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| Dr. Chris Begley. |
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| Effie and Dave wave hello. |
Today I woke up feeling better! This change of states couldn’t
have happened at a better time as today we got to dive a wreck, the Probitas!
I was grateful to enjoy a light breakfast then
more joining knots and days of the week.
In true Albanian fashion the van to drive us to our dive site was about
half an hour late, it was amazing though, an old Mercedes blue van with some
bench seats and some seats that were boxes with upholstery on top.
We loaded up and headed downtown to the
beachfront at the west end, next to the Eagle’s Claw restaurant.
We unloaded and set up, happily the guys
running a beach front paddle boat rental, snack bar place were happy to watch
our gear that wasn’t going in to the water with us.
That is one nice thing, as Derek pointed out,
of being in a country where diving is so new and rare, people are intrigued and
curious.
We had a nice short surface
swim out to the deck of the Probitas.
It
is a WWII Italian freighter turned medical ship that had been headed home with
wounded soldiers when the Germans, returning from an African bombing run,
spotted her and unloaded the rest of their artillery, sinking her in the main
bay of Saranda.
She lies on her side,
with the starboard side facing up in about 15 feet of water. We practiced
locating objects, on her starboard side placed by Lee and Derek and estimating
their size, then we were free to explore, up to 60 feet depth and without any
penetration. We stayed out both out of respect for the war grave and also
because it simply isn’t safe.
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| Derek exploring above Chris and I. |
I paired
with Chris (Dr. Begley) since I was feeling better but wanted to feel free to
call the dive at any time without robbing a fellow classmate of such an amazing
opportunity.
Happily I felt fine and was
able to complete the entire dive.
In a
nice coincidence this dive brought my cumulative dive time to just over 24
hours.
I learned that I tend to
overestimate size, which isn’t surprising in water.
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| Fish schooling over the bow. |
The dive was amazing, seeing the destruction,
metal twisted and everything off kilter anyhow due to the Probitas being on
it’s side, additionally seeing how nature is already reclaiming her, making an
artificial reef.
After an amazing dive
we headed home for lunch and I was finally truly hungry.
I headed to Erjoni’s for a sandwich, which
consists of a fried egg, bacon, and cheese.
Protein hit the spot.
After lunch
we had our nitrox, enriched air lecture followed by testing the mixture in tanks
at the dive locker. We then brought some gear up in preparation for a two dive
day away from the base tomorrow.
We had
about an hour and I managed to get in touch with Eric and we video chatted for
a while.
It was really nice to see and
hear him and helped combat the slight homesickness I had been feeling.
We then headed to Lee’s favorite restaurant which
I cannot remember the name of where I had moussaka,
it is kind of like lasagna butt with potatoes
instead of noodles.
It as amazing!
On the way home there was some sort of
festival happening at the football (soccer) stadium that we pass.
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| New life growing among the destruction. |
The others had seen it the night before but
since I hadn’t I ducked in alone and watched a singer, some traditional dancing
and what may have been some sort of political speeches, whoever they were they
did not lack passion.
I then grabbed an
in ice cream and wandered home to rest up for what should be a two dive day
tomorrow.
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| This big guy was guarding my gear bag upon return to shore. |
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