The day starts with a knock on the door followed by a loud "Gooood mooorniiing" at 6:45 am. Coffee, tea, juice and a light snack (usually a loaf and fruit) are available during the dive briefing. Chris, our primary dive guide and boat coordinator, reviews his sketch of the dive site and provides information for orientation as well as species to look for and where they may occur during the dive (sandy flats, caves etc.) We are able to dive guided or unguided so it's important to pay attention during the briefing, details like 'go north to the next pinnacle when the reef ends' are really important when the current is pushing you around and the rest of the group is nowhere to be seen.
Diving on the Monsoon is done from a zodiac. The boat driver gets us exactly where Chris has determined from a quick snorkel checkout to determining the final current rating (0-5) and on the count of three everyone must roll back and descend immediately in order to get on the reef/dive site. When the air tank hits 750 psi we head up to 15 feet for the safety stop, Gary inflates the safety buoy and the zodiac comes around and picks up each buddy pair (it can be quite surprising where everyone ends up).
Getting back in the zodiac is a bit of a challenge. We must give our camera, weight and BCD to the boat driver then get back in the boat however we can. Gary has developed take a run at it method which works well. Vicky uses the push down, pull up, kick method along with a wiggle-waggle-flop like a seal into the bottom of the boat- it is quite entertaining as we all cheer each other on. By the third day we are all pros with slightly different and entertaining techniques.
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