We met Amy at B&B Scuba at 9am. Brigid realised that it was already too late to call her sister, Sarah, to wish her a happy birthday. We hastily bought a new phone card, but then realised that we didn’t have a note of her new telephone number. Will have to wait until this evening.
Our first two open water dives were off Mokapu Beach. Before donning her wetsuit, Brigid smothered her grazed leg with antibiotic ointment and wrapped it in cling-film. This had the dual effect of preventing infection and making sure that the injury was not exacerbated when she pulled the wetsuit off after the dive. Brilliant.
Amy got us to do all the essential exercises (mask clearing, mask removal, regulator retrieval, alternate air source, etc.) during these dives, leaving only the CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent) for the following day. Despite the focus on the compulsory exercises, we were captivated by the reef – and (despite being occasionally surprised by duck-diving snorklers) amazed at the diversity of marine life so close to the beach. Brigid even saw a turtle swimming off into the distance!
Unwittingly, we made a potentially serious error in the afternoon. Having dived to about 26ft in the morning, we decided to visit the Haleakala Crater at 10,023ft (thereby risking decompression sickness!). Oops. Luckily, we suffered no ill effects, but learned an important lesson.