6th September – appendix

I was happily boasting about our 16 metre dive on the USS Coolidge when Pete interrupted to say, NOT 16 metres, 35! I was gobsmacked – really?? We went down THAT FAR??? Well whacko the diddle oh!! Yes I did look at my little dive computer thingy and saw it said over 30 but…I thought I had misread…or that it was in feet instead of metres…

Pete’s Diving Story
The dive was good, pretty clear visibility and very warm, we both have wetsuits. In fact it was quite cheap, 9000Vatu (approx. $100) for the two of us which is one of the cheapest I’ve done. I put down that I had done 30 dives over my time (beginning in Sri Lanka in 2002). David was extremely watchful and patient; at one stage he was showing us (using a lead diving weight as a hammer) how the encrustation covering the bathroom pipes could be removed to expose a perfectly shiny, looking like silver-plated, bathroom pipe and drain.
Marguerite acquitted herself well, it is not easy lugging the heavy diving paraphernalia, and then diving to 35m. In Australia we are only certified to dive to 18m, here there are no rules, except to comply with all the requirements of decompression on the way back to the surface.
Now we are inspired to make good use of Andrew’s PowerDive hooker, which only takes us to 6m unfortunately.

7th September

One last blogpost…I am back in Victoria’s café (fee WiFi!). 2XS is at the fuel wharf. I had to come back into town because – no details – I have a side-effect from taking the anti-malarial drugs (doxycycline)… After much weary (and hot) trudging I found a doctor’s surgery with a lovely sympathetic woman, who told me “Dr Walker” would be back at 4.00. I looked so crushed she invited me into the dispensary where I found exactly what I need. So now…one last cup of coffee for the...sea!