Well, when we woke at 06.00 to get ready for our dive, the weather was miserable and overcast, with a stiff breeze.

So it came as no surprise to find out that the southern pass dive had been cancelled. Instead we were going to do a sheltered reef dive just outside the northern pass.

Going out in the rib was an experience. If we thought the overfalls were large from the yacht, they seem monstrous from the rib, which was basically at sea level.

There were 4 divers and the dive leader, Cyrile. On the count of 3 we all rolled back into the water and descended to 5mtrs before doing our safety checks. This was due to the rough surface conditions.

We were diving with steel tanks and I soon became aware that I was heavily over weighted.

As we swam along white tipped reef sharks would come up to see what was going on and then lazily cruise by.

We saw huge schools of banner fish. We had never seen so many together. We were also seeing new fish, such as the beautiful Moorish Idols.

Unfortunately, though Roger had brought the camera along this time, it decided it was time to shuffle off its mortal coil and it promptly kicked the bucket!!

For the first time ever I ran out of air and had to buddy breathe with Roger for the last part of the dive. I had lost 200psi when my reg had gassed off on the surface, then with the extra weight I needed more for my bcd. Which I then had to dump when we sat on the bottom watching the fish go by, only to have to use more air to re-inflate it to continue the dive. I was not a happy camper.

Because of the rough sea conditions, we all had to surface together. This meant that if one of the divers had gone into decompression time, we all had to wait until they were ready to surface. This made it more difficult to manage your air as you had to be sure you had enough to stay at your safety for an unknown length of time. Which in this case was 16 minutes.

After the dive, they announced that the afternoon dive was going to be a repeat of the drift dive Roger had done. As I was now comfortable with getting back into the rib, I decided to do it.

Cyrile kept telling me I didn’t need my gloves, but I said I was still going to wear them, as I don’t like touching coral and rock.

Once again, we headed out in the rib, this time though the overfalls were gone and it wasn’t quite as rough.

We went straight down and when the shoreline appeared, we all grabbed hold to watch the parade of sharks.

There were dozens, though not as many as there had been the previous day. There were silver tips, white tips, Greys and several other types. Apparently, at this time of year, the male sharks return to mate. Normally it is only female sharks on the reefs, with the males out in the ocean. This accounts for the huge numbers.

Also, mid June and July, the big Groupers make their way to the lagoon to mate. Apparently the sea bed is just covered with them there are so many.

I have to say, it was impressive. We then had to walk hand over hand along the bottom to the next part of the dive.

But for me the most impressive part of the dive, was the drift. We were in about 3 knots of current and there was no fighting it, you just went with the flow. It must have looked like a Disney cartoon as we all floated along, twisting and turning with no real control. It made me think that this must be what floating in zero gravity would be like.

We settled into a canyon amongst hundreds of schools of different fish. Soldier fish, goat fish, trumpet fish all hung side by side, facing into the current and keeping station. It was quite surreal, being literally eye to eye with these fish and they didn’t bother.

At one point a shark swam right up alongside me, thankfully it was only a little one, so I didn’t freak out. It caught Roger by surprise, as he was watching a school of trumpet fish and this shark just swam in front of him.

We saw huge napoleon wrasse with their huge rubbery lips.

It certainly was an experience and I was so glad I had worn my gloves.

Just a shame that we hadn’t been able to video any of it.