Edge of the World
A night sleeping under the gentle motion of our boat Duyung Baru and a hot cup of Nescafe on the deck this morning has erased the blur of yesterdays first dive.
Feeling refreshed and ready we each begin what will eventually be a well practiced routine each morning.
For me it is up at sunrise to enjoy the quite solitude of a sleeping boat and a warm cup in my hand. A camera within reach…sometimes used other times never touched.
As the boat slowly stirs to life we each follow our own rituals of waking. By 8 we are all of right mind and ready for a quick preview of the morning dive which commences as the last tanks are loaded and we tug on our wetsuits that battle to let our bodies inside.
The three of us and our new friends and shipmates Claudia and her father Jorgan make what will turn out to be the perfect dive team. VoVo rounds out our group to six and off we go in the dive skiff to visually exploit another dive location somewhere on the other side of our small island base.
Claudia and Jorgan are Swiss and have been diving for many years in Europe and around the world really. They are making their first ever father/daughter dive trip which is in conjunction with a much longer adventure Claudia is on throughout Asia. Normally, divers of different abilities struggle to find common ground. But in this case our desire to learn… married with their generous and gentle sprits make for the prefect match. Throw a little VoVo in to keep it exciting and we all have our hands full.
Our dives each day are naturally, well planned and rehearsed by those that have dove here before us. The challenge of each dive for us are the variables of current and timing. Morning, midday, and afternoon dives blend into a nonstop visual wonderland that defies anything I could ever imagine let alone write about.
At one point on our first full day of diving Teri exclaims “ I think I just saw every fish in the book” and no one even challenges her declaration. A simple smile and a nod of the head confirms what we all know is true. This is world class diving like no other.
I now realize that I may never be able to return to diving where my previous trips have taken me. Like the love of your wife…. I have become truly spoiled in every sense of the word and experience. I can never go back now.
As the skiff pulls alongside Duyung Baru we have little to want for as we pull ourselves on aboard.
After the last dive of the day….. cold beer in frost covered mugs are passed around and we revel in the pleasures of the day. As the sun drops quickly behind the shadowed hills I have a feeling. A feeling as if we are at the very edge of the world.
