Diving Group 12 – Zuhura, Shasha, Muzeyna and Izza                                           

In the morning of September 14^th, the bad weather cancelled a diving trip that would have seen some Billabong students successfully accomplish the Discover Scuba Diving course. Fortunately, that only increased their excitement in diving for the first time so that, one week later, Zuhura (Grade 8), Shasha (Grade 8), Muzeyna (Grade 8) and Izza (Grade 7) were ready and keen on taking the trip to Hulhumale´ and learn how to dive.

On September 21^st, the four students and I watched the introductory video along with three other tourists who were also about to experience diving for the very first time. Afterwards, we all checked the sizes of their BCDs and fins so that we could take the equipment and head for our usual shallow water exercise location: MaaGiri.

Once we arrived there and jumped into the water, the current forced us to swim for some minutes until we reached the spot where the shallow water exercises were conducted. The first one to finish was Zuhura who, because of a stubbornly foggy mask, became quite skilled in cleaning it and then removing the water. By the end of that dive all four students managed to equalize properly and reached a depth of 8 to 10 meters.

After seeing eels, clown fish and many other species which the girls easily identified from the movie Finding Nemo, the boat picked us up and we headed to Kurumba. While waiting for things to be ready, Shasha and I decided to snorkel along the reef and practice some free diving. One thing I have noticed is that when learning how to free dive, students tend to improve considerably after just a few tries… she was not the exception.

The students after watching the introductory video.

Ready to jump into the water.

A honeycomb eel.

Some Maldives clown fish.

Zuhura enjoying her first dive.

Izza waving at the camera.

Muzeyna receiving some instructions from the Divemaster.

Zuhura and Izza.

Zuhura´s cleaning her mask while Izza´s enjoying the view.

Having some snacks and on our way to Kurumba.

The dive at Kurumba took 45 minutes. This time we saw a much greater variety of fish which included Maldives anemone fish, Clark anemone fish, many Spade fish and also a considerable amount of Banner fish among others. Later on, we were told that a shark was spotted by one of the Divemasters although, unfortunately, none of us managed to see it.

This diving trip didn´t only represent a unique experience for these four students (all of which have requested to be taken on a second diving trip) but also the youngest group of students to take part in the Diving club activities.

Zuhura during the second dive and some Banner fish in the background.

Shasha right before her sneezing attack.

Muzeyna managed to avoid touching corals.

Zuhura´s happy.

From left to right: Zuhura, Muzeyna and Shasha.

A spade fish.

One of the last group of fish we saw during the second dive.

Some interesting links for Ramadan                 

As it is Ramadan in the Maldives and most of my students are fasting during daytime, the Diving Club activities have been put on hold until August. In the meantime, there are some very good links which I would like to share with those of you interested in diving and the underwater world:

1. This is a great advert from PADI promoting its Open Water course: PADI - Go Dive
2. The story of an underwater camera lost in Hawaii in 2007 that has now been found in Taiwan with its memory card still working: Five years, 9600 km later, tourist´s underwater camera found
3. The story of an underwater picture that went viral: National Geographic Live! - Diving with Whales
4. This article was published last year and is about divers in Bandos helping manta rays that were in trouble: Manta Ray Saved by a Divemaster from Bandos
5. Karin Sinniger has a very unique record, as of February 2013 she has dived in 115 different countries. She has more than one thousand logged dives and received her first certificate in 1992. This is her story: World Record: Scuba Diving in 100+ Countries
6. And finally, a list of the ten best scuba diving destinations in the world according to opentravel.com. This list includes Australia´s Great Barrier Reef, Belize´s Great Blue Hole, Indonesia, Mexico and of course Maldives: 10 Best Scuba Diving Destinations

Diving Group 11 – Ithaf, Jaish, Ayham and Maiz.        

On Saturday, July 6^th, Ithaf (Grade 11), Jaish (Grade 11), Ayham (Grade 10), Maiz (the first Grade 8 student to take part in one of our diving trips) and I met at Hulhumale´s terminal for what would become their first two dives and Discover Scuba Diving certification.

After going through the basics of diving and watching the introductory video, the students joined two European tourists on a trip to MaaGiri where the shallow water exercises were successfully conducted in around 10 to 15 minutes, after which we went to deeper water and saw a huge amount of fish banks, a lobster, many anemone fish and eels.

Watching the introductory video.

Listening to the instructions.

Maiz, Ayham and Jaish with their Divemasters.

Maiz´s first dive.

Ayham´s first dive.

Jaish´s first dive.

Ayham and Ithaf.

Ayham equalizing.

One of the many banks of fish we saw.

A hidden lobster.

A honeycomb eel.

Some Maldives anemone fish.

All four of them and their Divemasters.

After the first dive.

During that first trip along MaaGiri´s reef, I noticed two unusual events, the first one occurred during the first minutes of the dive and was Ayham´s talent for underwater sneezing; the second happened during the last ten minutes and was something I have never experienced before while diving: dolphins singing. Although I have heard rain while diving, the sound of dolphins around, even when we couldn´t see them, was a very nice experience which I hope will happen soon again. Later on I was told by the Divemasters that they were most likely swimming around Banana reef.

Our second dive took place along Kurumba´s reef. There, we saw two black-tip sharks, a lot of spade fish and bleaching coral which I decided to photograph along with some bubbles which tend to be a lot of fun to play with when someone´s experiencing his or her first dives.

Ithaf saying hi to the camera.

Jaish diving at Kurumba.

Two eels.

A spade fish.

Heart-shaped bleaching coral.

Clark anemone fish.

My reflection on the bubble.

Second bubble caption.

Last bubble caption.

Diving Group 10 – Rai, Mashee and Shafra.                       

As many people in this country know, 2012 was a year of huge academic achievements for Billabong High because of the excellent results in the November 2012 IGCSE examinations. The school´s pass rate is considerably higher than the country´s average and I am very proud of my students´ efforts in Physics which resulted in 10 out of 21 achieving the highest possible grade of A*.

Some weeks ago, right after a broadcasted ceremony organized by the government with the purpose of rewarding those students who reached the National Top Ten (thirteen from Billabong High), I received a text message from our partners at Into Scuba who, very kindly and as a way of congratulating our students, offered them a dive with no charges whatsoever. Yesterday, two of those top achievers made use of what they earned through many hours of studying.

Rai (Grade 11), Shafra (Grade 11), Mashee (Grade 10), Ms. Eda and I met at 8 in the morning at Hulhumale´s terminal to begin what would be an unusual and special diving trip. Since all three students already had diving experience, we briefly went through some important rules and basic signs before arriving to Hulhumale´. Once at the diving center, we were told of our diving destination for the day: Feydhoo Wall. This would be the first time for any of us going to that famous diving spot.

Before jumping into the water, we saw some dolphins swimming between Kurumba and Hulhumale, a turtle sticking its head out of the water for some air and, unfortunately, quite a few plastic containers floating as we were closer than usual to the garbage island of Thilafushi. Later on, I read an article about some recent garbage spills in the area and hoped for Feydhoo Finolhu never to look as badly as Thilafushi or some other islands which are just a few kilometers away. http://sun.mv/english/13870

Although the whole dive went great (the students were very surprised when they realized we dived for 47 minutes as they felt it didn´t last that long), the first fifteen minutes were so interesting that it was difficult to decide where to look at. We saw several rays swimming together, some others swimming alone, a turtle, huge tunas, many Clark anemone fish and an eel among many other fish.

Because of the very nice dive, we all decided to snorkel and practice some free-diving in Hulhumale´ so, once we were back, we headed to the swimming track area where Rai showed some promising Rescue Diver skills by finding two snorkels that were lost in an area with terrible visibility. As a teacher, it is a great experience to see this kind of smart and top achiever Billabong students excelling in more than just their studies.

Rai, Shafra and Mashee

On our way to Feydoo

Looking at Male´

Happy to be underwater.

A Clark anemone fish.

A turtle that seemed a bit disturbed by us.

Three students and a Billabong teacher.

Rai and his Divemaster buddy keeping an eye on him.

Mashee says she wasn´t posing but holding her hair.

Rai

Hulhumale´s swimming track.

The last part of an exciting day.