresh, not clean, or both. This is really unacceptable and is something that has to be fixed immediately.

The Diving
All the dives were around the Similan Islands except for one day, when we made the overnight trip to Richelieu Rock. There were generally 5 dives offered each day, with a maximum of 4 dives allowed per person. The fish and reef life was very healthy as the area is a well maintained and policed marine park. I was surprised to find lots of varieties of edible fish that weren’t at all afraid of divers. I’d never seen so many glass sweepers in my life – the schools were so thick that sometimes you couldn’t see what was behind them. Apart from the general reef life, there were a few rare and interesting creatures like longnose hawkfish, ornate ghost pipefish, leopard sharks, and McCosker’s flasher wrasse. We were disappointed to not see any mantas at Koh Bon, but I was told that they are more common from February to April. I actually found the dives at Richelieu Rock, Koh Tachai and Koh Bon the most disappointing as we went through all the hassle to find that the marine life was no different from that in the Similan Islands. My entire trip, I didn’t see more than a handful of nudibranchs, which was surprising given what I had heard about the place. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun shooting with my 60mm and 12-24mm lenses. I did a bit of experimenting with camera settings, strobe technique and placement, and close focus wide angle.

As the boat mostly caters to tourist divers, the style of diving is rather hurried, with the dive guides rushing from attraction to attraction. We preferred a more relaxed pace and it took a few dives to get the message across. There are lots of dive boats operating in the area. At one point, there were almost 10 boats within sight. Yet, the boats are run quite smoothly and none of the dive sites seemed crowded.

Would I go back? Probably only during the February-April peak season and on a different boat that had better food and was less mass market.

Similan Islands Pictures

Full set of pictures here.

Videos from Thomas' Memorial Trip

2 videos from Thomas' Memorial Trip showing the placement of the plaque and mementos:

No self control = more toys on the way

I have jumped on the crazy underwater photography train and left the station. I just placed an order from the helpful folks at Reef Photo in Florida for two full sets of 5"x8" Ultralight arms and a BigBlue 5W LED aiming light. My stuff should arrive in a couple of weeks' time, giving me plenty of time before my Nov 26 trip to the Similans.

Pulau Aur Macro

I tested out my new 60 mm macro AF-S lens with 2 strobes, Ikelite DS-160 and DS-125. I tried shooting with all settings on manual for the first time. It was loads of fun but it became clear that the learning curve is going to be pretty steep. The macro lens is fantastic. I can't even begin to describe what an upgrade it is from the 18-55 mm kit lens. It has a close focusing distance of 2 inches, which makes capturing close ups of nudibranchs much easier. Marine life was pretty good this trip with several sightings of rare nudibranchs. I don't have photos of all of them because I got quite a few wacked exposures while experimenting with camera/strobe settings. By mid afternoon, it was getting darker and my camera was having some trouble autofocusing on subjects that were too close up. Next on the to buy list: aiming light.

Here are some photo highlights from the weekend. Full set of photos here.

Memorial Trip for Thomas

Last weekend, we did a trip to Pulau Aur on the MV Quest in memory of Thomas. The folks from Living Seas made a marble plaque with a poem written for Thomas. The first 2 dives of the day were used to scout for an appropriate place to lay the plaque. The third dive was dedicated to lowering the plaque to the sea bed and putting it in place. We then laid some parting gifts and said our goodbyes. It was an emotional dive, with some divers fighting tears. But an appropriate one given Thomas' love for the sea and the desire to to say goodbye in a significant way.

Rest in peace, Thomas.

Photos and video of the memorial dive to come later.

I made it to the GUE website again

The trip report I wrote about last year's Manado trip made it to the GUE website. The link is here.

More toys

After a lot of deliberation, I finally committed to getting a macro lens. Today, I ordered a Nikon 60mm f/2.8 micro lens. I also ordered the Ikelite flat port to go along with it. They should be in my hands within the next few days. My next opportunity to use the lens will be the 1st weekend of October aboard the MV Quest in Pulau Aur.

Pulau Aur pics

Just got back from a weekend in Pulau Aur. Apparently, it is now standard to leave from Mersing instead of Tanjung Leman, which adds and hour or two to the travel time each way. Highlights of this trip were lots of clownfish, friendly cuttlefish, 2 bumpheads (but only from a distance), and lots of banded coral shrimp.

Full set of pics here.

Farewell, Uncle Thomas

Photo courtesy of ZJ Wen

A friend of mine, Thomas Yong, passed away of natural causes.

Thomas was a mainstay of our Pulau Aur trips. Aur was his favorite place and he used to go there to get away. He joked with me once that if he kept a logbook of his dives, it would read "Aur, Aur, Aur, Lang, Lang, Lang, Aur, Aur, Aur..." because he dove there so often. He would say goofy stuff like that all the time and make us laugh. He carried a 6ft long SMB that had "Uncle Thomas" written on it in marker pen that would always elicit lewd jokes.

Thomas loved the outdoors and fresh air. He used to sleep in a sleeping bag on the front porch of the Diver's Lodge cabins. He would sleep through the bright lights, talking, and blaring music. I always wondered how he was able to do that. To Thomas, diving was an opportunity to partake of nature's wonderful treasures. It brought great joy to him (and us) to find and observe beautiful, rare, weird critters on our dives. It made him sad to see pollution, unsafe divers, damaged coral, and unsustainable practices. I remember him telling me how much he enjoyed the marine life in Pulau Hantu, which to me was the ultimate testament to his love of all things aquatic!

Everybody in Aur knew him personally, including the boatmen, the makciks in kitchen, and so on. He was the guy who got along with everyone and made them laugh. When the bumboat would arrive at Aur at 5am, everyone would rush to their rooms to catch another couple of hours' sleep. Thomas would typically stay behind and help load the supplies onto the island, not because anyone asked him to, but because he liked to help. He told me once how he helped the boatmen carry a refrigerator up the ladder. Just because.

Thomas was a wise man. He often shared with me various aspects of his philosophy on life. He talked about living healthy, working hard, being generous, not wasting, keeping a positive attitude, and maintaining perspective. He always saw the brighter side of life. He was always the first one up in Aur, doing jumping jacks on the porch, greeting the day with a smile and laugh. He was a lot older than most of us but his energy and attitude outshone us all.

Thomas spoke of a magical diving destination that was pristine and unspoiled by the human touch. He described it a diving paradise, where the marine life was abundant, diverse, and free to live unthreatened in its natural habitat. It was Thomas' happy place. I'd like to think that he's spending the rest of his days there, in this utopia, keeping a watchful eye over us.

Farewell, Uncle Thomas. Things just won't be the same without you.

My Love Affair With My Drysuit Continues

Oh, one more thing about my drysuit - zipseals rock! I got zipseals on the wrists as I've seen torn seals ruin a dive and it's a pain to change permanent seals. It took me a few minutes to set up the zipseals for the first time but they were a breeze to use and at no point did I get concerned about their integrity. I intend to keep a spare set of zipseals handy in case of any issues.

Local Dives at Pulau Aur

I spent Easter weekend in Pulau Aur doing some leisurely recreational dives. I took advantage of the benign conditions to test out my new 30/30 drysuit and 12-24 mm wide angle lens. The drysuit was a pleasure to use even in the sunny and humid conditions. The suit really does breathe! And it fits perfectly and is a joy to dive. Gone are my fears of overheating while diving dry in the tropics. There is something to be said for the freedom and ease of diving wet but I think I am slowly being converted.

As a trial run for my wide angle lens, we did a short dive at Diver's Lodge House Reef where Leon, Antia, Dagomir, and Alvin posed for photographs. It was a blast shooting them but surprisingly tiring, as I found that it was easier for the models to stay put and for me to move around them. I was breathless by the end of the dive. Here are some of the highlights (Photoshopped courtesy of Dagomir):

I've been translated to Spanish!

I've just been translated to Spanish! BUEX liked my blog "Observations" and asked for consent to translate it to Spanish and post it to their website. I can't read Spanish but I thought it was cool! You can find article here.

Cabin Fever

Local diving in the South China Sea is seasonal with diving season running March-October and monsoon season November-February. The first few months of the year are always tough for me as I tend to have a dry spell due to the monsoon and work. This year is no different. Local season (Pulau Aur or Tioman) opened last weekend. I was traveling last weekend and for various other reasons, all my other weekends this month are full. Next potential diving weekend is 4-5 April. Fingers crossed. I'm going to be in Bali 9-12 April but I don't think I will have enough time to go diving.

GUE website

I made it to the GUE website! See here.

Sometime in late 2008 I was contacted by a guy from the Northeast USA by the name of Dima. We have common friends (I used to live in the Northeast). He had volunteered to help GUE set up a new section on their website called "News and Stories" that would showcase reports and write ups from GUE members. He asked me if I wanted to contribute something and of course my answer was YES! This was just before our big GUE Dive Extravaganza to the South China Sea in October 2008 so we agreed that I would report on that trip. I took copious notes in my wetnotes during that trip to make sure I didn't forget any interesting details. It look a while for GUE to go through its processes but the report has now made it to the GUE website.

For Sale

I have the following items for sale. All prices in US$. Other currencies accepted. All prices negotiable. I will mail them anywhere in the world at buyer's expense.

DUI Thermalmax 300G jumpsuit undergarment. DUI stopped making these a little while ago. It is essentially made of the same material as DUI Actionwear (i.e. fleece, not type-B thinsulate) but in the shape of a 400G thinsulate. The outer shell is spray resistant. It has been on about 5 dives and is in like new condition. It is a very warm undergarment. Size S. $125

Ikelite 6" dome port for lenses less than 4.0", item number 5503.50. It has been lightly used on maybe 20 dives. It is in excellent shape with no scratches on the lens. The picture below is a stock picture and not a picture of the actual lens. $125

My Beautiful Drysuit

After much drama, my drysuit finally arrived. Gideon measured me during the October GUE Dive Extravaganza and placed the order shortly after that. The idea was to get it in time for my mid-December Manado trip and definitely in time for my New Year's trip to Perth. DUI got my suit made and delivered to HK in time for Manado... then we discovered that they had made me a TLS350 and not the 30/30 that I had ordered. We tried to get them to rush me a new suit in time for Perth, but alas, it was not to be. I borrowed Leon's suit for Perth.

So, my suit finally arrived 3 months after placing the order.

After trimming the seals and trying on the suit today, I must say that DUI and Gideon did an outstanding job. I used to own a TLS350 so I am familiar with these things and know how they are supposed to fit. It fits PERFECTLY. I was afraid the turbosoles might be too small, but they fit PERFECTLY with Xerotherm socks and DUI 400G booties.

And the most amazing thing about it? I put on my Xerotherm undergarment and the suit, and I didn't overheat walking around my apartment. Seems like it really does breathe.

The suit is made to Explorer spec, including the following:
Old style zipper
Swivel inlet valve
Apeks high profile dump valve
Tough duck overlay
Cloverleaf crotch pad
Halcyon balanced p-valve
2 Halcyon explorer pockets
Zipseals on the wrists only
Turbosoles

I can't wait to get it wet. The price and the wait was worth it.

Observations

I was going to call this piece “Top 10 Pet Peeves” but (I think) it turned out to be a more constructive piece so it deserves a more constructive title. I guess “Observations” isn’t the most exciting topic but I figured that the observations themselves are already controversial enough that I didn’t need an attention grabbing title.

1. Divers who don’t understand the risks involved in the diving that they do.
Diving is an activity that can kill you if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’d argue that the probability of something untoward (that causes an emergency) happening on a dive is very small. This is evidenced by the large number of dives that take place around the world every day without incident. However, the consequences of something untoward happening on a dive are high, often leading to permanent disability or death. I don’t have any issues with divers taking risks as long as they know and understand what they are getting into. I have a big problem with divers who think they understand the risks but really don’t. Generally, awareness among divers is low because the general level of dive education is poor and agencies like PADI propagate bullshit like “anyone can dive”. This leads to complacency and an inability to (a) identify the major risks (b) quantify the likelihood of them happening (3) quantify the magnitude of the consequences. If you haven’t been taught properly, then you don’t know what you don’t know.

Let me give you an example. I know divers who carry rich deco gases regularly on recreational dives because they “accelerate the decompression”. The whole point of recreational dive profiles is that they don’t require mandatory decompression, much less accelerated decompression. So the benefits from carrying these deco gases are little to none. What are the additional risks? The main one is ox tox from breathing a rich mix. We know that reactions to high PPO2 mixes are unpredictable and catastrophic (i.e. you drown and die). What I am saying is the chances of getting bent on a recreational profile are so small that they don’t justify the additional risk of ox tox from accelerated deco. Or as George Irvine used to say, you can fix bent but you can’t fix dead.

Another example is people who dive deep air because they think they can “tolerate” narcosis. The cost of a clear head is the price of helium, and the benefit of diving helium is you live to dive again. In other words, the benefit of diving deep air is it’s cheap, and the cost of diving deep air is death.

Yet another example is people who dive wetsuits in the cold because they have the preconceived notion that drysuits are uncomfortable and a hassle. Well, the cost of a drysuit is a few thousand $, and the benefit is you don’t get hypothermia and you live to dive again.

I’d argue that a complacent recreational diver on a 20m dive on a single tank of air may be taking more risks than a fully informed and well trained technical diver doing a 70m dive with doubles and 2 deco gases. This is because the technical diver has planned his/her dive carefully, established objectives and procedures, made sure that he/she has sufficient gas, and has the situational awareness to anticipate and mitigate issues before they happen. The recreational diver probably just put on his/her tank, jumped in, and followed the divemaster around until he/she hit 50 bar.

2. The fact that scuba agencies perpetuate the fallacy that “anyone can dive”.
Mainstream open water agencies like PADI like you to believe that anybody who can pass a “diving medical” can dive. This is of course in to their benefit because the more people who dive, the more money the agencies make. But there are most definitely certain types of people for whom diving is contraindicated – obese, unfit, and those with certain types of health problems. A minimum level of fitness and wellness is required to deal with things like stress, gear, choppy seas, wind, rain, etc. If one is barely fit enough to dive in unchallenging conditions, it doesn’t take a lot of complications (like changing weather, current, thermoclines, bad vis) to place one outside one’s comfort zone. Not to mention that adipose tissue is slow to offgas. Diving is not very difficult, but make no mistake – scuba is not forgiving of screw-ups.

Even worse are the technical diving agencies that tell you that anyone can technical dive. Technical diving is more difficult, stressful, and tiring than recreational diving. Not everyone should be diving and fewer still should be technical diving. It wasn’t that long ago that PADI was telling everyone that nitrox was a voodoo gas. When the technical diving market became more developed and PADI smelled a profit, it introduced technical diving courses through its affiliate DSAT. DSAT is the “anybody can technical dive” affiliate of PADI.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to pick on PADI in particular and I don’t have a problem with most things PADI. An agency like PADI has its place – it’s great for reaching the masses at a relatively low cost and for introducing lots of people to the wonders of the underwater world. In fact, I learned to dive through PADI and lots of my good friends are open water instructors. The problem starts when the focus is wrong and greed overshadows more practical concerns. Which brings me to my next point.

3. Open water classes as loss leaders.
I sometimes see open water classes being advertised at prices that makes one wonder how the instructor could possibly make a decent return on investment. Teaching an open water class is not easy. It takes, among other things, time, effort, patience, and people skills. A significant investment is required to even qualify as an open water instructor. Add the cost of insurance and profit sharing with the dive shop, and instructors take home very little for themselves.

This is because many instructors and dive shops treat open water instruction as loss leaders. They make little to no profit from open water classes and hope to hit you up with equipment rental and purchases, dive trips, and future classes (don’t even get me started on PADI Specialties). To maximize their little profits on open water classes, they need to minimize their costs and increase the volume. So they cut corners, teach to the minimum standards, and cram in lots of students per class. The end result is less competent divers who are less comfortable in the water and more prone to screw-ups. This is part of the reason why the dropout rate among open water divers is so high.

When I got my open water certification, I didn’t know a yoke valve from a DIN valve, had trouble fitting a regulator to a tank the right way up, and swam with my pressure gauge/depth gauge/compass (console) dangling a couple of feet below me. My instructor encouraged us to progress on to advanced open water immediately following open water (can you say $$$?). I became an advanced open water diver at the age of 17 with 9 dives under my belt. What had I been taught about essential diving skills such as gas management, dive planning, situational awareness, and buddy skills? Not much at all.

The better way to get open water instruction is to pay a bit more for a good instructor who will take the time and make the effort to train his/her students well. It may cost more up front, but leads to more competent divers who are more likely to enjoy their diving and become long term divers. And this is better for the industry in the long run as it rewards those instructors and dive shops who have higher standards and weeds out those who don’t.

A more general point is that nickeling and diming in diving is a loss making proposition in the long run. I like saving money just as much as anybody, but it is definitely possible to be too cheap to your detriment. Don’t nickel and dime on important stuff like instruction, safety equipment, and gases. A good example of being too cheap is reducing the helium in one’s mix and “tolerating” more narcosis in order to save money. Think about the cost savings (a few $) vs. the potential cost of making a judgmental error due to narcosis (drowning and death). A good place to save money is on equipment purchases. Certain pieces of equipment don’t break and can be acquired second hand at big discounts (e.g. backplates, wings, reels, spools, etc.) I have so much second hand equipment that I can’t even keep track of it all.

4. Divers who blame their equipment for their lack of skill.
Inexperienced divers love to blame their tanks for bad trim, their drysuits for bad buoyancy, their leaky masks for lack of awareness, and their faulty compasses for poor navigation. While using unfamiliar or sub-optimal gear can obviously affect one’s performance, I believe that very simply, if you can dive, you can dive. Chris Le Maillot said this to me on the first day of Cave 1 class, when I blamed my poor trim on the fact that I had never dove double AL80s with a drysuit before. Of course, he was right. It was my lack of skill and ability to compensate for changes in gear that was causing my poor trim, not the tanks.

I have lots of other examples. I used to blame my gear all the time until I realized that it was personal deficiency that was causing my problems. The first time I dove double LP95s, I went very head down. The first time I dove a 400G undergarment, I lost buoyancy at 6m at shot to the surface. Of course, I wouldn’t have had these problems if I hadn’t introduced the new gear, but it’s also the case that if I had had better diving skills, I could have compensated for the differences.

On the flipside, my buddy Leon bought a drysuit and I dove with him the 2nd or 3rd time he used it. He wasn’t perfect and his gas consumption did go up, but he wasn’t half bad and had no buoyancy or trim issues. Leon has good diving skills and putting him in a new and unfamiliar drysuit was no sweat. The same goes for my recent trip to Manado – I dove with my housed SLR + strobe for the first time. It was a huge and unwieldy package but didn’t add a lot of complication because I was already a competent diver. And because I was already a competent diver, taking good pictures didn’t add much task loading.

George Irvine once wrote that due to standardization of gear and procedures, the only change that he needed to make going from diving the caves in Florida to the ocean in the Northeast was to put on a pair of thick gloves. I’ll be damned, but George was right. I used to cave dive in Florida and when I dove in Lake Michigan in 4 degrees Celsius, the only things I did were change my undersuit (200G to 400G) and put on a pair of gloves.

5. Pontificating nobodies or “stick to what you know”.
A resort divemaster once disapprovingly told me that my 7ft hose was fine for technical diving but wouldn’t work for open water recreational diving. When I asked him why the difference between technical and recreational diving, he repeated that it wouldn’t work and then changed the topic. This guy had probably never seen a technical diving rig in his life and didn’t know a damn thing about a 7ft hose, yet he felt that he was god’s gift to diving and had to share his opinion with me.

I’d much rather stay silent on a topic I know nothing about than speak up and show my ignorance. When on charter boats and diving with others, I don’t offer my opinion on others’ diving skills, habits, or equipment unless asked. People often have a good reason for doing things the way they do.

6. Divers who rely on divemasters to lead them on dives.
Lots of divers think that a divemaster is required on all dives. I get a lot of quizzical looks when I tell people that most of my dives are sans divemaster. “But isn’t that dangerous?” they say. Divemasters give people a false sense of security, as if diving with a divemaster is automatically safer than without one. PADI divemasters only need 20 dives to begin the course and 60 for certification. PADI certifications don’t expire and there are no guidelines on divemasters having to train in conditions similar to those they plan to divemaster in. In short, how do you know that your divemaster is (a) experienced (b) reasonably current (c) comfortable diving in the conditions that he/she is diving in and (d) knowledgeable about the local diving sites/conditions? If something goes wrong, are you relying on the divemaster to get you out alive? Don’t even get me started on instructors.

Remember that open water certification certifies divers to dive with their buddies in open water. The standards don’t say anything about requiring a divemaster to be present. Properly trained open water divers should be perfectly comfortable planning and executing open water dives. If you’re an open water diver and you don’t feel confident enough to plan open water dives, one or more of the following is true: (a) your training was lacking (b) you are rusty (c) you don’t spend enough time/effort building the skills necessary to dive safely (d) you are competent but due to past overreliance on divemasters, you don’t realize your competence.

This is not to say that divemasters are not useful. Knowledgeable and safe divemasters add a lot of value by giving you information on the dive site, weather conditions, entry/exit procedures, boat procedures, and marine life, and leading divers on underwater tours. Just don’t trust your life blindly to any random divemaster.

7. “Wow you are really experienced. Are you a divemaster?”
Why do people assume that just because I like diving that I have interest in diving professionally (i.e. making money from diving)? PADI’s website states that “PADI Divemaster training develops your leadership abilities, qualifying you to supervise dive activities and assist instructors with student divers”. Which part of diving for pleasure has anything to do with wanting to supervise dive activities and assist instructors with student divers? As mentioned previously, people tend to equate being a divemaster with competence, and on the flipside, associate competence with being a divemaster (or instructor).

The other one I hear a lot of is “are you a commercial diver?” Commercial diving is a serious job, where divers lay pipes on the sea bed, salvage shipwrecks, build structures, and do other things in poor conditions and zero vis. Most of the time, it doesn’t even involve conventional scuba. It’s often done offshore in the middle of nowhere (think oil rig). What does this have to do with diving and looking at fishies?

8. Being told to surface from all dives with a minimum of 50 bar (or 500 psi).
What’s this about? 50 bar isn’t even equivalent to 500 psi (50 bar is closer to 750 psi). Is the safety margin larger in the US because American divers are less safe? What if I’m using a big tank and my buddy is using a small tank? 50 bar in my tank is more gas than 50 bar in my buddy’s tank.

I’m all for rules of thumb to simplify dive planning, but they need to make sense. Applying a blanket rule like returning to the boat with 50 bar doesn’t work because in some cases it’s too conservative, and in other cases, it’s too aggressive. On shallow dives, it can be too conservative because it doesn’t take a lot of gas to ascend from a shallow depth. More problematic is on deeper dives (say 30m) because it’s too aggressive. 50 bar as a rule of thumb doesn’t take into account the time required to ascend, minimum deco stops, or emergencies. What happens if at the end of the dive your buddy has a catastrophic failure, losing all the gas in his tank, requiring gas sharing? Is 50 bar enough to get both of you, sharing gas in a flustered state, through your minimum deco stops and to the surface? Simple calculations would show that the answer is no, but most open water divers aren’t taught how to make these calculations anyway.

Conclusion
Reading this, you may think I am an angry man and have nothing nice to say about the diving industry. That’s just not true. I’ve seen and experienced enough to know the good from the bad and I’m trying to save others the hassle.

Diving has so much to offer and one can get the most of it by being fully educated and exercising some caution. Look hard for a good instructor. Ask around and get various opinions before you make a decision. Find an instructor who puts your safety first and has the patience to not cut corners and make sure you learn the requisite skills and gain comfort in the water. Discuss with your instructor his/her approach to instruction, teaching style, and standards. If your instructor isn’t passionate about diving and doesn’t dive extensively for fun, move on. If anything in your interaction isn’t to your liking, move on. If you don’t get the feeling that your instructor is reliable, competent, patient, and dedicated, move on. A good instructor may cost more, but in the diving industry, with few exceptions, you get what you pay for.

If you’re looking to get into technical diving, look for a mentor or two who is willing to take you on and show you the ropes. Someone who is willing to teach you and help you gain experience. Not the high and mighty I’m-a-fancy-technical-diver sort but the sort who remembers what it was like getting into the sport and is keen to help less experienced divers. Some sacrifices may be required. If you have a chance to be a safety diver, hump tanks, blend gas, or otherwise be helpful, take the opportunity. Don’t expect to receive without giving back.

Perth, January 2009

I spent New Year’s week in Perth and Margaret River and for the last 3 nights stayed with Justin and Belinda. Justin and the Perthboys have come twice now for our annual GUE Dive Extravaganza and we’d discussed organizing some diving when I visited.

I got to Justin’s house on Thursday night. Friday morning we made the 10 min drive to Fremantle to get on a charter boat for a 2 dive trip to Rottnest Island. The dive boat, apparently quite typical for Perth diving, was huge, with 40 people on board comfortably.

Our boat, the Lionfish IV

Among our group were Justin, Belinda, Richard, Andrew, David, Peter, and a couple visiting from Sydney, Steve and Laura. We made the 45 min boat ride to Rottnest and did our first dive at Jackson Rock, a craggy limestone reef with lots of scenic swim throughs. I did the dive in Leon’s TLS 350 (my 30/30 still hasn’t arrived yet) and a set of borrowed AL80s, my first dry dive in more than 2 years. It took some getting used to but slowly the skills came back to me. Vis was good, probably 10-15m, and there was lots of light as our max depth was only 14m. The bottom was covered in kelp and sea grasses, which moved back and forth in the surge and gave the disorienting impression that the bottom was moving. The marine life was decent, with a fair number of reef fish, a few crayfish, and a large octopus hiding under a rock. Water temp was around 22 degrees C and was quite pleasant on a warm and sunny day.

Bay at Rottnest Island

Lunch was served during the surface interval and the boat anchored in a bay at Rottnest Island. Our second dive was right off Rottnest, at Philip Rock, which was similar to the first site but shallower still, with a max depth of 7m. The highlight of the dive for me was watching Justin catch 2 crayfish; one of them made the cut and made part of our dinner that night. A snack and watermelon were served as we made our way back to Fremantle.

Dinner that night was at Justin’s house and I got to meet most of the Perthboys and their significant others over wood-fired pizza and a few drinks. A great time was had by all.

We spent Saturday doing a tour of the coast and river, and eating amazingly fresh seafood. Saturday night we met Robo down at the Swan River for a night dive. At about 8.30pm we started gearing up and walked down to the water’s edge. We dove nearby a restaurant, among a few moored private boats. It’d been a while since I’d been in such poor vis (maybe 2-3m) and I spent part of the dive straining to see the bottom. At one point we came across a huge silt cloud created by another diver that left me completely disoriented, trying to find my bearings. It didn’t help that there were quite a few really weird looking jellyfish (I later found out they were harmless) floating around. Even so close to shore, the life was quite impressive. We saw prawns, crabs, scallops, starfish and a couple of flathead (all edible except the starfish).

Justin, Belinda and the Perthboys were great hosts, sorting out the accommodations, food, diving, gear, and gas beautifully. Thanks again for the warm welcome. Hope to dive with you guys again soon. Stop by anytime, we have pretty good diving in our part of the world too. :)

Lovely hosts Belinda and Justin