I GOT TO SWIM WITH A WHALE SHARK.
Pretty much, me staying is completely worth it now. it was one of the best experiences ever. I'm still in awe at it. People who have been here MONTHS haven't gotten to see one and many of the whale shark sitings have been from the boat, or in the distance in the water. I could reach out and touch it. In fact, I had to move out of its way! It was about 12-15ft/4-5m in length. I have it on DVD as well since our videographer was there.
other than that it's been a bit mental around here. the shop has had 3 groups of 15-20 people book to dive --- obviously great for business, but crazy for us. on the good side though, because we don't have to try and book more divers (being full) we close early, and have been coming in later! yay!
Yesterday and today were 2 different groups of all French students (high school). Yesterday was raining almost the entire time, and a bit of wind so there were pretty big swells. Today it wasn't raining but the swells were really large -- even 12m down they were big!! The 2nd dive today i spent holding down a student for the dive. He was weighted correctly, but didn't understand the concept of how to swim really... it was more of a doggie paddle/ bicycle kick, even after Chris, the instructor I was assisting, told him how to do it between dives. Every time he kicked, he'd push himself up... thus, me holding his tank the entire time to keep him down. It's funny all the different things that people do that you would think is just a natural "know how"....
Anyway, things are still going well here! I'm going down to the confined water session tomorrow with instructors for a group of Americans, which I'm ok with since there's a pretty big wind right now...meaning it will be equally rough or worse tomorrow most likely!
On the 28th I'm headed to Malaysia for a Visa run (mine expires on the 29th) so I'll be gone for a day doing that/studying for different DM exams.
