March 11, 2020
This morning we splashed into our first dive at Oil Slick dive spot. Getting into the ocean was easy, but the surf was very aggressive, making it difficult on the way out. At least half of the students had difficulty coming out of the water. Regardless, the dive was beautiful and we spotted a sea turtle.
After lunch we all got ready for our exciting boat dive. Students had been looking forward to this specific dive primarily just for the fact we got to jump off the boat. A giant stride off the boat is when the diver has all their gear on and they simply step off the back of the boat. This specific task intimidated me, but did not seem to bother any other divers. Buddy Dive Masters, Tina, Nathan, and Mino helped all the students load their gear onto the boat. We then began sailing out to Rock Pile, a dive site South of the small island of Kleine Bonaire. Immediately after we left the dock we started setting up our tanks and getting our wetsuits on. Tina led a dive briefing before we began splashing into the water. She set rules like don’t swim ahead of her, and don’t go below 60 ft, all rules regarding our safety.
I did my giant stride off the back of the boat with some encouragement from Mr. Mondo. With Nathan’s reggae playing in the background, we patiently waited for the other students to splash into the water. We began our descent once everyone was in and had met up with their dive buddy. Tina led while all students swam between her and Mino. We wandered around looking at corals with our dive buddies making sure to keep in mind the rules Tina set during our dive briefing. We seemed to have struggled with swimming below each other and closely on top of, causing minor issues during the dive. Once a few students had around 1,000 air, we decided to begin making our way up.
Once we got back onto the boat we enjoyed fruit provided by Nathan and began making our way back to Buddy Dive Resort. Speaking on behalf of myself, this was my favorite dive.
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