Well, we all got into the water just off the breakwater for the Malta to Gozo ferry boat. Bubbles catching the sunlight, breathing under water...little blue and yellow curious anchovies checking us out! Our wet suits were incredibly hard to get in and out of...but I am told that is the way it is. Once they were on, you didn't know they were there, except of course that they are very warm! Good to get under the water before I roasted! They were comfortable even in the wind and spray of a 15 degree Celsius day! (50 degrees F.) Once I was in the water though, they were very welcome. Every once in a while a trickle of water (same temp as the air!) would find its way in and slide down my back, feeling like an ice cube being drawn down it!
Is it ever salty! Even saltier than the North Atlantic!
All the things you have to think about kept my mind off the weather. Its hard to get that tank to stay on tight! Weights are so heavy until you are under the water, then we are scrouging rocks from the bottom to help you stay down! The suit is made from what looks like mouse pad material, and it crushes as you go down, so you float a lot less when you are at depth. I used a LOT of weight.
Somewhere along the line, I started to have fun! Anton, our Dive Master was very patient. The nice thing about diving in Malta in the winter time is that there are not very many tourists, and we had him all to ourselves! The extra attention made what could have been a miserable experience into a superb experience, worth every penny!
The second dive after lunch was a little rougher....my first breath from the regulator that morning had dislodged a lot of very fine salt dust, which got taken right down to the bottom of my lungs. Yup, you CAN cough under water... The Jelly Fish were really thich though...it looked like a scene from Finding Nemo.... Most of them were just tiny little things maybe an inch across, light yellow. Very pretty. The bigger white ones were much more scary....I got a couple of lines of venom across my hand as I pushed through the crowd. Not so bad...and no worse than hot drill shavings off my drill press in the shop. We went home that evening, went to bed at 7 and slept for 12 hours!
Then the storm blew in, which put paid to our diving. Still two dives to go to get certified. I figure I could get into the water all right, play around under it for as long as I would like, but getting out would be tricky. Maybe bang my head, or possibly damage those nice wet suits. If it was on sand, or off a boat, maybe...but those rocky reefs were a little scary.
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