The rains have come to Zanzibar. We are awoken by a fierce wind and rain is driving down across the ocean. Breakfast was a little soggy and we finished off with a game of bao.
We have completed our dive plan for this afternoon and await with anticipation.
It remained overcast for the rest of the morning so Big Heiko, Heiko Small, Ian and I decided to let the divemaster decide on our course of action today, whether we would or wouldn't dive in Jambiani. Fortunately for us the divemaster agreed to the expedition. He said that the chief had been watching the weather and as the two dive sites we were visiting were close to shore and were inside the outer reef the diving conditions were considered acceptable. Ian and I checked that they were happy to take two inexperienced divers with them to which they agreed.
We began the afternoon with a multilevel dive commencing at 3 metres and descending to 20 metres at Lagoon Mounding and our limitation for this dive was air. Ian and I thought we would be guzzling air and holding our breath as novices do but in actual fact both Big Heiko and Heiko Small, two experienced divers, had used as much air as Ian and I had so we were encouraged by this!
A tiresome surface interval amid the 1 to 1.5 metre waves whilst eating biscuits and papaya, then a second dive to 16 metres at Jambiani Lagoon which was even more enjoyable. Now comfortable with our equipment and the current I had more opportunities to explore and enjoy the stunning corals and aquatic life before me. There were so many beautiful colourful species, corals, blue starfish, fat balloon starfish, angelfish, bigger versions of the yellow and black fish we saw whilst snorkelling, moray eel, a 2 foot stingray, sea snakes, rainbow fish, guppies, trumpetfish and tiny, tiny fish feeding from corals, there were so many! It was very enjoyable.
Both Big Heiko and Heiko Small commented on the standard of our diving skills and remarked that we must have had excellent diving instructors. They were very impressed by our buoyancy control and insistence on running through our buddy checks, during which I was adamant that my alternate air source should not be tightly strapped behind the clip on my buoyancy control jacket, but that it was easily available to be removed with one hard tug.
The return boat trip to shore was painful. I had to crouch down on the floor to prevent me crashing down on my arse on the hard seat. At every wave the boat launched straight over it and we flew right out of the water!
All in all it was a very good day. Ian and I logged a further two dives and put our knowledge into practise, for the first time without being accompanied by Cliff, Stewie, Joe, Dave nor Steve. It felt a little strange at first but we were very comfortable in no time at all, regularly checking our watched and guages.
[Editors Note: by the way, for those of you that are reading both of the journals, and ONLY those of you that are, the reference Ian makes to the fan shaped coral should be taken lightly. It was not forty years growth and Big Heiko defended me by pointing out that it was the kind of coral that had roots intact and would survive by reattaching itself! I do, however, bow my head in shame at this tale, and have taken extra care when diving since...]
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.