Early start today, 5am for a 6am departure for a trip on the high sea's. Today we would be doing a adventure deep dive down to 30 meters as one part of our advanced open water diving. After this we have to complete 4 more adventure dive's to be open water advanced divers. The depth we would be diving at today is the maximum that any recreational diver can dive to.

Out on the boat and everything was a bit choppy, the boat was rolling from side to side and people nearly went over board. I was a little concerned for Lil as she gets a little sea sick. And she did, there and then! That 7/11 cheese and ham toastie didn't sit to well in her stomach, and before long it was fish food. Our instructor Dave gave us the overview of the dive site, and instructions on what we were going to be doing on the dive. Then it was time for me and Lil to go down below from the upper deck to gear up.

This was the first time the both of us have been left to set up our own gear without any supervision. Just helping each other out and doing our safety checks, making sure one another is safe and that the gear is ok. After all we are "Buddies!" this has kind of been the whole moto on our travelling experience, looking out for one another. Before Lil had time to think about visiting the toilet again it was in the water with her, this is the best place for someone who is suffering from sea sickness, strange but it seams it worked.

Because the conditions were really rough, we had to use an anchor line as a point of descent. Holding onto the line and descending

into the deep through rough water, being thrown all over the place was quite exciting. As we leave the line to swim along side and down a reef wall, we began thinking that this had to be 30 meters, but then we continued on descending into deeper more murky waters. The conditions were poor for this time of year, they are meant to be around 15 meters plus, but due to lunar activity this wasn't to be. Despite the poor conditions we still managed to see alot of schooling fish and at one point it seamed that the fish were swimming along with us. Dragon fish, and a giant Grouper fish were also highlights. Our instructor had to give it a second look, its the biggest he's seen in 5 years he said.

While at the bottom we saw how pressure effects mass and colour. We did a simple test by taking down a packet of monkey nuts and a rubber ducky "quack quack". This was to see changes in colour and changes when pressure increases, simple science. Before the dive I think we both were a little apprehensive of what to expect from the pressure change, what to expect with equalising and experiencing narcosis. On this dive both of us didn't have any trouble. We didn't notice much more of a change in pressure on ourselves but the nuts showed us the pressure change, the pack was like it had been vacume packed. The colour change was dramatic too from red to dark brown. This is why colour co-ordinated safety parts of dive equipment are yellow as this colour doesn't change at depths unlike others.

The ascent was a little different for us from other dives, as we had to make a decompression stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes. Here comes the science bit! This allows microbubbles present within a divers body after every dive, leave the diver's body safely through the lungs. If the bubbles are not given enough time to leave safely, or more bubbles are created than can be eliminated naturally, the bubbles grow in size and number, causing the symptoms and injuries of decompression sickness.

Once back on the boat we decided not to do another dive as conditions and visibility were not that great. We had enjoyed our time on the boat with these guys, they all seem to love their jobs, and I can see why. Being paid to do what you enjoy is obviously the way forward.

We were back at the dive centre at 11am. We got certified as deep water divers! which means we can dive down to 30 meters anywhere in the world! 4 steps away from being advanced divers. Once back at the guest house we had a few hours of sleep. Its surprising how what seems like an effortless activity can take the energy out of you.

That evening we met Row and Izzy and had some food. We went to the BBQ and watched films at our favourite spot. The film was The Departed, a little hard to follow at times but a good one.