A cruise director's log...

Tuesday 16 March 2010, 11.00 hrs

My last blog is dated 18 December 2009. That’s almost three months ago, shame on me! I have no idea how time went by so fast, but I do recall that on a regular basis I was telling myself: I should start writing a blog, I should really start writing... But I simply have not had the time nor the energy... And as I am writing this very moment, the boat bell rings... Time to go diving! See you later...

Tuesday 16 March 2010, 14.30 hrs

Just had lunch and coffee with the guests, a group of 21 Frenchies, all members of the same dive club in France. We had 22 passengers to start with, but unfortunately one passenger’s father passed away so he had to fly back to Paris. Luckily we were still close to Male, so we didn’t need to change the itinerary too much to drop him off at the airport with the dhoni. We have a big boat, Princess Haleema, which we “live” on and a second one, the diving dhoni, which carries the diving equipment and the compressors (to fill the tanks) and takes us to the dive sites. Great luxury to have! At the beginning of this trip, after dropping off the unfortunate passenger at the airport and as the dhoni started making it’s way to catch up with Princess Haleema, one of the compressors blew up. Not good at all, but not dramatic either, thanks to the fact that the dhoni was still close to Male, the only place in the Maldives where we can find a technician or a new compressor... Imagine if the compressor would have blown up in the middle of the cruise... Anyway, the trip started with a little bit of a delay, as we had to postpone the crossing from Male Atoll to Ari Atoll by one day. And that’s just one of the obstacles we can encounter during a trip.

Anyway, today already two dives done. Fesdu Wreck and Maalhoss Thila. Whipping current during the second dive, so we were swept past the overhangs (also called the Blue Caves because of the splendid blue soft corals growing all over the walls), waved at three white tip sharks that were cruising around and then emptied our tanks on top of the reef attached with our reef hooks watching a field of table corals. Finally some current. It’s half moon now, so the tides have been kind to us. Some guests can’t handle the strong currents we can have in the Maldives... But I like the current... I love jumping in the water, knowing I have to rocket down in 15 seconds to 30 meters to find some cover at the bottom of the reef, then let myself go with the flow and watch the landscape go by, including grey reef sharks, huge tuna’s, hunting trevallies, eagle rays and whatever else comes by... Unfortunately, I always have divers behind me (comes with the job), so I have to slow my descent as much as I can to make sure I don’t loose a couple of divers mid-water. Then, at the bottom, I have to wait until my entire group has made it down. Then I have to make clear to them that the have to follow ME and not one of the other guides Somehow people manage to get confused between Fayaz, our local dive guide who dives with a hairband, Stefano with his hood and blue fins and me, with hood but with green fins.... Anyway, when everybody has come to their senses, we drift away.... But this trip, there have not been many of these dives. They have been easy, slow, peaceful, very zen, which is nice too every now and then.... Ah, the bell.... Gotta go diving!!!!

Tuesday 16 March 2010, 19.20 hrs

Third dive was great! Nice drift dive along the reef of Panettone (yes, some dive sites actually have Italian names!) with three turtles, a white tip, dozens of tuna’s bigger than myself, millions of fusiliers, a black stingray, billions of anthias and red tooth triggerfish... And then we came up and did some snorkeling with a little manta that was mucking around at the surface. The sea was like a mirror today, never seen it like that here before. And now, at dusk, it still is completely flat. The sun is setting, a big pinkish orange ball, reflecting in the sea, shreds of clouds decorating the pale blue sky. Moby in the background, guests drinking “l’apéro”, everybody relaxed, happy...

My favourite days are always Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s when I have the least paperwork to do. Friday is unavoidably hell. I have to prepare the bills for the guests that are leaving the next day, we organise the afternoon visit to Male, we have to run around in Male to do our shopping, we prepare the paper work for the new group arriving the next morning... And we do one or two dives in between all that. Saturday is just as hectic. We bring the guests to the airport at 8.00 am, say goodbye at the departure hall and then go to the arrival hall to welcome the new load. Sometimes we have half an hour in between to sit and breath. Then, it’s 22 new faces, 22 new names to remember... Hello, bonjour! Bienvenue aux Maldives, did you have a good trip? We have to check them in, collect liability releases, tourist taxes and medical certificates, check the diving certificates and logbooks, do the boat briefing, general dive briefing and then do the check dive in the afternoon. That’s if we’re lucky. If not, we have to pick up guests that arrive in the afternoon somewhere in between and do everything twice for the late arrivals, if possible in time so they can join the check dive. If we’re even less lucky, we have supply problems or engine and compressor troubles to fix. And all that has to be done in one day, because Sunday at the very latest, we have to start cruising. Saturday and Sunday, there are always 10.000 questions from passengers, no matter how clear you do your briefings. How does the aircon work? What do I do with my empty water bottle? Do I pay now or later for my drinks? Where can I get a towel? But if everything goes smooth, then Monday, I can relax and start concentrating on the dives. Until the next Thursday evening... And so it goes on and on and on. No days off, every day up at 6.00 or 6.30 am, not a lot of private time for Stefano and me (although we do manage to sneak into our cabin during the day every now and then, when all the guests are on the sun deck baking like grilled lobsters).

Tonight we eat on an island and then, when the dinghy has brought every body back onto the Princess Haleema, I’m going to start throwing people in the water for a late night dip. It’s a group of 18 men and three women and they’ve been getting rowdy, so tonight we’re going to see who the real men are... :-)


Sunday 21 March, 10.35 hrs

Yesterday was the goodbye & welcome day... 21 guests left, 21 new guests arrived. Check dive done, everybody happy. Today a second dive, a long drift along an outside reef, with turtles, napoleons, eagle rays, batfish, big red & black snappers, dozens of moray eels... Sometimes I spread my arms, fly and watch the reef pass by...

Now we’re in between dives. Stefano is working on the equipment, cleaning regulators, fixing leaking hoses for guests... He’s also taking care of the itinerary and draws most of the site maps... And then he does the briefings, in an unbelievably cute Italian French (“Au stop de secourite, chercher de n’aller trop voisin au recif”, or “La courant peut-etre va etre tres fort, donc chercher de nager a cote du fond”, or “Apres la plongee, on va faire 30 minutes de bouger avec le dhoni”) and believe it or not, but the French love it. His night dive briefings are becoming famous too. I’m amazed at the way he manages to communicate with the guests, considering he learned, but never spoke French before.

On my side, I just finished the accounting of last week’s trip. All expenditures and income accounted for, credit card payments settled, i’m counting more money than I ever did working for the bank... :-) The inventory of the shop (t-shirts, postcards, sarongs, fish books, maps of the Maldives) is up to date, all the supplies for this week arrived, basically my work for the first part of the week is done. Time to send an update and the accounting sheets to “HQ” in Egypt.

We are ready to set off to Ari Atoll. Today we have a problem though. A leak, somewhere deep down inside the engine room. The engine needs to be lifted out to fix it, so we can’t leave Male... That will not be good for customer satisfaction. We can still do great dives, but who wants to sleep next to the airport for two days in a row when the sandy white beaches of the islands of the Maldives are waiting for you out there?

Let’s see what tomorrow (and the mechanic) brings...

Has spring started yet in Europe?

Wishing you lots of sunshine

xYx


PS. Last week, everybody was thrown into the water, including the boat crew.