Our Diving Adventure on The Odessey (Truk - Micro Indonessia)
It is Sunday (Feb 4th) and we have now landed in beautiful, warm Guam after having no WiFi access for days while aboard our boat the Odessey. Our day started at 5 minutes after midnight as we loaded up the boat tender with our luggage and a fellow diver to head to the Airport in Chuuk in the pouring rain...and I mean pouring. Our clothes and luggage were soaked despite tarps on the boat and an umbrella. It was a weird feeling being back on land after a full week of being rocked gently both aboard the boat and while diving the wrecks.
It was absolutely AMAZING!!!! We joined 12 other divers making the total divers a group of 14. The largest group was from the dive shop (Motor City Scuba) out of Detroit. They had 8 divers and were joined by 4 divers from England with Bob and I representing Canada.
We both completed our Advanced Open Water Certification so have new Padi dive cards coming our way via the mail. The other guys (yes, all the divers were guys except Naomi) had an incredible amount of experience and we couldn't help but gain experience and confidence from their dive stories. They all encouraged us even when some of our course dives were epic fails. We would get up the next day and try again as we practiced the required skills and watched their skill set. Most of them were tech divers and would go down with 4 tanks on average compared to our one...which means they went much deeper and for longer than we did.
The wrecks were unbelievable and before we knew it we were penetrating them with our dive guides. This is something Naomi never thought she would be able to accomplish but she was dropping down through metal girders to see all that the others were seeing on the wrecks (Bob will share some of the dive site history and sights a little later).
Our dives ranged from 53 feet down to depths of 129 feet and were no decompression dives with safety stops. The dive boat had just an incredible set up making both entry and exits from the "Pool" (this is what they called the lagoon) extremely easy.
They had a safety stop bar hung at 15 feet below the dive deck on the stern. You would feel like you were flying at times when both currents and the swing of the boat meant you had to have a good grasp while completing the 3 minute safety stop. They also had nitro hung right on the bar in case you came up low on air....very comforting. The BEST was the elevator they had for entering / exiting....you read right...an elevator!!! Hmmm....what does it resemble to you....??? We came to love that especially on the third dive of the day.
Truth be told Bob used the elevator almost right away and received extra attention from all the crew as he was suffering from a groin pull from hauling luggage on our trip down. As he recovered during the week the joke became that we had to remind him to limp a little so his very attendant help didn't stop helping him with the hauling of his gear right to the elevator.
Naomi received no such help and hiked down the dive deck each and every day all geared up except for fins. We later learned that most of the other divers were stunned when she showed up and some thought - what a hard core diver! We learned that few women divers make the trip to Truk.
The accomodations and food were fantastic with daily maid service and delicious meals and great snacks for the divers after every dive (fresh fruit, baking etc) to keep our energy up. Bed came early each night as breakfast was at 6:30 am and briefings started at 7:00 am and then the "pool" was open for the divers.
Naomi became known as Nurse Naomi dispensing cortisone creams for penetration scrapes and sinu tab for many of us in need. The giving was reciprocal when Andrew shared his special ear drops for Naomi's hurting ear - what a great community. New friends for life :) Here's some shots of our new friends.
It was absolutely AMAZING!!!! We joined 12 other divers making the total divers a group of 14. The largest group was from the dive shop (Motor City Scuba) out of Detroit. They had 8 divers and were joined by 4 divers from England with Bob and I representing Canada.
We both completed our Advanced Open Water Certification so have new Padi dive cards coming our way via the mail. The other guys (yes, all the divers were guys except Naomi) had an incredible amount of experience and we couldn't help but gain experience and confidence from their dive stories. They all encouraged us even when some of our course dives were epic fails. We would get up the next day and try again as we practiced the required skills and watched their skill set. Most of them were tech divers and would go down with 4 tanks on average compared to our one...which means they went much deeper and for longer than we did.
The wrecks were unbelievable and before we knew it we were penetrating them with our dive guides. This is something Naomi never thought she would be able to accomplish but she was dropping down through metal girders to see all that the others were seeing on the wrecks (Bob will share some of the dive site history and sights a little later).
Our dives ranged from 53 feet down to depths of 129 feet and were no decompression dives with safety stops. The dive boat had just an incredible set up making both entry and exits from the "Pool" (this is what they called the lagoon) extremely easy.
They had a safety stop bar hung at 15 feet below the dive deck on the stern. You would feel like you were flying at times when both currents and the swing of the boat meant you had to have a good grasp while completing the 3 minute safety stop. They also had nitro hung right on the bar in case you came up low on air....very comforting. The BEST was the elevator they had for entering / exiting....you read right...an elevator!!! Hmmm....what does it resemble to you....??? We came to love that especially on the third dive of the day.
Truth be told Bob used the elevator almost right away and received extra attention from all the crew as he was suffering from a groin pull from hauling luggage on our trip down. As he recovered during the week the joke became that we had to remind him to limp a little so his very attendant help didn't stop helping him with the hauling of his gear right to the elevator.
Naomi received no such help and hiked down the dive deck each and every day all geared up except for fins. We later learned that most of the other divers were stunned when she showed up and some thought - what a hard core diver! We learned that few women divers make the trip to Truk.
The accomodations and food were fantastic with daily maid service and delicious meals and great snacks for the divers after every dive (fresh fruit, baking etc) to keep our energy up. Bed came early each night as breakfast was at 6:30 am and briefings started at 7:00 am and then the "pool" was open for the divers.
Enjoy, snowing here, have fun.
ReplyDeleteWow what a story so far .JR is holding a99% in her order course and 95in others she does recipe cards with Taylor, and had choice of ER or orthopaedics she took orthopaedic
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