Bad News

Hey guys,

Well, the documentary is in serious trouble as I have now discovered that some footage has gone "missing"... whether we lost it or the airlines... I have no idea. One major piece of footage contained about 8 interviews with various DMT's, DM's and Course Directors.

Sadly, I now possess a handful of interviews, some of which is in this new video.

Hopefully the tapes will turn up somewhere!!!

SD

Cheering ourselves up

Instead of sitting in on our first weekend back, we decided to meet up with my buddy Phil and his girlfriend, plus Roy (my brother) and Tracy and the kids.





We went down to lakes near Thorpe Park with a cable wakeboard company. After a couple of hours doing that... you certainly have some aches and pains...

Jen did particulary well, making it round the whole course, the first time she got on a wakeboard! A natural.. as shown below!



It was good fun and really nice to see my brother for the 1st time in 6 months... Thanks guys!! You cheered us up!!

Back at Work

First day back at work.....

Need I say more!!!

(was that the shortest blog post ever?)

Singapore Day 2

So, we had a nice lay in, and then got picked up from the hotel for our tour of Sentosa Island.

The level of construction on this island is mind boggling... Casinos, 6 hotels, and a Universal Studios are currently being built... Not a pretty sight.


We were ordered to various places by our tour guide, while being told to "hurry up, follow me" etc etc.. Now, I'm sure most of you know that I'm not the best of people when it comes to being told what to do... so I spent most of the day dragging my heels and grumbling like a 13 year old school kid on a field trip...

We went on the Cineblast 4d (cheesy 4d cinema), the luge (a downhill track, although it was tame compared to the one we went on in New Zealand), the skyride (a chairlift), and Segway (2 wheel transport).

After that we were allowed (!?!) to have some free time, so me and Jen ran as fast as we could away from our tour guide... had a pizza and some beer and chilled out for a hour or so watching people trying out trapezing (is that how you spell it?).

We went into the "Songs of the Sea" show (a stage show on the beach that apparently cost $30 million!), and amongst the whole crowd our tour guide managed to collar us.... looking like she was going to keep us company for the whole show, I sneakily sat in a place with just enough room for 2...

We watched the show, which was okay... a light show, pyrotechnics, and water jets... with a spectacularly bad storyline, and some terribly mimed singing.



After the show, it was time again to meet up with the tour guide... and return to our hotel...

Today, our last day is going to be spent packing, with an hour or so by the pool... I wont't be dissapointed to leave Singapore... and I won't be rushing back.

Although, this is the end of our journey, it is not the end of the blog. It will be updated (2-3 times a week), with various articles regarding Padi Go Pro Video entries and also the editing process of the Instructor documentary. I would imagine that it will also have posts of how we settle back into our old life, so I hope you continue to read (and comment!)

Look out for updates soon.... !!

Any questions, please feel free to comment or email simon@dupehouse.com

Singapore Day 1

We woke early, and left the hotel to venture from the Little India district we are staying in.

We hopped on the very efficient Metro system and got off in the centre of Singapore. We then walked for a while in the hot, humid sun towards Raffles.

Once we arrived at Raffles, we had a nose around the shops and then headed to the Marina. On the way I noticed that they are putting all these lights up on the streets. It took me a while to realise that they are putting up all these lights for the Singapore F1 GP.... so we were walking along the track.... NICE!


Arriving at the marina, we were bombarded with concert noise and thousands of service people from Navy to Police etc. They were doing a sound check for some big celebration tomorrow. We walked past this mayhem, and chilled out by the marina for a while.

We then returned to the hotel as we only had a couple of hours before being collected for our "Night Safari".

We were collected, and I already started to feel that this was not my thing... it turned out I was right. This zoo claims a strong conservation message, and says that they are keeping the animals in a natural enviroment. Jen and I thought a diesel engine tram packed with tourists and a guide that blares out from the speakers was not the most the most natural setting for these animals. Let alone the barbed wire and electric fence cleverly disguised behind flora and fauna.

We both agreed that we could not see any plus points. I bought a Chang beer and it cost $12 ?!? On Koh Tao that would have been a tenth of the price!

The one thing we did find appealling was a Spa business in the "Night Safari" where you paid $10 for a 5 minute foot exfoliation by fish! Check it out...

SD

Singapore Arrival

Hey Guys...

Well we left the city of Cairns setting me back another $1600 in excess baggage charges, which was inevitable this far into our journey.... can't wait to deal with BA.

The plane stopped in Darwin for a refuel, and Jen and I had a couple of last aussie beers. We then left for a further 4ish hours flight to Singapore.

We landed and were transferred to our hotel called Park Royal. Its very plush. Haven't had a proper bed to sleep in for 2 months! The photo above was taken from our bedroom window.

We ventured out to find a cash machine. It was hectic. People, cars and so much noise.... very reminiscent of Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.

The food, typically Asian, consisted of such dishes as Intestines on a plate, or Turtle Soup which made my appetite seem to dissapear!. It took a while to get some cash out, and then we went a grabbed some beers and people watched before retiring.

Final Day in Australia

So.... Skydiving was bloody cancelled! Damm rain came in on the last day... hey ho.... nevermind!

Instead of some fantastic footage of jumping out of a plane at 14,000ft (grumble grumble) I shall show you the toll this trip has taken on some of our equipment.


These 2 photos show the obvious damage to the screen of the little HD cam... Brand new when we left the UK... you can thank those lovely airlines for that.



And these 2 photos show the 6 inch crack in Jens underwater camera housing that must have been stamped on by an elephant seeing as this housing can withstand pressure down to over 90m underwater (10 x pressure on land).

Hopefully, our insurance will cover it, and I should be thankful (fingers crossed cos trip is not over!) that the big boy camera and the housing have remained intact.

Anyway guys, we leave Cairns tomorrow morning, and arrive in Singapore about 17 hours later I think. From there it will be 3 days of more blogging before we get on a plane to the UK.

Anyone fancy picking us up from the airport at 5am on the 14th ;-)

SD

Dive Boat Day 5 - Dives 13 and 14

A long journey through the night and we were a couple of hours from Cairns. We dived 2 dives at a Barrier reef dive site. They were calm and relaxed. With us just checking out the small stuff.

Saw a lovely little pipefish crawling along, and a very friendly Maori Wrasse who apparently attempted to swallow another divers torch.

We also saw a turtle swimming through which was a bonus since we missed out the night before.

Another thing that was on my mind was that this was it. No diving for a long time. Very sad about that. Its been a big part of our last 6 months, and we both enjoy it immensely of course. Now what? How do we deal with not being able to dive nearly every day.. To answer truthfully, I don't know.! We shall see.


We returned to Cairns, a couple of hours later and picked up the trusty camper. Drove to a caravan park, and checked out some skydiving for Thursday. This will be our finale... We leave Australia on Friday morning to fly to Singapore.

So.... not long now folks!

Dive Boat Day 4 - Dives 9 to 12

Another early morning, and we arrived at Clam Gardens, a fairly shallow site famed for its giant clams... hence the name!!

We took a nice calm dive, and spotted a few things, and then Jen tugged me to show me a lovely Cuttlefish which I got some absolutely stunning footage of. Can't wait to see what it looks like on a big screen!


Dive 10, was Stevie's Bommie which was named after a guy who loved this site and died in a motorcycle accident.. His mates stuck a memorial plaque down at 25m.. we checked the plaque out and then dived round the pinnacle a few times, see schools of snapper, some leaf fish, and another flame file shell.

Dive 11 after lunch was 2/3. Funny name for a dive site but there you go. A couple of shark, and beautiful trumpet fish... was nice.

Dive 12, night dive time... at Beer Garden... giant turtles come here to sleep but we didn't see a single one.... bugger!! Was a very dissapointing dive, and we saw nothing except a giant white moray swimming through.

New Posts

WE ARE BACK!!!

We jumped off the boat a couple of hours ago, and I have spent ages doing 2 posts for you. The rest will come tomorrow!

See below for 2 new posts....

SD

Dive Boat Day 3 - Dives 5 to 8

We woke (if you can say that) after an extremely rough crossing that kept us awake pretty much all night. But what can you expect when you out in international waters?

We ate breakfast and set up for Dive 5 which was North Horn. This site is not seen by many people so we felt quite priviledged. The current was strong and the depths were down to 1000m so you really had to keep an eye on the ball. Plenty of shark around and visibility was stunning. We were at about 30m and you could still see the hull of the boat quite clearly.


Dive 6, at the same site was the shark feed. The whole group settled into position and the food was lowered.... there were approximately 30 sharks of various types ranging from whitetips, blacktips, grey whaler (biters!) and oceanic silvertips (worse biters!)



When the feed started (frozen whole tuna heads) it was quite serene and I was a bit dissapointed, but I didn't realise the food was stuck in the container and a couple of minutes later when it was finally released mayhem broke loose. It was an absolute frenzy and a real buzz with sobering undertones. One word for it really.... AWESOME... something that we probably will not have the opportunity to experience again.



After the feed we continued our dive, swimming past the now well fed sharks and then ended our dive and had lunch.

Dive 7, at Cypress Hill was good, but sadly we can't remember a single thing about this dive as we were still on a big buzz from shark feeding.

Dive 8, The Entrance was a very cool, relaxing dive. Jen and I being instructors were given free reign on every dive and on this one we didn't see any other divers..... just us in the ocean, watching eel gardens, puffer fish and a humphead maori wrasse was very serene and we both enjoyed this dive alot... just experiencing it together by ourselves.

And, that was the end of the day. Beers and dinner were had before commencing the journey overnight back into Aussie Waters and the Great Barrier Reef.

Dive Boat Day 2 - Dives 1 to 4

We woke at 6.50am for breakfast, before jumping into the cool 25 degree waters in our 5mm wetsuits...



Tested the camera housings and ventured around the "Cod Hole" bumping into some whopper 150kg potato cod. Pretty cool creatures who were very friendly. Visibility was good and it was nice to get a decent dive in.... its been a while since we had a good one.

The next dive at the same site involved the cod being fed some pilchard. Although this goes against my "passive interaction" philosophy, these cod have been fed for 15 years and are naturally expectant of food now.

It was fun, and the big boys bumped my camera lens a fair few times...


Dive 3, was Pixies Pinnacle, a small pinnacle in the middle of nowhere. We saw a shark on the start of the dive.... just a small whitetip, and a flame file shell.... which you should look up on youtube as a photograph cannot do it justice... very cool.


Dive 4, was a night dive at Challenger Bay. We saw lots of cool stuff including Whitetip Shark, Octopus, Moray Eels, Blue Spotted Ray. The big thing about this site is the Jacks (Trevallys) who swim quietly behind you in large numbers looking at fish they can eat by using the light from your torch. You don't know they are there until they zoom past you to munch on their next poor victim... It was a bloodbath!

Tired and hungry, we ate and went to bed to prepare for a rough crossing into international waters and "Osprey Reef"

Dive Boat Day 1

So, we boarded our boat, which is pretty nice I have to say...

Our bedroom is nice and spacious (for a boat) and we unpacked all our gear and set up our dive equipment ready for 4 dives tomorrow. Unfortunately being the donkey I am.... my monitor on the camera housing was not working and it took me ages to figure out that it actually runs on batteries (read the f@*"ing manual as my course director would say). Luckily, some nice chap has given me half the batteries I need, and I'm currently negotiating with someone for the other 4.


So, emergency over. The internet on the boat has broken, but I have brought along my wireless mobile broadband dongle and while we still have a signal, I thought I would post this. It may not last so don't get worried if you don't get further updates.



Tomorrow, the first 2 dives are at "Cod Hole", then lunch, then another dive at "Pixie's Pinnacle" before finally a night dive at "Challenger Bay". Best get off to bed soon.... cos we have to get up at 6.50am....!!!

Dive Boat News

Well, looking at details of the boat this morning, it seems there may be a chance of an internet connection. So keep your eye out for updates tomorrow.. I am taking my laptop so fingers crossed.!!!


SD

OZ Day 30 Camper

Well,

The next 5 days are gonna be a true test of your patience. We leave on the Taka Dive boat tomorrow to head out into the Deep Blue.... here we shall be out of contact until the 7th of September when we return. Obviously its going to be a mega special report detailing our dives and shark feed etc... fingers crossed for some hammerheads (we've never seen them before)..

Today, we spent packing our cases, the camera equipment and also our dive kit. Its alot of baggage!!! We then relaxed by the pool for a couple of hours and then played ping-pong and tennis again. It turns out that I'm cooking tonight.... damm!! But Jen is washing up...! SWEET!

Anyway guys, thats it for the next 5 days. I wish you well, and see you on the 7th for a very special dive report.

Love to all.

Edit: Oops!! 7th of July NOT september!

OZ Day 29 Camper

We left town, and headed the last 200kms to Cairns. Cairns is the city we shall be flying from in 10 days, so we shall be based around here till then.

We arrived at the caravan park, and settled in... Then went for a swim in the pool and played a few rounds of ping pong.. I won, which means Jen cooks dinner! Sweet..

Now we are off for a spot of tennis to decide who does the washing up!