This Day one year ago: Maldives

Hard to believe that one year ago I was diving off Maldives.

Actually to be honest, it got rather boring on the 5th day.

Maybe the feeling of being with cute chicks in bikinis for 9 full days got to me afterawhile.... hmmm...

It was the first time I was on a full-on dive boat (otherwise known as live-on-board "LOB"). And this was a looong dive trip.

I didn't know what to expect really.

The sea conditions were a bit rough and a few of the divers got sick.

I didn't get sea sick but the constant motion made me edgy, snappish after the 5th or 6th day.

I got fatigued. Not bored but a bit tired of the diving, sea waves etc.. I should have brought along a good book to read. Or some computer game. (Wait, I actually did). But it just got a bit tiresome on that LOB. Nothing wrong with the boat I hasten to add. But the rough seas threw me off a bit. I was really killing for a good back massage. Sleeping on that rocking boat just didn't work for me.

Nonetheless, it was one of the best diving trips ever. I think I did over 30 dives. And the photos I took came out pretty darn fantastic!!

Most of the dives were normal. You see a few big stuff here and there. Like the Manta Rays.

But the currents were very strong. Challenging dives.

The dive with the Whale Shark took place in rather turbulent seas. Waves 1m high.

I also didn't know most of the other divers and I... err.. inadvertently insulted some of them with my special brand of humor.

I also need to watch what I say. My female dive buddy was complaining of nausea and reflux/vomitting. And I said, "Well, you need to eat less."

She was a bit plumb compared to the others and my statement went down like a ton of lead weights. Everyone in the dinning room went dead silent and stared at me. I tried to explain that I had the same problem which I resolved by eating smaller meals but to no avail. Alamak!!!!!

Another problem: my use of my new Uwatec dive computer which has more liberal dive settings caused some consternation with the dive masters who were using Suunto dive computers with stricter tolerances.