Andy Moore and myself were asked to become members of the dive team at the centre by Ray Kirton who has been running it for several years. (He is off to Corfu and Ade Marsland is taking over). We turned up a couple of Sundays ago to meet the rest of the team and get stuck in after a briefing and reading how to deal with a shark 'hold bite'. Then signed our lives away through a variety of disclaimers.
Soon in the 21m long and 6m deep tank diving with the sharks (several Grey-Tipped Reef sharks about 1m long but very shy so never really saw them while in the water) and a couple of magnificent turtles aged about 35 and 50 years the oldest weighing in at 40st last time it was checked.We were advised to wear hoods otherwise the turtles would probably mistake our hair for weed and try to eat it. Unlike the sharks they have no fear of the divers so are likely to bump into you regularly. Such a privilege to be in the water with them.
There are several jobs to be done and I got involved in sticking the 'coral' back onto pegs sticking out of the 'rocks'. The coral was pre-glued with superglue, the glue filled orifice covered with duck tape and the items handed to us by Graham (the curator) who quickly made his way into the tunnel and shone a torch on the spot where the coral had to be fixed. Not always too easy to get hole aligned with peg but managed them all eventually. (Pic is not me!)Also had to clean the inside of the tunnel. So difficult because it was hard to see where you had cleaned it, there are no hand holds so as soon as you put any pressure on you push yourself away (could do with the 4 week course in Dunoon!). Rosie who was cleaning the dry side gave directions so that no bits were missed.
Andy Moore seemed to enjoy sprucing up the mermaid - he proved to be an excellent scrubber who obviously gets plenty of practice at home!
It beats the **** out of Netherton Resa
I feel very privileged to have this opportunity every month
