Tuesday, April 1, 2008

3-2-1 Its competition time folks!

Well it is the first day of Competition at the blue hole and unfortunately there has been a storm brewing over the past 48 hours, we have had thunder and lightning, oh and lets not forget the torrential rain that hit us at 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon – this is the time we were measuring and stretching 130+m of rope, needless to say the 3 judges ( Grant Fran and I) were totally soaked by time we had finished with that rope. Because of the storm there is a lot of rubbish around and the visibility at the hole is not that great. William says that he has never seen conditions like this in the 3 years he has been at the Blue Hole.


Today was all about testing the safety procedures and counter ballast system ( this is what is used if the diver is late returning from their dive or there are obvious signs of trouble ) Kerian volunteered to be the crash Test Dummy for this, it was a double edge sword for him however as it meant he was able to attempt a depth of 70m to see how he felt, of course as he was going down with the plate, and being hoisted back up again, it meant that he physically didn't need to do any work. The test was successful, and for Kerian it meant he safely descended to 70m, which of course means he wants to go even deeper now because it felt so comfortable and easy.


Kerian, William and Dave are having a rest day today, and there are 4 athletes that are aiming for National records.


Fran and I have spent what little time we have between judging duties exploring the local shopping, there are only 6 shops in our local area ( ie 50k stretch of road), 2 of them grocery stores, one a bottle store, and 3 of them interesting nik nak shops, what is puzzling is that most stores, even the dive shop, have an unusual amount of Avon products on their counter tops – today we were at the local telco and the Avon lady turned up there with a big smile and lots of product. Despite the baron roads, the houses in ruin's, and the potholes ( some of them you could loose a whole car down i am sure!!) and the lack of development, tI am sure that here is more Avon per head here of population, than there is back home!

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