Diving-Club@Billabong: May 2013

Diving Group 9 – Hijan and Yoosuf.

On May 25^th, Hijan and Yoosuf (both of them Grade 11 students) became the first Billabong students to log more than 3 dives through the Diving Club. Not only have both of them completed four dives, but they have been lucky enough to do every one of them in different locations: Maagiri, Banana reef and now Bandos and Manta Point too.

It has been more than two weeks with most days in the Maldives been either rainy or windy or both, however this Saturday proved to be a good day for going out as even dolphins (a common sight last year but very rare since the beginning of Billabong´s diving club) decided to swim close to our boat as we were going back to Hulhumale.

Today´s diving activities started with a trip to Bandos where Hijan and Yoosuf learned how to attach their oxygen tanks to the BCD and prepare the rest of their equipment before entering the water. Once in Bandos, we saw an octopus, entered a few caves and saw many colorful fish.

The second dive took place in an area known as Manta Point. This place has an even greater amount of colorful fish, anemones, rays and stronger currents; something that can clearly be seen in the second picture of the Maldives anemone fish. Although the water was colder than expected, during the last minutes of our dive we were rewarded with the sight of a turtle that seemed perfectly comfortable with the presence of many divers looking at it having lunch.

The equipment is ready.

Hijan, Yoosuf and Bandos´ reef.

A hiding octopus.

Hijan´s walking, fortunately not on the reef.

Yoosuf and some fish in the background.

A Maldives anemone fish in Bandos.

Hijan just leaving the first cave.

Clark´s anemone fish.

Yoosuf and Hijan.

A group of Crown Squirel fish.

Hijan in the second cave.

Some colorful fish.

Fish, bubbles and nature.

Maldives anemone fish in Manta Point with a strong current.

Three Oriental Sweetlips.

Our final underwater sight of the day.

Diving Group 8 – Lamha, Maryam, Mashee and Amana.

Labour Day is an international holiday intended to promote and protect the rights of workers and today, being the third time that Maldives celebrates May 1^st as a public holiday, was the perfect opportunity for more Billabong students to go on their first diving trip ever.

Early in the morning, Lamha, Maryam, Mashee and Amana, all Grade 10 students, arrived at Hulhumale´s terminal at exactly 7:30 am turning them into the most punctual group since the Diving Club started in January. As the four of them were very enthusiastic, I started briefing them about the introductory course they were about to take and also about some basic signs and regulations while diving.

Around 8:30, all four of them were watching the video and at around 10 am, we were all jumping into the shallow waters of MaaGiri to conduct the Discover Scuba Diving exercises.

Today´s current in MaaGiri was stronger than usual, but that didn´t stop the students from learning how to remove their regulators underwater, Amana from learning how to stand on her hands while diving or Mashee from becoming the first student ever to remove her mask underwater and put it back on during her first dive… it´s worth mentioning that she actually did that four times.

Once MaaGiri´s dive was over, we headed towards Kurumba where Mashee, Amana and I decided to go snorkeling for a while. There we saw the first eel of the day with a misplaced jaw which wouldn´t allow it to close its mouth properly. After seeing the eel, we also saw two blacktip sharks peacefully swimming along the reef.

For the second dive, Lamha decided to stay on the boat as she had still not fully recovered from a cold. After taking a few minutes to equalize their ears, Amana and Mashee went down to 12 meters while Maryam decided to dive at a lower depth. During this dive we managed to see two more sharks, a lion fish, several other eels, some trigger fish and a huge amount of spadefish; not to mention that Amana perfected her skills in chasing bubbles and being upside down.