Technically I should share several songs to make up for the lost days, but in an effort to save you from going through such tedium I'll only share one. For now.
Song of the day: Watch Over You - Alter Bridge (Blackbird)
Why hello there, my dear readers. Once again, please accept my apologies for having this blog abandoned for some time. As you should already know, my dearly beloved MacBook crashed with a broken motherboard. I still haven't been able to fix it - after having it sent to a nearby city and receiving the diagnostic, I contacted the only authorized Apple Reseller in Borneo to have them fix it, but they still haven't replied to my email, and I probably don't have enough time anyways: I'm leaving in two and a half weeks. Instead, my always helpful parents are sending me a small PC that will at least provide me with the basic uses of a computer, essentially Skyping and writing documents.
Many things have happened since I last posted on Dark Water & Stars. Let's start from the rightful beginning.
My biryani was not that good. In fact, that was no biryani. Not at all like the one in blessed Bangladesh - you guys do know how to make it good. My new life goal is to become a jury in biryani cooking competitions.
'Nyways. The same night my computer crashed, a new Divemaster student arrived, Steve. We had dinner together and all, he's an alright guy. Canadian, 29, and a ladies' man. Next morning we met another Divemaster student, Andrew, with whom I've developed a nice friendship. He's from Oregon and only 19 years old, and a very cool dude.
So that day we went diving at Mantabuan, and on the very first dive, Steve descended too fast and, forcing his ears, got a perforated eardrum. Which means he can't dive for three months. So he's not doing his course, obviously, but has stayed around Semporna like a wandering soul for the past few days - I don't know if he has left yet.
Apart from not founding much of a friendship with Steve, there's another Divemaster Trainee: Sara, from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. She's cool, and the three of us together (including Andrew) have started our Divemaster Training doing several skills both underwater and on the surface.
A couple of days ago I was given the opportunity to go to Sipadan island, covering for a customer who hadn't come. I only had to sign with his Russian name on arrival, and I was immediately diving in one of the best spots in the world! Visibility was not the best, but on the first dive I could spot several sharks and turtles:
Many things have happened since I last posted on Dark Water & Stars. Let's start from the rightful beginning.
My biryani was not that good. In fact, that was no biryani. Not at all like the one in blessed Bangladesh - you guys do know how to make it good. My new life goal is to become a jury in biryani cooking competitions.
'Nyways. The same night my computer crashed, a new Divemaster student arrived, Steve. We had dinner together and all, he's an alright guy. Canadian, 29, and a ladies' man. Next morning we met another Divemaster student, Andrew, with whom I've developed a nice friendship. He's from Oregon and only 19 years old, and a very cool dude.
So that day we went diving at Mantabuan, and on the very first dive, Steve descended too fast and, forcing his ears, got a perforated eardrum. Which means he can't dive for three months. So he's not doing his course, obviously, but has stayed around Semporna like a wandering soul for the past few days - I don't know if he has left yet.
Apart from not founding much of a friendship with Steve, there's another Divemaster Trainee: Sara, from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. She's cool, and the three of us together (including Andrew) have started our Divemaster Training doing several skills both underwater and on the surface.
A couple of days ago I was given the opportunity to go to Sipadan island, covering for a customer who hadn't come. I only had to sign with his Russian name on arrival, and I was immediately diving in one of the best spots in the world! Visibility was not the best, but on the first dive I could spot several sharks and turtles:
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| White-tip Reef Shark |
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| Green turtle in front of a school of jackfish |
The following dives were even better, with more sharks, more turtles, and a couple breath-taking additions:
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| Each single one of these bumphead parrotifsh measures over one and a half armlengths (of mine) in length, and although they feed in coral, the sight of their faces is in extreme macabre. |
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| Swimming amongst a school of jackfish becomes an irreal, fairy-tale experience, when they surround you and block the sun rays from entering the water. |
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| Special training is required to enter the 200 meter long cavern known as Turtle Tomb, named after the many skeletons found from turtles who drowned while trying to find an exit. |
I really do not want to leave this place without paying a visit to the inside of the cave. We only visited the entrance, but an irrational impulse, the willingness to explore the unexplored, kept dragging my attention to the interior corridors where turtle bones lay. Similarly, every time I dive along a wall I feel the urge of diving deeper and deeper. From these feelings I've concluded that I must sometime take the Technical Diver and Cave Diver courses.
More about me will be coming in the next posts. Until then, get delighted with those pictures!
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