Day Five

Today was another cruise ship day this time with Princess Cruises. There were six staff on the boat today - Emily as captain, Neil, Tom, Mark, Dale and me. Dale and I were to get off at Cooper Island to do a Discover Scuba Diving course with one of the guests. As I'd never done one before Tom said I need to see them done 4 times and then I can apparently get certified to teach them myself - cool! The wind and the waves were so bad today. Really strong wind made the waves even higher. And yet again it poured it down for the morning at any rate. Apparently the first dive at the Rhone this morning while we were doing the DSD was really difficult, so much so that they changed the second dive there to a reef dive in a more sheltered area.
The DSD was good to see but it was difficult for me to dive as I couldn't get submerged at all. Mainly due to the fact that I had to hold on to a dive float so that any boats coming into the dock know there are divers down and not to go above. With the weather being so bad I was being pulled back up by the flag and it was a complete nightmare to control. Anyway the DSD went well and we were then picked up again by the boat and taken to the reef.
Chromis reef is no doubt so called because of the large amount of chromis fish found there! There were of course the usual suspects of parrotfish and butterflyfish but I also saw a trumpetfish, a sand diver, another balloonfish, a few blue tangs and a FAB ray and another turtle!! Awesome! I basically followed around the DSD and Dale although I joined them late and left early because for the latter I hadn't changed tanks so was getting low on air. For the former I was helping others into the water.
We dropped the divers back at the cruise ship pier and picked up only 12 snorkellers after lunch (there were supposed to be 40!). Tom and Mark also left the boat to return to base. The company emailed the shore-ex desk to say that the swell was huge and obviously a lot of people may not be able to handle it. As it turned out I had to rescue 2 swimmers who'd gottten exhausted and couldn't get back to the boat. We paid a quick stop at Norman Island right after the snorkel too so they could go onto the beach and get a drink or snorkel from the beach. Unfortunately someone had had a stroke or heart attack and the coast guard had been called to get them off the island. All quite dramatic!!
Anyway we then got everyone back to the pier again and sorted out the boat. I don't remember if I've said before that all the boats need cleaning every day after use. The big boats obviously take a bit more work to do and the heads need cleaning too - yay, how pleasant!! :) All the boats are also re-stocked with tanks after each day and boy are they heavy. There is a trolley to carry 6 tanks at a time and you need some ooomph to get it in motion.
Last night some of the dive guys who've formed a band played at a place called Trellis Beach. A bunch of us went down there to watch and Courtney and I had a mooch about the place. Very cool and funky. They have a local craft fair there quite regularly and Ria (one of the DM's) is hoping to show some of her artwork.
I am off tomorrow and may venture into town again but Tom may be able to take me to a lookout point or a beach on the other side of the island if he gets finished with his jobs earlier.
Oh and super bonus - I wore the seasick wristbands all day today and was totally fine! Not one iota of queasiness! Awesome! I am going to have to wear them all the time I think :) YAY!!!! No barfing today :)
Hope everyone is well
H x