Gosh it’s been a busy few days, so much that I haven’t done any blogs, serious faceBooking or any work at all!
OK,so my proiorities are a bit singular and the actual story is that diving has taken precedence, in addition to all the usual patterns and routines that we tend to adhere to when on Meeru.
Monday morning, after one of only two leisurely breakfast there’s likely to be on this holiday (the other will be on our departure day when diving isn’t permitted) we went to the dive centre for me to arrange my diving. As I haven’t dived at all in three years, they insist that I take a lagoon skills test first, meaning that me, along with most of the others who arrived the previous day, have to go and prove to one of the Dive Masters that we can perform certain essential skills without problem. This is conducted in a dug-out area of the lagoon adjacent to the start of our boardwalk, where the pit is around 5m deep, and quite nice actually as they have sown some artificial reefs and corals are blooming on these.
Me and four Germans perform the basic skills with DM Marc - regulator retrieval (because a kick from another diver could easily knock out your mouthpiece,) mask removal and replacement (similar reasons but also in case serous underwater cleaning is required,) buoyancy control (to make sure that you’re packing the right weights and also that you have the skill to hover stationary unaided,) and finally an 'out of air’ simulation (to prove that you don’t panic and can calmly get assistance from your buddy.)
This consumes the morning and then after lunch it’s time to go on the first dive. It was time to head off on the dive-boat to Kahambu Beru, a site just to the south of our island, but, because of the extremely low tide, a good 45 minute ride well north to exit the atoll, before journeying down past the end of our boardwalk and further until we’re off the reef of the next island, a local one (as opposed to a hotel island.) It gets very choppy as we’re thrown around, great fun when trying to pull on a tight (seemly shrunken in three years?) and wet wetsuit. Finally we’re in the water and heading down to the reef, my German buddy is one of those from the skills dive, he’s no great communicator but I follow all the important body language, and anyway the required signing is international. The current is strong and we barrel along at a great rate, occasionally hanging on to rocks to stop and gaze, we see plenty of glorious fish and other things, all too soon it’s time to consider ending the dive, and as i surface i start to feel very queasy before feeding the fish big stye.
By the time I get back to our room it’s time to had off in search of a sunset and the associated Sundowner, which entails a three-quarters walk around the island, clockwise to 11 o’clock (being pedantic one might argue from 3 o'clock that’s two-thirds, but hey ho) we settle at the bar and order a bottle of chardonnay, and enjoy the sunset. Its never easy ordering a bottle of wine, for some reason there’s always consternation - today it take 20 minutes for the wrong one to arrive and a further 10 for the right one - but we’re in no hurry now,
We head back to change for dinner (shorts instead of swimming shorts, shirt not tee-shirt) and tonight go to the hot-rock restaurant that is by the pool near our boardwalk so not so far. The hot rock experience is a bit overrated, but its the only way to get steaks on the island, and its also excellent service, the three waiter had just five couples to attend to. After pleasant but expensive starters we were delivered our mixed-grills of beef, ostrich and kangaroo filets along with a lump of lava to cook them on - sadly the kangaroo was like shoe-leather but the others were excellent.
Tuesday started with a quick (and early) breakfast before me heading off to the dive-boat, hubby started the first of many laps around the island with a phone for music. Today’s dive is actually just 50 yards from our room - the edge of the atoll just where our boardwalk finishes. Around the north of the island again, we park up and jump in, its a rapid descent to 18m, then a more leisurely amble along the reef as the current is less strong. My Austrian buddy is an old hand and we stretch the dive out to 50+ minutes. Sadly I engage reverse peristalsis once again on surfacing.
After lunch it’s time to do a load of the island then go snorkelling directly from our staircase down into the lagoon. We let the gentle current drift us slowly past the stilts of the bungalows and boardwalk, where theres an interesting collection of fish to be seen. Whist there are other good snorkel areas around the island, we’re lucky to have this one right under us, we’ll explore further later in the holiday. All these things take time and it’s suddenly a rush to get in position for sunset!
Wednesday starts early again and I’m on the boat by 08:00 heading towards Coca Cola Island - guess what’s made here? But our interest is the reef beyond, and we drop to a much closer 12m shelf where the fish are plentiful. We see a shark on the sandy bottom, possibly another 10m below us but there's no point trying to get close, they are generally very quick to run off. My lovely French buddy Natalie is a curious creature and we have to peek in every nook and cranny, which is fine by me, I love diving with different sorts of individuals. She's highly accomplished and keeps me on my (figurative) toes! It's a great dive and I surface without any incedent this time. Now it's tea and biscuits as we while away an hour, drive about a couple of miles up the reef until we're adjacent to a hotel island and again descend onto Palm Reef for another great dive with Natalie.
Dinner tonight is at the best eatery these days since the Dhoni Grill was destroyed by hurricane five years ago - Asian Wok - not many prizes for guessing it serves Asian Fusion! Tonight we go for old favourites like spring rolls, tempura, sweet & sour and Japanese Kobe stir-fry, all of which are served impeccably by the army of staff allocated to this restaurant. A delightful Malbec helps everything slip down perfectly.
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