hitting the lows after the high

It was an interesting dive trip. Was away for the Project AWARE - Reef Check survey over the weekend. Even before I left the country excited things oredi happened.

Pre-trip:
Divers to meet at 7pm. But the school function started at 7pm. So I was expected to be late. JK was aware tt I'll leave sch at 8.10pm and fly to his dive shop. But there was a change of plan....

When I got up the cab and gave him the directions, the cab driver was SO BLUR. So I attempted to call JK to get even more detailed directions.

JK: Where are you?
ST: In a cab
JK: Where exactly?
ST: SG area
JK: Get down the cab
ST: huh?!?
JK: We're going to your school to pick you.
ST: ?!? Where are you now?
JK: Outside your sch. Where exactly are you? Stop wherever you are.
ST: Near the stadium........ .... more exchanges on location .... .... mess... ....
ST: I din noe you were coming
JK: I tried to call you. But you did not pick up.
ST: I was in a service cant pick up.
JK: You shldn't even hv .... aiya, watever.
ST: Anyway, my mobile din even register your call.
JK: No reception den. Are you at the ... .... I'm at the ... ...
ST: I dun see the van/
JK: We are in a car.
ST: black color car? I'm behind the car's junction...
..... ..... ST ran to the car 100m away in her pants and heels...

In the car... after the brief greeting formalities...
ST: Did you bring my stuff?
JK: Yeah.
ST turned back and saw her gear bag.
ST: Did you bring my red haversack?
JK: @#$^&*@ JK called a couple of ppl... confirmed ST's haversack was in shop. JK instructed JL to drive back to shop....

Throughout the trip:
Company wasn't fantastic. Pple pretty exclusive. Cos the pple oredi knew each other from their YEP trip or were from the shop, my buddy and i mostly talked to each other, ate aside from others, or i just walked by the beach myself. (They were not terribly exclusive.) But its ok. I understd and am not upset. Enjoyed the quiet moments anywayz. :) I"m hear for the dive, to try out something new, and tt's enough. GOod company is a bonus.

Dives:
Different from the usual. INstead of moving ard, movementw as very restricted. There was a lot of focus on the demarcated area. So the scope of visual was limited, but intense. Never had I scrutinized rocks or corals that closely. Did fish and bentic survey. Fish survey was boring... and cold... Bentic was challenging but more fun, especially the snapping and reeling back of tapes and pegs. Was having fun with my new accessories - slate, rattler/shaker cum pointer, and my black gloves. Love the gloves. lol.

I did not participate in the nite dive. first time i said no to a dive. primary reason - i was tired and not feeling too good - bad state to dive. secondary reasons - the company wasn't good to dive w, and of course, JK made it clear tt he did not really welcome non-staff to dive, but asked out of courtesy?!?!

Only leisure dive on Sunday morn was like.... sososososo... y? cos i got a fairly new DMT. He's a nice chap. But still fairly inexperienced. I'm not extremely good in directions,but thot the route he took was weird. My buddy (who's a freelance instructor confirmed my view, tho she said she kept quiet out of respect for the dive leader) Anywayz, he took us across loads of currents. Most of the time I just stayed real low to reduce the influence of the currents and at times while waiting for him to figure out exactly where we are heading i just find a rock or depression to hid in from the currents (learnt from previous trips. lol). I tink i spotted more interesting stuff than he did!

Final dive was a cleanup dive. It was the battle between the genders of who's gonna pick up more crap from the sea. And guess wat? We won hands down. We managed TWO FULL mesh bags of crap including fishing nets, lines, plastic bag, satay stick, glove, .... as well as an ANCHOR!!!. The boys? A mesh bag hardly full. lol. It was fun lookng for crap and manuevering abt to pick them up esp with some requiring some untangling from the reefs etc.

All in all, this was a VERY DIFFERENT trip from all the previous. It wasn't 'fun'. Different company. Different perspective under water. But I appreciated it just as much. Meanwhile, feeling very sian from the low after the high nitrox.... lol.... BLEAH.