5 October - More diving

The Diving Style team! Well, one of the best instructors and the best student too!

Guess who discovered Facebook!


MONIQUE:

Diving day today. But this time Callie sits out. I do a stunning dive with a father and daughter from the UK. He started diving many years ago and tells us how they made their own wetsuits. At the end of this holiday I might just have to resort to that as well – seeing that the wetsuit is getting tighter by the day!

We dive on Bamboo. Another stunning, big boulder dive. Lots of eels, fusiliers, kingfish and even a turtle. And for the first time we see other divers on a reef in Mauritius! The wind has come up early in the morning and the surface conditions are a bit more like SA now!

Luc joins us for the second dive – the other side of Aquarium. I tried to film the dive, but the GOPRO battery dies on me. Luc however is a pro by now. He cannot stop talking and pointing the things. He does an impressive 45 minute dive at max 12m. His air consumption is great! This was now also his first casual dive (not on course anymore). He is so taken with the diving that he immediately books another dive for tomorrow.

After getting dressed we join Rataan at Recif Blue – the quaint local cafe across from the Spar. Recif Blue means “Blue Lagoon” and it is indeed very local. The only menu is a black board French menu , with nothing in English. The owner decides that we look like the noodle type and recommends chicken noodle. I think it is the only English he knows – so in order not to cause confusion we all agree to chicken noodles! For just over R120 we get food and drinks – this is a bargain!
Luc also writes his PADI exam and scores and impressive 94% - without help and only studying half of the manual. Must say PADI made diving much easier with the Dive Table Calculator! This is the first time Rataan has seen it and he is also impressed with how easy diving has become!

We shop some more French chocolates and discover the best Indian spices. Vanilla sticks for just R8 a packet! It is a treat to check out all the imported French delicatessens and the Indian spices! Here you do not need to go sightseeing – just go to the local Spar. Must say, looking forward to cooking with all these interesting things – if you can find packets with English recipes on!
Tomorrow it is the Durga Pooja festival celebrations. It is a Hindu festival and for 9 days they eat only vegetarian. .. Dinner tonight is Chinese (after our noodle lunch!) – Luc is very happy, he gets to eat more noodles!

Oh, whilst we went diving, Callie went for a long run to all the fancy 5star resorts. He thinks they are all very beautiful - but got a shock when he saw the drinks prices!