Page 40 - Сахалину с любовью : литературный сборник

Diving Moneron

As fanatic scuba divers we felt the strange urge to try
scuba diving here. Not in winter, we’re not that crazy, but
with a summer water temperature of 8 degrees Centigrade
we thought we could do it. This is the story of our very first
dives last year (2005) in these waters.
The staff from the Dive Club Sakhalin was very
friendly and eager to show us what diving is like on
Moneron Island, approx. 2 hrs by boat from Nevelsk. I was
told that we would leave on Saturday 4 pm from the Dive
Centre and stay a night at the dive base in Nevelsk. So far so
good, plan understood. Manager Mikhael or Mishja drove us
to the dive base, stopping several times along the way to get
some food supplies. We only brought our “just-in-case” cup
noodles and by the sight of his supply I got a little worried.
Apparently I had to work harder on my Russian, as it turned
out that everyone had to bring their own food because the
Dive Base is quite far from Nevelsktown. We watched how
mouthwatering dishes were prepared in the kitchen and from
the BBQ. We learned quickly what to bring next time. The
next day we were supposed to wake up at 6 am to catch the
boat to Moneron. Again my Russian needed polishing as 6 am
turned out to be 8 am for everyone else but us!
At Moneron we did two beautiful dives. Cristal clear
water: approx. 20 meters visibility and during the first dive
we had a very curious seal diving down 4 times to inspect
and play with us! This dive is certainly in my top 5 so far!!
Before, between and after the dives our Russian dive
buddies were busy cooking and eating. With our cub
noodles being long gone, we were glad our Russian friends
invited us to join their freshly caught food. After the second
dive our buddies did not seem to be in an awful hurry to get

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