Friday 26th
August 2016
 |
| Dolphins |
Today was our shopping and checkout day.
Yesterday was fun fun FUN! We did two dives, with Paul and David, from
Rapopo Plantation resort dive centre. So
lucky to have just the two of us with one minder each! Plus a very capable boat driver, Marcus.
The first dive was into very shallow water (about five
metres) and then along to a wreck no more than 20 metres deep. It was extremely pretty; the wreck was a small
coastal cargo ship, covered with nudibranchs and coral and swarming with clouds
of fish.
The water was warm and clear and it was just delightful;
I didn’t want to get out…
The second dive was just around the corner, off Pigeon
Island. We went along a drop-off wall down
to 20-30 metres (could have gone down
down down…the wall seemed to go very deep, well over 100 metres…) It was just beautiful. Along the wall it was like a superhighway of
fish, big and small, going about their business. Out in the deeper blue large tuna zoomed
past, and the occasional shark. Above us
were large barracuda, cruising like missiles.
And all around were smaller fish going this way with the current, that
way against the current, up and then down again.
We swam against the current to begin with and then
drifted back effortlessly to find the dive boat ready to pick us up.
I enjoyed both of these dives tremendously. Paul and David were calm and competent so we
felt very safe. Also, I felt quite competent
too…I went down when I wanted to, up when the occasion called for it. I didn’t sink like a stone or bob around like
a cork. My mask didn’t fog up or fill
with water. Perfecto!
I was so enthralled by the whole process that I wanted
to say, Let’s stay a few more days and do some more dives with lovely Paul and David! Until…we got the bill…The dives here are
eye-wateringly expensive…Approximately 500 kina each – around $100 per dive…In
Raja Ampat we were paying about $50-60 per dive…I would wholeheartedly
recommend this resort, this dive centre…but come with deep pockets!
And where are the photos?? Well…just this once I accidentally left my
GoPro, my Canon and my iPhone behind on 2XS.
Tricky, eh?? David and Paul took
lots of photos on a nifty looking underwater camera but I don’t have them
yet. Gavin (from Cairns) who runs the
dive centre is very kindly going to email them to me but…the internet here is
so very slow, with such a very weak signal, that I can’t imagine I will be able
to receive them. When I get somewhere
with proper bandwidth then I will be able to gloat over the nudibranchs etc but…maybe
not just yet!
Oh and I started by saying today was our checkout day…NOT
SO MUCH!! Guess what - once again we
have hit the jackpot with our timing; it is a public holiday! All government offices closed! So…we hit the shops and bought provisions; we
can leave tomorrow and with a bit of luck find Immigration, Customs, Harbour
Master somewhere along the way… We are cautiously optimistic…Last time we came
into PNG we had our paperwork for arrival, visas etc we had queued for in
Honiara, and we arrived in Misima ready willing and able to check in and then
out again.
We went straight to the appropriate address for
Immigration only to find the office locked bolted and empty…Apparently the government
official hadn’t been paid for many months so he packed up and went home to Port
Moresby, locking the door behind him…So…you never know…
Later in the evening…
Gavin gave us some photos on a disk; hence - photos on
blog!
