Day 5 Birthday Girl!

Today is my birthday and I am greeted by the most beautiful morning.

I have booked diving today and am really looking forward to it. However, I sincerely hope that my cold has gone and I don’t have any ear or sinus problems. I take a precautionary decongestant tablet. I open my cards, take some pictures and saunter to breakfast. No rush as diving is not until 13.00. I have cut breakfast down to fruit and cereal. Eggs etc are just too much, given that there are 3 courses for lunch and dinner. Way too much for my appetite these days.

WiFi is a real issue here and is only available within 10ft of the office. So after breakfast I walk to the office to connect to the internet and see that there are loads of Happy Birthday messages for me. Thank you everyone. What a great start to my day.

I spend the rest of the morning by the pool. I have arranged an early lunch and then head off to the dive shop.

Weight restrictions meant I left most of my dive kit at home. I have rented equipment and it is all in very good condition. The wetsuit is a bit big but in this heat I don’t think I could cope with the horrendous battle to squeeze myself into anything tighter!

There is only me diving so we take the exceedingly small diveboat. Nothing about it suggests that it was ever designed for diving. There are no tank holders, but it does have a first aid kit, oxygen and an engine and I note that there is a wooden ladder that can be hung over the side to assist re-entry so that is a bonus.

Chole Bay is really beautiful and I admire the pristine coastline as we head for the first dive site. We start to kit up and I become quite apprehensive. I have not dived for nearly 2 years, the equipment is unfamiliar and entry is a back flip which I have never done before. The crew are patient and I finally get fully prepped, manoeuvre myself to sit on the edge of the boat and drop into the water.

They use steel tanks here which are much heavier than the aluminium tanks I usually use. I therefore have no idea what weight I should carry but am pretty sure whatever weight I decide on will be incorrect. That was indeed the case as I flipped off the boat backwards and tried to descend. I had to haul myself down the anchor rope and hold on tight to avoid torpedoing straight back to the surface. Another 2kg stabilised me and as I relaxed I was finally able to establish neutral buoyancy.

We set off along the reef. Visibility was not great but the coral and sealife were spectacular. A huge variety of corals and a vast array of fish thronged before my eyes. The dive was gentle and shallow – max 40 ft and lasted an hour. It was an ideal first dive and by the end of it I had “got back into the swing of it”.

The second dive seemed so much easier. Kit on, flip in water, straight to bottom. Big relief! This dive was Coral Garden and very aptly named. Terrific variety of corals, with many very shallow so wonderful light for photography.

When we returned I was looking forward to a G&T but again the tonic had run out😱. I asked the barman how this was possible particularly on my birthday. He said it’s because they could not get any more as there was none on Mafia. The island relies on deliveries from the mainland and shortages are common. I think I need to recognise my tonic deficit as a First World problem. I resolved my G&T crisis by ordering a Margherita instead and it was extremely good.