Advance Open Water

Dahab is such a relaxing atmosphere. Basically everyone just hangs out along the restaurants all day. You can rent snorkeling gear everywhere and at less than 10meters off the shore, there are extravagant reef systems. These corals are much more impressive than the ones in Nuweba there is much more depth to this ecosystem.







The waters are still cold, but during the day when the sun is out it is not too bad. I meet up with Yoko, Nick and Paulina, and we head out to do some snorkeling. There are many areas along the shore with various names and we head out to Eel Garden. Sadly I did not have my underwater casing with me and I was unable to take any photos, but even the pictures would not have done this place justice. There is more marine life in my first glance compared to all the fish combined from my Southern California dives.









On a later day I run into Eric and another Brit. They are both staying at Penguin Hotel and are doing their Open Water course there. On that note I decided to sign up for the Advanced Open Water course at Divers Down Under. I was able to negotiate to 200 USD for everyone including 2 extra dives. This totals to 7 dives that comes out to about 28USD/dive with the Advance Open Water certification. I thought this was quite the deal.







Lucky for me there is a couple from Denmark that brought an underwater camera and was able to share their photos with me. Unfortunately most of the settings were messed up, so the colors are pretty washed out. During the advance course I hit a peak bottom time of 76minutes and also a max depth of 40m, on separate dives of course. It was amazing, during my first dive while we were entering and trying to reach a depth of 20m, I saw a rock transform into an octopus, swim alongside me, then suddenly change colors turn back into a rock. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen.

Scuba Diving Vela Luka

In the morning hours, Mark and I say good bye to Korcula and take the first bus across the island to Vela Luka. There we have arranged two dives with the local dive center. Upon arrival, the owner of the dive shop picks us up and we immediately start picking out our equipment. All the dives are do are boat dives and the boat is small inflated air boat. This requires that the dive a back flip dismount into the water. In previous dives I have always down the giant step, and the flip is much more fun. One of the first things I noticed when I got into the water is how clear it was. I could immediately look below and see school upon schools of fish swimming beneath me.



The day we dive Kitty's Dock and Vranine and the following day its the Blue Hole and Saint Ivan's Bay. All of these dive routes are made up and discovered by the local divemasters. For each dive the waters are crystal clear and thus visibility is exceptional. It is sad, but I left my underwater housing for my camera at home so I was unable to get any underwater pictures. The waters are warm, but at the depths we went to I was glad to have a 5mil wet suite. My favorite was Saint Ivan's Bay. We drop off to about 18meters (60ft) and swim along the a cliff drop off.



The owner of the shop even let us stay at their instructors lodge for the night. It is about 45C (115F) in Vela Luka and there is no air conditioning. We decide to take a siesta after the first day's dive. I am exhausted and at around 6pm I pass out and do not wake up until the next day. The night is bit cooler, but not by much. Mark sleeps outside that night. After the diving the next morning we hop on the next bus back to Korcula Town.