After a well deserved sleep in (having none since arriving in Vietnam) Liv took the advantage and didn't go out for breakfast until 9.30ish. Breakfast of omlette and fruit smoothie provided the perfect energy needed for lying on the beach in the sun and reading the morning away until Adam's return at 1pm.
Now for Adam's narrative of his Vietnam scuba diving adventure:
I arrived at CocoDive at 7.20am after previously being convinced by a fellow kiwi that it was the best choice of the many dive companies in Nha Trang, and was soon stocked with my choice and a quick trip to the harbour revealed that we would soon be departing on the biggest and best boat of the area. After not diving for at least 6 years, I was a little nervous about this upcoming adventure, but my nerves were soon put to rest by my dive master taking me through the rigging and what would happen once we hit the blue beneath the boat.
A 40 minute cruise led us alongside one of the many islands that Nha Trang offers as a playground for divers.
My first dive of the day was a refresher dive but after 5 minutes under the water it was clear that scuba diving was just like riding a bike and so the testing was over and the exploration began.Having it one-on-one with a dive master around the coral reefs was like having an author of a book tell you about it and soon we were lost in a maze of multi-coloured coral that looked so unreal even an abstract painter would struggle to reproduce them. The brain hardly had a chance to stop, and I couldn't decide which way to turn my head in this crazy new world that I have never become close to experiencing in NZ - I felt like a child in a toy store! The thing that intrigued me was how close I could get to the coral and sealife - it was like I was merging into the scene itself. The fish and other sea life that surrounded me came in seemingly millions of varieties, shapes, sizes and colours that words couldn't do justice to if I tried.
We surfaced and dined on baguettes and coffee while lazing on the deck in the sun, and our boat headed for dive site number 2.
Arriving at dive site number 2 I was informed that I had just been diving in the training area and that I was about to experience coral diving at its greatest. With visability around 10m and the temperature in the water at about 24 degrees it was set to be a great dive and as we descended into a new playground I was astonished at how dense the coral forest that we had entered was: the varieties of coral grew exponentially and the same goes for the fish. Moments that stood out include when we unexpectedly came across a giant clam sporting a rainbow coloured body and coming across a squid that changed colours in front of me like a chameleon - one moment mimicking the sea anenome and next the coral beside it. The final moment was when I found Nemo sitting right in the palm of my hand.After the second lot of 45 minutes under water it was time to join the surface dweller. While we were anchored in this unreal bay of the picturesque island, I needed no coaxing into jumping off the roof of our boat into the mixture of blue and green the boat was resting on below.
Me & my dive instructer kicking it up on the top deck:
For the trip back to the mainland I sunned myself on the roof and chatted with the rest of the crew.Back together as the adlibers again, we got lunch, found another book for Liv to read, and lay the afternoon away in the sun on the beach.
The only decision left to make is whether to leave this beach paradise for another tomorrow morning or stay here another day instead ... ah the life ...Adlibing the beach and the Vietnamese underwaterworld.
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