Day 17 Flying over the deep aka the blue water rig

Lee acts as the surface while Derek explains how the rig works.

Our last day of diving together has arrived too quickly!  As always breakfast on the patio with the rest of the gang at Quirjakos was delicious, the coffee was strong and the jokes were silly. Our morning meeting was short and sweet before we headed down to the base for a hands-on demonstration.  Today we got to dive by boat in order to experience the blue water rig. 

Everyone on the boat lent a hand when it came to our technical delay resolution.

We had a good time watching Lee act as the surface holding the float above her head from which the blue water rig is suspended.  It allows divers to clip into lines and extend out to preset distances at a set depth.A safety diver stays at the rig and everyone can focus on their work without visual reference. Today we are going to write essays.  The blue water rig works well over extreme depth hence its name.  As we learned later is a wonderful tool of science, and fun.  Fun science is the best science.  We stayed on track and were packed up and ready when the boat that Howard had chartered arrived.  The Eda is a beautiful small(ish), maybe 25 foot, wooden boat with a cheerful captain and a hold just big enough for him.  We loaded up and headed out to Saranda Harbor.   After a brief technical delay (knot) we got started and the dive went flawlessly.  It was incredibly calming to float in the quiet above the abyss (or over 100 feet).

Lee and Dave switch out safety diver responsibility.

The entire team worker really well together to use the blue water rig especially when switching out safety divers. Overall it took about 45 minutes and we drifted about a mile.  After we returned to the boat we had a nice relaxing return trip in the sun back to the harbor.   Since it was the last day in the field we rinsed and hung everything, tidied up our areas and headed home to work on the final exam. We plugged away until it was time to get ready to go to our fancy dinner.  Everyone tidied up nicely and we headed out in our cabs to Kalaja  Leukaresit aka the castle.  Timing was perfect at to arrive at this amazing modern castle on top of the hill above Saranda.  The sun was just starting to set and the light was inspiring. 

Dave adds the finishing touches to his essay.

We wandered around until our table was ready and took in the continuous breath taking view.  Our meal was delicious and enjoyed as the sun set behind us.  No diving tomorrow means wine was enjoyed by some.  Laughs and stories came easily and having everyone together for one last delicious meal together was fantastic. We stayed and chatted until it was dark, returning home tired and cheerful.  Tomorrow we finish our final tests and I retry my swim skills I didn’t pass initially.

Last official night as the group.

View from the castle of Saranda's main bay.