Doug underwater

Certified at last! Congratulations Doug!

Doug got in 6 or 8 dives. Once I got him to stop flailing his arms and legs like he was drowning he became much more comfortable. I think he had a good time learning to dive...tho the trip is kind of whirl wind for him; Just after he got here we learned if the insurrection and the coup attempt here in Madagascar. Just when you thought is was safe to travel again... Oh well... we're not in Kansas anymore.

Reefs were pretty amazing. I did one night dive on a reef site called 007. We were at about 15 meters for 45 minutes at 3:30AM. About 5 meters off the bottom I noticed some squid;;;4-5 of them in a shoal. I swam up and they left quickly... but then one returned. I shined my torch on it. It was about 8-9 inches long without counting tentacles. It was maybe 1-2 feet in front of me. It curled up its tentacles and began this mesmerizing color change and feathering of its pectoral fins. It was an abdsolutely fantastic and otherworldly site. Then all of a sudden it rushed into my chest with the force of a slight blow, let go a swath of ink, and disappeared. It startled me so I jumped back aénd began laughing almost to spit out my regulator. Turning around I found most of my dive group of six right there watching the entire event. Certainly one of the highlights of my trip.