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The multicultural dream team |
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Jason led his group from Marsden Bros with his legendary good mood. Normally geared up 10 min before every body else, Jason surprised us by jumping in the water on his own 30 min after an afternoon dive for a 90 min dive at 5 m . One hour later, we found him immobile, but still alive, in the blue, waiting for his special and secret appointment with the whale shark… who never came this time. Sarah, the French mermaid, also came from France just for diving (and to visit some friends in Singapore as we did). Sarah is the best buddy I ever dived with. She invented a new underwater signal, when a sea snake left the rocky bottoms and swam to the surface in our direction. If you figure out how Singaporeans claps their five fingers when they say 5, you just put the fingers upwards and move them the same way. The signal means “so scary, let’s go away!”. Darin, the American of the band, managed to leave Patrick at the office and take his ticket for this trip. Well done, Darin! Darin was seen one night on the upper deck, hanging his palm up to the sky. Slightly worried of his behaviour, we walked silently to him not to disturb his mysterious quest and finally discovered he was identifying the stars thanks to a sky map stored on his palm. Paul, the Englishman of the band, is an unexpected fashion model who never dives twice with the same wet suit. He exhibited various styles of Bermudas and T-shirts from all the places where he dived. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Paul spotting a manta ray. He got so excited that he stretched legs and arms and looked like a submarine scarecrow. Only the sight of a bar after a one hour walk in the hot jungle gives him the same level of pleasure. Charles, the Welshman of the band, had the chance to perform a commando training session with his buddy Justin (see below). They managed to fight the current and turn around back to the boat when all the other divers waited a pick up from the dinghy. Talking of fight, Charles could sleep in the hammock on the upper deck despite Paul’s snoring. He was either deaf or too tired of his fight against the current. Marie-Pierre, my wife, doesn’t dive but went snorkelling here and there upon captain’s authorisation. A very lucky snorkeller! She saw a white tip shark and a few manta rays. In order not to get bored while the whole group dived, Marie-Pierre brought some handicraft. A bit surprising seeing someone patch working in the middle of divers gearing up! I was the 7th member of the Marsden’s band, which is half Anglo-Saxon half French. With half of his clients coming from France, Jason should consider opening a branch somewhere on the Riviera. We found on board other clients of Seafare. Christian and Dominique, another French couple, the above mentioned healthy Justin, capable to drink 3 bottles of pure caffeine before a 2 km swim to the island, two Swiss who passed their Rescue course at the latest minute and their instructor Pascal, and, the last but not the least, Robert. Robert is a typical grumpy Frenchman, who kept on arguing and complaining all week long. Unfortunately for him, a painful swollen foot prevented him from diving during most of the trip. To make it short and charitable, Robert successively thought he had been beaten by an insect, struck by an urchin during his first dive (out of 2), he broke his foot, before a GP diagnosed gout. Next page: MV Andaman Seafarer and the crew
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Paul and Francois
Charles
Jase |
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