BIG ONE - It has been a long time since my last posting so here goes.

9 Jan '11

Sick as a dog and in bed, woof!

8 Jan '11

No diving so a very boring day, feeling a little cold and have a runny nose, hope I do not get sick as it was cold between the diving the last couple of days. I will take vitamins and meds to try and prevent the flu.

7 Jan '11

This was the last dive for Julien as he has now done the 10 dives he planned to do, so not having dived with Graham he was taken to Rainbow Reef North while I took brothers Gabriel Fersztand who is a student from Israel and Daniel Fersztand a Yoga Instructor from Argentina to Cedar Pride and then to Japanese Gardens for the 2^nd dive. Halfway through our dive I spotted Julian and Graham on the wreck just to come and say goodbye.

Julien with brothers Gabriel and Daniel after the 1^st dive.

6 Jan '11 

I did not dive with Julien today as I had another client that has not dived in 10 years.

I know what you think “PROBLEMS” but just the opposite, it was a pleasure diving with him as he stayed exactly where I wanted him and as per the pre-dive briefing, I wish I could have more people like that. Gabriel and Daniel dived with Pedro to The Tank.

So Julien had his own mission and that was to break his computer, well done buddy. I believe it is still flashing and beeping all kinds of weird numbers. Don’t worry he did not do this on his own, he was with someone even crazier than himself.

5 Jan '11

Today was going to be a beautiful day as we planned to break all the rules; we planned our own diving schedule and were going to stick to it no matter what. I was going to take Julien deep while supporting Pedro with his Adv student and Graham was going to stay at the village waiting for the other divers and get them ready to join us on our 2^nd dive (their 1^st), then he will take them on their 2^nd dive while Pedro and I return to the village and prepare for the night dive at 5pm.

And that is exactly how it went down as we were in the water about 09:30 and had a nice DEEP (4*m) with Julien while Charline and Pedro stayed at 30m for her Adv deep dive then we drove to another site for a wreck dive to 22m (also part of the Adv course) where we met up with other divers for their 1^st dive of the day. What was nice about that is we still had to wait for them to get ready and we were out of the water and back at the village at 12:30 that is how it is done!!!

This gave us over 4 hours to kill before the night dive and we have had 2 awesome dives already. The sad part of it all is that it was frowned upon by the bosses, this is not the way they want things done. Well they are in charge so we have to do as they want; at least we gave it a try.

Charline on the way to 30m at New Canyon and as cool as can be.

Julien past 30m on his way to 4*m with myself just outside the picture.

Brother and sister meeting on the way back from the deep before Julien and I had to do a deep stop.

Safety Stop at The Tank is always time for fun and games. Did Pedro punch her that is not cool buddy?

He looks like a naughty school boy, ha ha.

Julien, Charline and yours truly The Travelling Divemaster aka Jothe.

Off to the Cedar Pride for the next dive and Julien having a rest on the portside of the back cargo area, he must be thinking that it is a park bench.

Brother and sister meet again at the shipwreck.

By the way the night dive sucked big time, say no more!

The only good thing that happened on the night dive was that Charline finished her Adv Course in only 2 days, well done girl.

4 Jan ‘11

The planned dive sites were New Canyon and then Gorgon 1where I did not dive as we did not have a weight belt for a customer. How is this possible one might ask, well I got a call to collect another diver at the village after our 1^st dive and so I did, when I got there I asked if he has been issued with equipment yet and the answer was yes you can just go. I recall asking again with the same response from the boss but in a hurried tone of voice.

So I told the client to loads his gear and we left, when kitting up I asked him where his weight belt was he said he does not have one, so I gave him mine.

3 Jan '11

Took Julien and Jose to Cedar Pride and then to Japanese Gardens for the 2^nd dive.

Pedro dived with the Spanish trio Anna, Olga and Rosa who was finishing her Open Water Course, well done Rosa.

Olga is blowing bubbles.

Olga and Anna who is wearing a 5mm wetsuit not like the 3mm of yesterday.

Yes Anna you are OK, nice and warm aren’t you.

Rosa is a Scuba diver, well done girl.

It is all OK Rosa no more removing mask for you.

The girls invited us out for dinner that night, thanks girls we really appreciated it and had a good time.

2 Jan ‘11

I took Ibon San Martín Gómez, Carol Toledano and Suzy Zafrani Benoliel all from Spain to New Canyon and then The Tank where Julien from France and Jose from Spain joined for their 1^st dive. For some reason I do not have any pictures.

1 Jan '11 - NEW YEARS DAY

It was a HAPPY day as it was New Years Day, we were all up and ready for diving after a very nice night out on the town but the day just did not seem to get started. I took a girl from Sweden to Cedar Pride with Pedro joining with Anna and Olga from Spain. At decent Olga had some equalizing problems so I took Anna with me and we met up with Pedro on the wreck. On the 2^nd dive Ibon, Carol and Suzy joined to Japanese Gardens so we were a big group and Graham joined me to be sweeper. We only got in the water at about noon and got out from the final dive around 4pm, which really sucked.

Olga having fun

Anna and her buddy from Sweden, sorry girl I can not remember your name.

Anna and Olga meet at the wreck.

Olga posing for another picture

31 Dec '10 - New Years Eve

New Years Eve is a time to be out and about with friends.

What an IDIOT, go back to the water where you belong. I was trying to blend into the crowd at a 5 star hotel.

Graham looks happy, I wonder why.

Yum Yum some nice snacks and I can not eat them, what a bummer.

Pedro happy to see other people, thanks buddy it really hurts to know that you have had enough of us.

Oh yes this made Pedro happy.

Chocolate moose yum.

Some locals are showing off their moves.

29 Dec '10



The pictures below are taken by Esben Myhre from Norway on one of our exploration dives.

Crocodile fish

Octopus

Clown fish in white Anemone

Lion fish

Black spotted Puffer fish

!#$$&^(&*^

White stripped Eel

Sole

Sharp tailed white spotted Eel

Scorpion fish

Clam

4 Coloured Nudi

4 Coloured Nudi

Porcupine fish

Octopus

!#$%(*()*)&%

27 Dec '10

Tricia Patterson who did a DSD with Veronica Baker a certified diver both are from USA.

Veronica and I are getting ready to go diving, if you could not figure that out for yourself.

Veronica looks happy after the dive to Cedar Pride.

2 More DSD's Maia Mazariegos and Nadine Dupon from Luxembourg, Pedro took Maia and I took Nadine.

The girls after the fun session in the water, they put on brave faces as it was cold outside.

Tricia loved the DSD so much se joined her friend Veronica for a 2^nd dive with Graham.

26 Dec '10

Laila did a refresher and her son Gard did DSD.

Esben Myhre, Bruno Boulandet and Graham after the last dive of the day, see who is happy and who is sad.

All pictures below were taken by Esben Myhre.

Bruno and his girlfriend with Graham.

Coral

Life on the coral reef

Bruno and his girlfriend.

Pink and black Feather Duster

Cabbage Coral

Clam next to Cabbage Coral.

Urchin

Clown fish

The Tank

Gard Hoivik and I on a tour after he completed his DSD skills, well done boy.

The other side of The Tank

2 Eels

The rudder and the propeller of the Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

Cargo area Cedar Pride

Inside Cedar Pride

GIANT MORAY EEL, this is a nice find. The head of the moray is the size of a human head.

Me just hanging around

4 Coloured Nudi

Sole

25 Dec '10 Chrismas Day

Bruno Boulandet from France

Bruno with the dive staff of Int. Arab Divers

The boys Graham, Pedro and I

Eva, Sophia, Pauline and dad whose name I forgot, they are from Netherlands.

Mom did DSD and Eva did Bubble maker.

Dad will dive with me later.

Yes it is me in the kitchen, i can cook.

Orange vegetable things to be washed and cut up.

This is how you put things in a pot.

Can opener in our kitchen.

I need a break.

40Min and we are done

Oops, not the way it was supposed to have come out.

Close up of oops.

Quiet Christmas dinner