11 OCTOBER

Slow start to the morning. Chilled out, did some washing, some writing, some reading and Luc watched a lot of TV. A bit worried about this Anti Cyclone which is still messing up the sea – wind and rough seas! I asked my Facebook friends what an Anti Cyclone is and Karin Hougaard and Paul Booysen said it is the opposite of Uncle Cyclone – so lyk my ons moet oppas vir die tannie. Well, Louis phones us to tell us that the diving is on and we are all happy. He picks us up at one. At his house we grab gear and then he takes us to the beach where we meet DM, Richard. Sounds that Richard is not keen to take us to the Stella Maru Wreck without doing a checkout dive with us first. He does not trust these South African divers! Well, he has no choice because Louis tells him that we do not have a lot of days left for diving. The Scuba Doo boat is a big cat type boat and it is great to have so much space. The wind however is howling and on our way out it lifts the seat with our towel and takes it straight to sea. Thank goodness I just picked up my dive computer from the seat otherwise it would have been down under! We kit up very quickly. Back at the boat it is either the option of a back roll from a very high beam or a giant stride. We opt for the latter and Richard tells us to be quick as there might be some current and we might get washed off the wreck. As we are about to go down, Callie discovers he has left his fins on the boat! Oh no! I think Richard just about had a heart attack. He immediately wanted to know who the Divemaster was and is slightly relieved when he hears it is me! He tells Callie to meet us down at the bottom and the two of us go down. The viz is very good and we can see the wreck from the top. It is a beautiful wreck – well not one, but two – as there is a bicycle “wreck” too!  We get to see one of the giant eels the Stella Maru is famous for. Would have loved to have been  able to penetrate the wreck – but will rather not stress Richard out further!  After spending a good 25 minutes on the wreck we start going up towards the reef. Callie is low on air long before me and I am pretty sure it has to do with this leaky hoses! Ai, why does he not listen to me!

Back on the surface we decide not change cylinders immediately as the sea is very rough. This time Luc goes with and he does his first giant stride! It is a shallow dive – no deeper than 11 meters and the viz is not great with surge.  Not easy diving conditions but Luc copes very well. He still uses his arms a lot, but I think he was struggling with the surge and Richard was finning quiet fast. We see a snake eel and a pipe fish. Also a school of barracuda – Luc’s first! Luc manages yet another 45 minute dive!  The surface current is very strong and we have to hold on unto Luc and the boat to keep him from being pulled away.
Seems that both Richard and the other DM is very impressed with our diving and the plan is to take us to a 40 meter dive on Thursday called Black Forrest!  Back at Louis and Lola’s house we are received with a tall glass of Louis’s Jungle Juice and Lola’s famous chocolate cake! Man, this is the best diving! Lola immediately wanted to know if I showed the men – she told me earlier on that the men on the island think women cannot dive! I tell I think I managed to impress them! Of course we all have a great laugh at Callie with no fins – the story made it to the shore! Louis and Lola are absolutely fab hosts, jungle juice if followed by local rum tasting session and it after dark when Louis finally drop us at home! We discover that he was an deputy MD of a large insurance company in SA many years ago.  With his personality I think he did very well! And Luc decided that Lola’s chocolate cake is the best he had in a long time!