Gary Savins had his 2 TDI technical diving students cancel this weekend, so when I offered to go with the GS-Diving group so he could stay at home and watch the AFL Grand Final, he jumped at the chance. For those not in the know, AFL details can be found here – and Gary’s team won! And he also won the lucky door prize at the ANZA function, where he watched the game on the big screen.
The 4 divers this weekend were Judith, Sara, Rahul & Jake. Rahul and Jake were completing their PADI Open Water course while the 2 girls were leisure divers.
After leaving TMFT we had a great dinner, as normal, plus a few drinks as the whole boat mixed really well with each other. Then Rahul got out his guitar and between him and Jake they kept us entertained all night (not usual for this type of entertainment!). These 2 guys can play and sing what a great time we had.
First dive on Saturday morning was at Palau Lang. I had a guest OW diver joining Jake and Rahul and we had some fun going up and down. Eventually all three got to the bottom and we completed quite a few skills. We followed this with a short swim around. Back on the surface we completed most of the surface skills.
Second dive was at Secret Garden around the other side of Lang. Down we went, slowly and we got a whole bunch of other skills completed.
Third dive was at Captains Point. Once down we did the last of the skills and had a good look around. During the compass swim we were ambushed by 4 HUGE bump head Parrot fish. Navigation was forgotten as we watched these gentle giants chomping and pooping their way past. Great stuff.
That was the students 3 dives for the day so on the 4th dive at Crocodile Rock they went snorkelling while I joined Sara & Judith on their dive. Highlight was a very nice turtle.
That evening, the infamous BBQ. Everyone ate like pigs and then Jake & Rahul stated the entertainment again. Those who stayed up were treated to some oldies like House of the Rising Sun, Hotel California etc which had everyone singing along.
First dive on Sunday was at Palau Pinang. Nice dive around the boulders and Jake triumphantly completed his last skill! Success, qualified!
Second dive was on Pinnacles 2 which was awesome! Great visability, no current, a live aquarium!
So ended the diving portion of the trip but we had a long sail back to Singapore. More music, a few drinks, a snooze and we were back in Singapore in no time!
Congrats to Jake & Rahul for completing their PADI Open Water course. Thanks to Sara & Judith for joining us and a great weekend.
Trip report was written by GS-Diving PADI Instructor Glenn Wright. Thanks Glenn for the use of your photos!
Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Page – here