Monday
Went to Place of Refuge in the afternoon with PFI. I was somewhat useful this time, as two people had trouble equalizing pressure even at a few meters, so I worked with them directly. Mandy and Kirk said I could also get in a few dives since I would have a small three-person safety rotation with them. I had plenty of time to do this, but events conspired against me again, as another diver forgot his depth gauge, so I had to lend him mine, and the lens in my mask came loose, causing it to leak and making it hard to do deep dives. Still a good day. I think I left my shoes at Place of Refuge yesterday and of course they were gone today, but even I know that's not a big deal (probably got them at Big 5 for $25).
Sunday
In the morning, Bill gave me a ride down to Place of Refuge to join their regular Sunday diving group. These people are quite serious, and train almost every week, so many of them are over 70m. I made a somewhat poor decision today. I started following them out to the deep 75m buoy but lost track of them. I thought I had an idea where the buoy was, problem visiting it a few years ago, but I was wrong. So I swam around for a couple of hours looking for them. I went out way too far, and so it took my a while to get back. The group was mildly concerned until I showed up. It wasn't a very much of a poor decision considering this is a sport with a high mortality rate.
As soon as I got lost, I should have swam back to shore too see if I could spot them. If I had done this I might have been only 30 mins late. Also, if I wasn't going to be able to see them from shore, I certainly wouldn't have been able to see them bobbing in the ocean.
I had been hoping to start my trip off this day with a 35meter dive as a start. Oh well, again, another day in paradise. The two positives are that I got a hell of a workout swimming around (a few miles at least) and I ran into a five-foot reeftip shark. I was swimming around and I kicked something solid. I heard something thrash and I saw the shark swimming off. I don't think they attack people, but they could definitely deliver a nasty bite.
After I came ashore and checked in with the group, I went out with the PFD group doing their first ocean session. Again their wasn't much for me to do, but it's always fun out there. I had a spinach salad for dinner, then the butter avocado. I love avocado but that a little too much. It weighed almost a pound, albeit with a large pit.
Sat
Performance Freediving started their Intermediate clinic today. I joined them in the afternoon and did a 4 minute breathhold in the pool with them, along with some rescues. Their are twelve people in the class for three instructors, which are perfect numbers, so I'm kind of a third wheel. If there had been an odd number and/or a few too many people in the class, I could have paired up with someone and had more to do. But I can't complain, it's another day in paradise.
