Autumn and the Winds of Change are coming…
Well it looks like Autumn is on the way, with the winds shifting to the northwest, making diving much more difficult. The breeze is starting to pick up in general, and you can feel that the temperature here has dropped a few degrees. Every week the water temperature is dropping half a degree or so, and will continue to do so until it hits about 20C – it’s lowest over the winter months. So now we find out who really wants to dive! A lot of people can get turned off diving during the winter – they feel a little cold after one dive without a hood and/or gloves, the water has a little more chop than usual and the skies are dull and grey overhead. As far as I’m concerned, put me in a 5mm wetsuit with my gloves and I’ll get in the water whenever the conditions are good enough!
Managed to get 2 dives in on Saturday at Kadena North. The dives were pretty nice, and I managed to take some fairly decent photos again. While not world class by any stretch of the imagination, I do think my underwater photography skills are improving. I’m starting to work within the limitations of my camera a little more, and working out what it does best. It was just me and Brian diving, as our other dive buddy had slept through her alarm and didn’t make it. We were pretty much the only divers in the water when we descended at about 7:45, which is always a good feeling. Get in there early, and you see the things that everyone else misses when the rock on up at 10am. Over the course of the 2 dives we saw a couple of eels, some lionfish, an octopus, some more cool nudibranchs, and once again plenty of live coral on the outer reefs. I dive Kadena and Sunabe to death sometimes, but I never tire of diving there. I could happily dive the same spots over and over again, and you spot different creatures and different things each time. And the key is going slow – the slower you go, the more you take in.
By the time we got out of the water, the breeze had turned into a wind, and I definitely wouldn’t have taken any Open Water students out. In fact, I might have thought twice about taking newly certified divers out in that. And the winds just kept up all through the weekend. I got up at 5:30 yesterday morning, but had to cancel the dive plans at 6am as the winds were just too strong, making pretty much the whole of the western side of the island undiveable. It gave me a chance to do chores around the house though, and prepare things for the forthcoming week. I’ve got my first ever EFR course to teach on Thursday and Friday, which should be fun but stressful. It’s a full-on Primary Care, Secondary Care and Care for Children course, and I’ve got 4 people to teach which is just the right size of group to get started with. It’s also the Mid-Year Conference for teachers from Wednesday until Friday, which I’m required to attend. Usually I’d be pretty passive during these conferences, but I’ve been asked to present a workshop on preparing students for debate and speech contests. Apparently, someone feels the other teachers can learn from my words and experiences. I’m happy to pitch in and offer a few snippets of advice though, so surprisingly enough I’m looking forward to it. Then on Saturday morning I might be finishing off an Open Water student from last month, before doing the theory sessions with another guy who is starting his Open Water course. Once I’m done with them, I’m meeting up with a girl who’s coming down from Nagasaki and is doing an Open Water course next week with another instructor. She was looking for people to hang out with and I’m always happy to meet people who want to try diving.
Then the weekend finishes on Sunday, November 19th, with the beach clean-up at Kuraha Beach. This is organised by Okinawa O.C.E.A.N. and should be a great event with a party afterwards to celebrate the last clean-up of the year. For more information, head over to http://www.okinawaocean.org/ and check it out. Everyone will be welcome and you can do your bit to help the environment and world we live in.
That’s about it from me for now. I’ve got a busy week planned but I hope to be in touch at the end of the week with a report on everything. Until then, take care and dive safely.
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