We found Choy NOT at the promised meeting place but further into the jetty area. Got our tickets settled and off we were on the pretty fast-going ferry to the Coral Platform. The ride itself was pretty smooth. TV was right in front of us, so couldn’t ignore the episode of Sesame Street (ringtone!). Up on deck, the sea breeze was awesome and since the sun wasn’t high it was pretty nice and cool.
Chick alert: none. Maybe some attached Jap tourists.
Got onto the platform close to 10.45. The sun was bright and it shows signs of a great day. We got right into preparing for our dive, gearing up into the stuff Choy brought along (mask & wetsuit for me), and picking up the more heavy duty equipment (bcd, regulator, tanks) from the local divemasters.
This is the part where we made an attempt on Henry’s life. As my dive buddy, I’m supposed to check his equipment before going in, and vice versa. Checked his tank valve. Hmm.. it wasn’t fully open.. so I start cranking it. Then he exclaimed that he had already opened it. Believing him, I start turning it the other way all the way.
Then Zoe tried to fix it and ended up being an accomplice. 😀
So we go in, redid some of our more basic stuff at the bottom. The water was rather murky with so much activity going on around us (it was the start of the school holidays anyway) but it was still bearable. We could at least see each other and the different marine life. Variety could’ve been better, but we’ll probably see that in our future dives.
The 3 of us followed Choy with Zoe guarding the rear. Went here, went there. Saw fish, some big, some small, and one with an oxygen tank. I personally enjoyed taunting the clownfish and staring at the tame garoupas.
After about 45 mins we got back out for a break and lunch. The food was much better than we expected, with a good selection of stuff. Not as good as the Lemon Garden or Sudu, of course.
Then, took a brief look at the underwater observatory in which I didn’t see much, and went on with our second dive for the day.
Actually, maybe this was the time we tried to kill Henry. Oh well, he’s still around nonetheless.
This time, Zoe took the lead. I was usually somewhere at the bottom cuz there was something weird going on with my BCD and I didn’t want to inflate it too much. It was pretty ok just floating around just by finning. Managed to catch close views of sea urchins and whatnots on the ocean floor. Sometimes I’d lose my buddies, only to find them hovering above me. It’s tough stretching your neck upwards underwater.
(tbc)