More friends of the deep

Another day, another dive - my 10th already, and Adrian's 13th. We saw three white tipped reef sharks, and several of these beautiful green turtles (sadly this shot is complete with annoying arm of fellow diver - does he not know you aren't supposed to touch marine life/ruin other people's photos??!). And below is an Oriental Sweetlips - sweet!

The graduates

Here we are with our fellow students, our brilliant instructor Simon, and Mimi. Left to right: Tove, Linus, Gareth, Adrian, Simon, me and Mimi.

More diving photos

Getting ready for the first proper dive

After a day of learning a few skills and getting used to trusting all this crazy equipment to actually let you breathe underwater, Gareth and I were ready for our first proper dive.

This is me in all my gear about to plop backwards into the sea, with Gareth next in line. I think my pink fins are rather fetching....

Sighting the elusive whale shark

At Big Blue, our dive centre, divers, including the seasoned staff, are divided into two groups: those who have seen the elusive whale shark and those who have not. Even people who have worked there for years jump into the water every day hoping to catch their first glimpse of this near-mythical creature... Here are some facts about the whale shark:

• It is the world's largest living fish (and its a shark, rather than a whale)
• Its massive smiling mouth can be up to 1.5m wide (it's this big so that it can feed by filtering the water it swims into)
• Typically, they grow up to 12m long and weigh around 15 tonnes

On the morning of the 7th July, during a deep dive to 30m at a dive site called Champon Pinnacle (famed for its reef and leopard sharks) my instructor, who was swimming in front of me, started pointing frantically into the distance. I looked over to my right and saw a massive, spotted, fish about eight metres away gliding gracefully through the sea as all the divers around me quickly grabbed their cameras. From its markings, size (about three to four metres) and from the reactions of the other divers, I quickly deduced that I was in the presence of the legendary whale shark (but a baby one).

When I got back on board Banzai, the name of the dive centre's biggest boat, everyone was buzzing with dis-belief, excitement and disappointment for those who missed the sighting. Keith, my dive buddy for the dive managed to catch this picture of the creature. Lucky isn't even the word.