Pt.4 – Using His Skills To The Maximum
Text by Jeremy Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
Photography by Jeremy & Amanda Cuff/www.ja-universe.com
As Zac’s diving competence and experience grew, we could involve him in more diving adventures. In no particular order, here’s some of the diving that he’s participated in up to age 14 years, which includes coming face to face with Great White Sharks…
In With The Grown Ups
Zac’s achievement of the PADI Junior Advanced Open Water certification really opened things up, allowing his experience of diving to grow as he encountered varying conditions, new underwater topography and the sheer diversity of marine life. Now, he would be mixing it with the grown-ups.
More Beloved Bandos
In 2015, we discussed “doing something different” at Christmas, such as going somewhere warm, perhaps to include some diving (it’s something we’ve done ever since). We needed Zac to “buy in” in order to make it happen, as Christmas is more than anything else a time for kids. We chatted it through with him and were pleased with his reaction, but he asked if we could return to his beloved Bandos in the Maldives if that could be an option.
Though we rarely do repeat visits to destinations, Bandos has been an exception. It has great memories for the three of us, connecting us with that “invisible elastic” that can draw you back to somewhere you’ve really enjoyed. It’s also been instrumental in Zac’s progress through diving, from his very first “proper” dive in the sea as a “Bubblemaker” to our most recent visit a PADI Junior Advanced Open Water Diver, able to dive most sites with the grown-ups.
Zac’s diving history at Bandos has been enjoyable to witness – he’s encountered manta rays, turtles, schools of snappers, honeycomb morays, reef squid, black tip reef sharks, leaf scorpionfish and much more. On our most recent trip, in December 2017, we had a rare encounter with a Guitar Shark at one of Zac’s favourite dive sites, Stingray City.
Manta Magic On The Kona Aggressor
As a family, we have some great memories of times on Aggressor Fleet boats with Zac, thanks to their “Family Week” charters in the Cayman Islands, Belize and the Turks and Caicos Islands. This time though, as a fully qualified PADI Junior Advanced Diver, he would participate in the “grown up” version of the liveaboard experience in Hawaii.
The Aggressor Fleet has created the “Iron Diver” award for divers who participate in all available dives on a trip. Zac had decided early on that we wanted to achieve this accolade, but the repeated diving was starting to seriously mash his ears. After some discussion, we decided it best to “sit him out” for a day or two, to allow them to recover and give him a chance to do the manta night dive at the tail end of the itinerary. He was crestfallen, but accepted it was the right thing to do. And no sooner had he parked his diving, he got a gig as chef Kevin’s assistant!
By the time we reached Garden Eel Cove (aka Mantaville), Zac was ready to get back in the water for Hawaii’s “signature dive” even though his ears were still sore. As dusk descended, we surveyed the sea from the deck as a flotilla of other dive boats gathered around us. Occasionally, something would disturb the surface waters – it was the mantas.
Pumped with anticipation, we were soon kitted up and in the water, finning excitedly towards the manta’s “arena” (known as the Campfire), a nondescript area of rubble and coral with submerged lights. Here, we enjoyed a fantastic experience as around 20 mantas swirled in a “plankton feeding frenzy”, bumping and jostling for the best lit areas where the food was most concentrated. A truly stunning dive, which Zac filmed on his Go Pro.
Blue Sharks In Cornwall
Though not a dive, Charles Hood’s Blue Shark interaction trips from Penzance in Cornwall aren’t for those who struggle with confidence in the water. The shark “site” is a general area in which the sharks have been reliably encountered in the past, about 15 miles offshore. It requires the participant to snorkel with the sharks in deep, open water.
While Zac enjoyed the shark action, I got horrendously seasick, even though I don’t normally suffer badly with it. I was so ill that I was in the water puking and retching whilst trying to shoot images. Thankfully my vomit didn’t deter Zac from getting in.
Caribbean Christmas In Grenada
The idea of a “Caribbean Christmas” bubbled to the top our list for December 2016, with Grenada being our choice.
Here, we could enjoy diverse diving including reefs and wrecks, and also an underwater sculpture garden. We saw Zac’s diving move forward here as he passed the 100 dive mark. He delighted in exploring some of Grenada’s impressive wrecks, such as the Veronica, and especially the underwater sculpture garden, where he helped me with some underwater modelling. Perhaps less to his taste, Phil from Dive Grenada recruited him to help raking the sand at the rear of their newly opened dive centre!
Off The Grid in Montserrat
Zac has always been happy and comfortable to travel to “off the beaten track” to destinations such as Montserrat, which had been a long-held ambition of mine.
You know you’re going “off the grid” when the plane that takes you there has capacity for 6 passengers (5 were on it). When we arrived, Zac was concerned. Parents of today’s youth will know all about the importance of wi-fi, so it was a relief to find great connectivity at Gingerbread Hill, our fantastic base for the trip.
In Montserrat, we enjoyed some very interesting dives, guided by Andrew from Scuba Montserrat, which included a site called the Batcave where you can see bats (yes bats, not batfish). This site, which can only be safely dived during calm conditions involves swimming into a cave at around 5 metres depth and popping up to the surface once inside to see thousands of bats overhead. After a quick look, Zac was soon underwater again, fearing a pelting of bat droppings!
Brilliant Bali
In the summer of 2017, we settled on a two-centre dive trip in Bali staying firstly at Tulamben followed by a crack at seeing the “Mola Mola” (Sunfish) at the more challenging dive sites of Nusa Penida, based at Padangbai.
Tulamben gave Zac his first experience of “muck diving” which he enjoyed, as well as visits to the enormous Liberty Wreck. Our Tulamben highlight was fantastic encounter with a mimic octopus lasting at least ten minutes. We watched as it changed colour and contorted itself, sometimes adopting the “flounder” version of its various “alter egos”.
At Nusa Penida, on our second dive day, we cruised the reef whilst looking out into the blue, but nothing much was happening. As we got into the second half of the dive I was beginning to think that our luck was out until somewhere below us on the slope, there was a strange shape that jarred. It took a few moments to mentally process it, but when the penny dropped, I knew what it was. It was a Mola Mola, a big one. I signalled to Amanda and Zac, to make sure they’d seen it – they had
The encounter was fairly brief but brilliant, as it circled us before heading back into the blue. After the dive everyone was buzzing; a heady mix of relief, euphoria, smiles, punching the air and whoops. From what we heard, we had the only Mola Mola sighting that day, and possibly over the 3 days in which we dived the area. We felt happy and fortunate.
Nusa Penida also gave Zac some new experiences with currents and upwellings. He particularly enjoyed the thermoclines at Crystal Bay, with its distinctive “fuzziness” at the division of cold and warm water. You can have your body in cold water whilst your outstretched arm is in warm water.
A Kid In A Cage – Face To Face With Great White Sharks
If a Mola Mola sighting was following Amanda’s ambition, then a Great White Shark encounter was following mine.
There’s a very small number of realistic options for this, such as visiting Guadalupe Island off the Pacific coast of Mexico by liveaboard. This was the preferred option, so I contacted the Solmar V to establish whether they accepted children onboard, which they confirmed.
Prior to committing, we discussed it with Zac, who was initially a little reluctant, mostly about the idea of the “deep cage” – both a surface cage and deep cage (lowered to approx.10 metres) are offered to participants and afford very different perspectives on the sharks. We reassured him that it would be fine, and if he decided he didn’t want to do it, he wouldn’t have to.
I needn’t have worried; he loved the deep cage, gesturing to me about how “mind blowing” it was as several great whites cruised past us. The whole experience was brilliant for him, as we came face to face with these incredible apex predators.
Travelling With Kids/Going Beyond The Diving
Our dive travels have been hugely rewarding for Zac in a wider sense, allowing him to meet people from different cultures, learn about how other people live, learn to communicate and interact with others, sample unfamiliar cuisines and see fascinating places.
For example, whilst at Roots Dive Camp, we chose to visit the ancient and historic city of Luxor which is located on the Nile. Though a long day, we were able to take in the Temple of Karnak, a papyrus factory and gallery, a drive past of the Temple of Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, an alabaster factory, Quenn Hatchepsut’s Temple, the Colossi of Memnon and squeezed in a short boat trip on the Nile itself to a secluded plantation for a fruit and drink stop.
Great travel experiences abound on dive trips – from our visit to a tiny chocolate factory in Grenada to the ancient temple ruins in the rainforests of Belize. Kid’s love being taken on adventures.