Entries about aeroplane

I have discovered it is possible for people to come wreck diving with me from the comfort of their very own office chair!

But firstly, it requires a bit of imagination;
You are geared up, suited up and it's getting really humid out. The sun is at a funny angle which irritates you no matter where you look and it's heat is causing beads of sweat of your brow. You jump straight over the edge of the restaurant into emerald green water and feel the cool water run down the back of your wetsuit. As you descend you hear nothing but the sound of your own breathing and the bubbles drifting past your ears on the way to the surface. Two or three kicks and from the green abyss emerges something that shouldn't be there; a dark, solid structure and a myriad of fish schooling who are just as curious as you.....

Be prepared to get wet on your very own virtual 'discover scuba' class at Vasco's Dive Centre.
Vasco's Aeroplane

I have arrived safe and well in Subic Bay!!

I've had the most epic journey getting here but it has been so worth it. What was promised to be a 16 hour 'sleeper' bus turned into a 31 hour upright bus with a flat tyre and a smuggled rooster on board that crowed from about 4 til 6am. I made it to Bangkok with just enough time to eat a bowl of pad thai before climbing BACK on the bus, heading to the airport, only to be refused a boarding pass because I forgot to buy a return flight! So $200 later I safely touched down at Clark airport. It was 3am and Mr Immigration felt it necessary to interrogate me about why I would possibly want to spend 3 WHOLE months in Subic Bay, wanting to know where I was going, what was I doing, where am I staying, who am I with. I thought "I just want to go diving!!!" But apparently I must look like a regular Filipino terrorist.

When I was picked up by the Vasco's Dive Centre taxi, doing 130 in an 80 zone to the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, I felt safer than any travelling I have been subjected to in the last month throughout Cambodia. I was met with the huge smile of Gianne, Gregg Homan's girlfriend who I will be staying with for a few days. Gregg and his father, the legendary Brian, run Vasco's Dive Centre, Resort and Restaurant. I am baffled by how this amazing pocket of paradise rests within such an epic shipping port. Gianne's apartment looks out onto the bay; an expanse of glass-like ocean over which I am currently watching the sunset. Vasco's is a rabbbit's warren of a restaurant and dive centre overlooking the bay and themed somewhat like an ancient pirate ship. I have already had the pleasure of meeting Jayson; the guru and dive instructor here at Vasco's and well as Brian; the man, the legend, who has spent a lifetime salvaging wrecks in the area and has establised a remarkable museum here at the resort. When I get a spare chance I'm going to make him sit down and explain every artifact he's dug up because they are absolutely amazing.

Sunken aeroplane

My first dive this afternoon was just a quicky refresher, and I mean that in the loosest terms. I jumped off the pier and onto a submerged aeroplane!! At only 10m max depth it was an easy dive, and due to the pretty poor visibility, only 2-3m, the eeriness of watching the enormous turbines sort of 'appear' out of nowehere and swimming about the cabin was surreal. There really is nothing quite like it.