PLEASE forgive the delay. Internet is not easy to get everyday. Also, please forgive any spelling errors. I am sending this without proofing it. Sorry, no photo's till I get back as there is no way they will go through with this internet.

Thursday Oct 30

Today was the first day of diving. I have not had internet as much as I thought which is why I am a wee bit behind. I am now going to try to catch up. At least now I can write when there is no internet and copy and paste it when I do have internet.

So….let me see if I can remember everything.

The flight down here was nasty. I got up at 5am and was at the airport at 5:30am. The first flight was to Houston via Cont. A 4 ½ hr flight. I then had a 8 hr layover. My next leg was to Dubai with Enriates . This flight was 15 hrs. I was to meet my friend Robin there. I waited and waited for her to arrive. I was worried as I never saw her. I had a 9 hr wait before I was to depart for Male. Emirates has a lounge for it’s customers where you can eat. It was a very nice way to pass time.

The Dubai airport is more like a shopping mall than an airport. You can buy anything. It is a very international airport as it is a hub for the middle east.

After the 9 hrs. wait I got on my last flight to Male. It was another 4 ½ hr flight. I saw Diane and Jim as I was boarding this flight but still no Robin. When we got to the airport I told the people picking us up that Robin was missing. They got me a internet card and I go online but could not locate her on skype. I unfortunately did not take her phone numbers with me. I checked my email and saw a message from her saying that her first flight out of Boston was cancelled and she would be arriving in the afternoon with a bunch of the others. Whew….I could now breath again.

We found out that there were going to be 7 Brits joining us on this trip. So now instead of 14 of us there are 21. This is totally not a problem as the boat is hugh and beautiful. Ya, the boat is as beautiful as the photo’s.

The Brit’s are upset as they did not know that the first day of arrival was for us to stay on the boat instead of at a hotel. We were not meant to dive. Our first dive was not meant to be till Tuesday. I explained that to them but as they said…….their travel agent should have let them know.

On Tuesday the last of our crew arrived. We went out on our first dive to a site called Kiki Reef where we saw all the usual Indian Ocean fish. It was amazing. The currents were no where near as bad as I had expected them to be. We were suppose to do a afternoon dive but there was a problem with the compressor so no air. They did a night dive that night but I bowed out as I was not comfortable doing a night dive with only one dive under my belt here.

On Wed. we did a dive to where we Rasdhoo Madivaru saw a grey shark and 3 eagle Rays. We also got to snorkel with our first Manta Ray. It was doing the summersault feeding thing. It was amazing. My first encounter with a Manta that actually stuck around. I was thrilled. The next dive was to Gangehi Kandhu where we saw more sharks. This dive had a bit more current and the vis was not great. We had a seperation issue. Everybody had a buddy but me. I keep holding back in hopes that someone would come up behind me Found out later that they all went deep and I did not.……… last dive was to…………….. Still not much in the way of currents. On our 3 dive we went to Gangehi House Reef. Some of us saw a Manta Ray down deep.

On Thursday we did our first 4 day dive. It was up at the crack of dawn. Eat a bit, get a briefing, dive, eat, rest, briefing, dive, eat, rest, briefing, dive, eat rest briefing, dive, eat. First dive was to Beryu where we saw giant stingray, Manta Ray passing by and turtle along with all the major beautifully colored fish. Second dive was to Haffusha Thila. Thila means Pinnacale in the Maldivian language. Loads of juv. Whitetip sharks. Third dive was to Maaya Thila where we had 2 turtles, nudi’s, blennies and gobies. We did this as a prep dive for the night dive. The last dive was again Maaya Thila for the night dive. Awesome. 2 juv. Lionfish, nudi’s, juv. Whitetip reef sharks hunting for dinner.
Wow!!!!!!! It is friggin Friday. Where is the time going? The Brits are wonderful and a nice add on to the group. I have already done 2 dives today. I am hoping to get internet long enough tonight to actually send this off.

So the first dive today was to a site called Batala Maaga Kan Thila. Two Neopolian Wrasse’s, Eagle Ray, amazing overhangs. Found my first jawfish. I hate that I do not know the names of all the fish. I know most of the families which is nice but there are no extensive books to look up the fish names and even worse….no nudi book. UGH…………or creature book I guerss I should say. The next dive was to Fish Head. Richard found me a beautiful nudi and I found a stick like one. I love it when I can stay down longer but still not long enough. Longest dive so far was 76 mins. But I am thrilled that they are allowing us to do that.