Another 0600hrs start saw us having coffee on the communal dining area disturbing ‘Diary Dave’ in his PJs; who had been sleeping on the adjacent seats since we came aboard.  Today was nearly a return to the ground hog day scenario of the beginning of the expedition.  Having originally been briefed that our new boat would be meeting us early morning it became increasingly apparent that contingency planning i.e. more diving, was the order of the day.

 A short dhoni ride put us back on the Christina Reef for our first 35m dive of the expedition to visit the caves at the base of the reef which we had dived on the day before.  A series of caves and ‘swim-throughs’ greeted the divers who all recovered via the Lady Christina wreck site and over the magnificent coral fields down-current.  The dive was capped by reports of turtles and other notable survey species.   

 The second dive in the local area was along an outer reef.  A 30 m dive turned into an unexpected “washing machine” dive for one group of 3.  Peter Grogan, Dave Bewick and Nick Bruce-Jones started their dive with a straight forward decent to 28m, with the current dropping off to almost nothing at depth.  An early sighting of a White-Tip shark boded well for the dive.  However, the current then picked up in the opposite direction to the surface current, making it too difficult to follow the dive plan briefed by the SADS. Dave deployed his DSMB to allow the surface cover to follow the group’s movements.  In hindsight it is clear that the reverse current was a local eddy, and that the surface current was quite strong.  This dragged the DSMB quickly down current, with over 70m of line running out before the buoy surfaced.  With the buoy pulling one way and the current at depth another, the dive was aborted and the trio ascended.  Eddies and whirlpools on the way up kept all three divers surrounded with air bubbles for most of the ascent, which can be disorienting, however, a safe and normal return to the surface was made.  All other groups had more conventional dives conducting coral reef surveys at varying depths between 10-20 metres.  Eagle Rays, White-Tipped Reef Sharks and Hawksbill Turtles all made an appearance. The scheduled shallow 15 metre training dive for the trainee Dive Leaders was delayed until another day, due to the impending arrival of the live-aboard… 

The new safari boat, the Baani Adventurer, finally arrived at 1500 hrs.  We cross decked to having our first taste of a large Maldivian safari boat large enough to take our party and give everyone a bed, access to a bathroom and a seat at dinner.  The boat was virtually out of its wrappers – but not quite.  The crew was still putting together the final touches which included still laying the carpets!  Finally steaming north with some purpose, by dusk we were about a third of our way to Kelaa; the location of the Catalina.  At last some were able to be reacquainted with the deeper contents of their bags having lived for 4 days in shoe box conditions.  Though not fully fitted, the boat was somewhat palatial.  Having one’s own space was a welcome change for those who, until now, had been sleeping on the deck and hot bunking bathroom facilities as available.

 The evening was spent relaxing in luxury.  We even managed to open a couple bottles of champagne which had been relieved from the previous boat to celebrate the fact that the main aim of Ex Catalina Quest was finally in sight.