libertus

Three dives again today, two of which were the final AOW course dives for Mo and Claire. We were also joined by Juroen, a fun diver from Holland.

First dive was at Sulug with me leading Juroen on a fun dive. Vis was okay for the first part on the sandy area and slope reef. When we reached the shallow reef for our safety stop the sun came out - very pretty. A single large remora joined us for a while which made me think that its large host must have been nearby. A whale shark perhaps? As we were doing our safety stop the dive boat roared past us at a distance of about 5m. I asked the boatman later if he though I needed a haircut! What I do need is a safety sausage.

During the very long surface interval (we were not expecting to do another dive until night) I completed my 800m snorkel swim and rescue skills verification. The swim was done in 15mins for a score of 4. My final score on the stamina module is 15 out of 20 - not bad. The rescue went okay but I still think I can do better. My trouble with simulations is that I must be careful not to get too into the exercise. I almost did this time, just stopping myself before giving Juroen an actual rescue breath rather than simulating one on the back of my hand.

There were enough tanks and time available to make a fun dive, so we did. I was leading, Mo and Claire behind with Markus and Juroen taking up the rear. We dived Nemo’s Garden off Mamutik. Vis was okay and for some reason I had difficulty finding many anemones. Still it was quite enjoyable.

In the evening we made the night dive which completed Mo and Claire’s AOW course. I think both of them were rather nervous - I recall similar anxiety for my first night dive. We made the dive at the outside reef off Manukan. Markus led followed by Mo and Claire with me taking up the rear. They made navigation exercises then we did the fun part. Markus found a large hermit crab and an enormous brittle star. We played a lot with the bioluminescence. Claire didn’t think night diving was her thing. Mo seemed to enjoy it.

During the dive Markus got stung across the face by a jellyfish tentacle. He looked awfully swollen when he got out and was in a lot of pain. I graciously offered to pee on the wound (hey - it works!) but for some reason he turned me down.

We had beers on Manukan jetty then went back to KK for a few more. I think the alcohol helped with Markus’ sting!

Mount Kinabalu was visible all day, even at sunset. Magnificent!

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