The weather kyboshed many of the watersports available. There were huge winds every day except for one, which whipped up the swell and made for choppy gusty conditions. This made is too rough for the catamarans and windsurfers if you weren’t already experienced with that equipment. I’m not a jet-ski girl anyway. Then there was surfing (leave that to Drew), which was also not for the novice, and then there was the snorkelling and the diving.
I’d asked, the first day, about the diving. Yumi, the Japanese dive guide there, said the visibility was very very poor, bad conditions and there weren’t any manta rays about. Maybe later in the week she said. I asked two days later, speaking to a German woman behind the counter, who was lacklustre and either bored or pissed off, or perhaps both.
I didn’t get such a great feeling from the dive centre, and hadn’t seen anybody gearing up except two learners who were jumping in with Yumi, to the side of the jetty. The whole diving idea didn’t seem to be on the cards – aside from the crappy weather, I just didn’t get a good feel from the staff and the centre, and wondered about the upkeep of the equipment etc if they had a constant stream of transient foreigners in charge who stay for a few months before moving onto the next resort.
We did snorkel around the island - literally – and we found a nice spot where there was a bit of coral and lots of fish. The resort had 'bombed' three deep holes... otherwise the water depth was only about 1-1.5m, which is great for snorkelling!! The holes didn't have a whole lot of coral in them, but you could tell that they would improve in the future, given some time to regenerate from the shock. Lots and lots of little fish, and some middling sized ones. A few 'Bruces' (reef sharks) around - from little ones about a foot and a half long, to one that I reckon was 5 to 6 ft long – all in the just-offshore snorkelling area.
So I figured we’d try out the snorkelling excursion as a test of the watersports department, and see how that went! The excursions were every 2-3 days, so we signed up for the next one, which was cancelled due to rough weather. We duly signed up for the next one and this time it was a go! Our german snorkel guide, Marianna, had been on the island for three weeks. She hadn't even snorkelled at the island?? Okaaaay. Maybe she was busy?
We all checked in, signed a form (only in English) saying we were competent swimmers and able to swim for 15 minutes unaided without buoyancy aides, in inclement weather. I noticed a Japanese couple had no idea what they were signing. We tumbled on the dhoni (boat) and found our positions. Finally, a sunny day too (the only one) - although the wind was blowing and the whitecaps were telling us the swell was up.
A rough ride to our location - the dhoni's have a shallow draft and are designed for inter-island jaunts as I understand it, not deep water or long distances. We lost a jerry can of fuel and one of water overboard in the choppy conditions, so a crew member jumped overboard, while the boat doubled-back to haul them and him back on. No boat briefing, no safety briefing, no numbered roll call. Okay... so slightly different safety standards! And one guide only, for the whole group. No minimum ratio I guess.
We arrived at our location - two coral bombies. Marianna simply said, if you are in trouble wave one hand above your head. If you are in big trouble, wave both arms over your head! Twenty four of us splashed into the water, one by one, after Marianna. I know, because I counted! The six asian tourists all wore life jackets - which Drew said wasn't good. One, because it meant their swimming skills weren't that good and therefore shouldn't be there in those weather conditions - two, the life vests form a bit of a sail and they would be more prone to getting carried further away with the wind. The dhoni had no tender (small runabout boat), so in the event of someone being carried off to the other reef area, the dhoni wouldn't be able to motor in to pick them up. It would rely on a strong swimmer making it there and towing them back against the current.
The guide seemed to toddle off and expect everyone to follow her. She'd pop her head up here and there, but certainly wasn't able to keep an eye on everyone. Sure enough, two of the life-jacketed tourists got into trouble - Marianna signalled the boat. Except she wasn't able to get high enough - so Drew finned upwards and caught the eye of the crew, who then motored over.
I won't go into too much more, except to note that Marianna hadn't snorkelled this reef either! My, what has she been doing?? They gathered everybody on board. Except then she realised we didn't have everyone. They look around and find three. Okay, we're ready to go. Uh no... I said we're still missing two. Oh, okay she says (obviously not having done a head count and realising this??). Luckily Drew spotted the missing couple a few minutes later... the crew were all looking in the wrong direction, and the pair had taken off by themselves anyway.
A rough trip back - Drew and I the only ones smiling - many sea sick, some lying down looking very ill. Hmm... no, I think I'll leave the diving - crap weather, poor visibility and suspect safety standards. Argh!!
