This past week I took a few days off for a 4 day/3 night SCUBA diving trip. In a nutshell, it was great. The Deli (pictured last week) was the perfect size to allow everyone to spread out and the crew did a wonderful job. On board were (8) military and civilians from base and we were rounded out by a couple from Finland and a couple from Italy, both of whom traveled to Djibouti specfically for this live-aboard dive trip.
We sailed to an area that I had never dove before which was the Gulf of Tadjoura and the Bay of Ghoubbet both in the vicinity of Djibouti. We did (3) dives on the first and last day with (4) dives on days two and three. Let me tell you....(4) dives a day is a lot and has us underwater for three hours per day.
You may recall from a previous post when I was in Germany that I had a list of things to do before I died. In that particular post, it was "climb the world's tallest steeple" which I did in the town of Ulm, Germany.
Well, I'm happy to tell you that I crossed another one off the list..."SCUBA dive between the earth's teutonic plates". As you probably know, teutonic plates are what makes up the crust of the earth and earthquakes shift these plates.
Thursday morning was the highlight of the trip as we desended over 100' of water and then into the crack. The site we dove is literally the crack in the earth between the continents of Asia and Africa which is caused by the movements of the earth. This crack marks the separation between the African, Middle Eastern and Indian Ocean tectonic plates. It’s an amazing feeling to sink between the rock walls below the crust of the earth. I am told that Djibouti is the only place in the world recreational divers (read those who dive to 130' or less) can experience this.
Night two was also very interesting. After sunset, (3) whale sharks spent about 90 minutes feeding mere feet off of our starboard bow (right side as you are facing forward). Whale sharks eat plankton (sorry to all the Sponge Bob fans out there) and very small fish (1"-4"). On this particular evening there was a school of tens of thousands of these little fish and I think those three whale sharks ate just about every one of them. Of the three, the biggest was estimated to be 25' in length. Let me tell you, a 25' fish is enormous!
However, the largest one ever sighted was estimated to be 41' and checking in at 47,000 lbs. Did I fail to mention that the whale shark is the world's largest fish? The 25 footer seemed to have a mouth as wide as I am tall and could have easily fit a human in there.
Well, check another one off the list..."swim with the whale sharks". Two off the list in only one outing. Not bad.
The food was also top notch. Simple...but very good. On nights one and two, we ate whatever found its way onto a hook earlier in the day. We ate very freshly caught king mackerel, grouper, and tuna.
We all had assigned cabins but that was just a place to shower and stow your stuff. Most everyone found a comfortable spot on the deck to sleep at night. The weather was beautiful with clear, full moon skies. The temperature was just right for sleeping and all you needed was a thin blanket to keep the wind off of you. Very restful after long days of diving.
Honestly, I was exhausted after we got back. It was a fabulous trip and now back to the reality of life aboard Camp Lemmioner. The good news is that I am off on another adventure in a couple of weeks as I travel to the land of milk and honey to a place called "Suffolk, VA". I can only imagine what excitement that holds as I check my list of things to do before I die.
Oh, wait. "Visit Suffolk, VA" is not on the list....
Until next time,
Michael
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