Unusual vistors on base and old friends underwater!

The end of last week was extremely wet and windy. Thursday night was a washout the unusually

heavy rain meant base had a surprise visit from a fledgling Osprey, who turned up on our doorstep after dark. He was bedraggled and very lost and confused, as we sat watching him he decided to
fly towards Tristan and landed on the step a few cm away from his face where he remained for about half an hour. It was an incredible experience and the best send off Claudia could have wished for. She was leaving the next day to find new adventures in Fiji, we miss you lots Claw. Early the following morning having dried out and on seeing the light, the young Osprey left base, much to everyone’s relief. We also said farewell to Julian and Jen, as they are both heading back to their European homelands.

This week has been incredible as the diving and the visibility have suddenly become better than ever. We can see the reefs from a full 20m above and when you’re actually down there everything
glows with the most vibrant colour. It’s almost beyond words, seriously. We’ve had a return of amazing megafauna siting’s as well. Robbie finally saw his first shark!! (It’s tail.) We’ve spotted three huge rays and the lionfish have been out hunting. Unluckily for them, though, we’ve been hunting them back.

However, one volunteer Maja has had a particularly lazy week, spending 48 hours recuperating lying down in the office, getting two massages a day and an abundance of food. Everyone on base is wishing her back a speedy recovery so that she can start moving around, as we miss you, and hope that she gets back to diving as soon as possible. On a happier note a big welcome goes to Brad the new staff member who arrives this week to replace the other staff who are leaving over the next few weeks.

Just when we all thought this incredible week could get no better, two waves of divers were lucky enough to see bottlenose dolphins. The first was sighted whilst Valeria was pretending to be a panicked diver as part of the rescue course. Wondering what the commotion was about the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) swam in towards Valeria, it then proceeded to circle the boat until it was sure that Steph had successfully completed the rescue, satisfied Valeria was safe it swam off. After searching for a while with no further luck both boats headed back to base, whereupon we were once again graced with its appearance, surfing towards us on the swell and passing beneath the boat. It is an inexplicable feeling of awe that I get each time I have the privilege of seeing these beautiful, intelligent creatures. They have a way of making you feel extremely humble and are defiantly in their element, whereas we can only imagine what it feels like to surf waves as they do.

Finally, please don’t forget to vote for your favourite Triathlete and make a donation supporting
them…..

Here’s the link to learn more about the Triathlon and the projects it’s supporting. http://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/mayatl-n-with-double-cause/

Unusual vistors on base and old friends underwater!