HMS Hermes - Aug 2010 - Dive Trip / Vacation
| HMS Hermes - Aug 2010 - Dive Trip / Vacation | |||
| Name: | Rating: | ||
| HMS Hermes - Aug 2010 |  |
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| Dive Centre: | Country: | ||
| Deep Sea Resort | Sri Lanka | ||
| Start Date: | End Date: | ||
| Sat, 21-Aug-2010 | Sun, 29-Aug-2010 | ||
| 5 dives on this Trip / Vacation: | |||
| 286 | 287 | 288 | 289 | 290 | |||
| Buddy/Buddies: | |||
| Richard Taylor, Allan Easter, Peter Fear, Helena Cannon, Stuart Cannon, Brian Cornell | |||
| Comments: | |||
| HMS Hermes trip organised through: The Scuba Doctor (Rye, Victoria) -- https://www.scubadoctor.com.au and Dive Adventures -- https://www.diveadventures.com.au Stayed and dived with: Deep Sea Resort -- https://deepsearesort.webs.com/ Those on the trip included: Peter Fear, Brian Cornell, Lloyd Borrett, Allan Easter, Richard Taylor, Helena Cannon, and Stuart Cannon. BACKGROUND: The HMS Hermes was the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier. Built by the British at the end of World War I and sunk by the Japanese during World War II off Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Some 300 souls were lost, so the HMS Hermes is an official war grave. It's only been in recent times that organised trips to dive on the HMS Hermes have been available. With the top parts of the wreck at 45 metres and the deeper parts at 55 metres, it offers exciting diving for wreck and technical divers. THE DIVE PARTY: Seven divers eventually made up the dive party for this trip. Stuart and Helena Cannon went over to Sri Lanka early and were soon joined by Peter and Valerie Fear for a week or so in tourist mode. Richard Taylor from TDI/SDI Australia made his way to Sri Lanka from Sydney. Brian Cornell, Allan Easter, and I started from Melbourne. For me, the trip began many months beforehand. I decided it would be rather prudent to complete the TDI Advanced Nitrox Diver and TDI Decompression Procedures Diver courses before going over to dive the HMS Hermes. I did this with Mark Ryan from Aquability as my instructor, completing the two courses just two weeks before leaving for Sri Lanka. With TDI/SDI instructor and regional director Richard Taylor in the dive party, it became possible for Alan Easter and me to also do the TDI Extended Range and TDI Trimix courses while diving on the HMS Hermes. I prefer to spend time consolidating skills learnt in previous courses before starting the next level of courses. Plus, I'd prefer not to be doing a course while on a dive trip. But it was an opportunity too good to pass up. THE JOURNEY: At 5 a.m. on a Saturday, I awoke in Melbourne and eventually headed out to the airport. I met up with Allan Easter while going through customs. Then we both met up with Brian Cornell in the departure lounge. It was an 8 hour flight to Singapore, 6 hours in transit at Singapore Airport, and then a 4 hour flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. As we made our way through Colombo airport to baggage claim, we caught up with Valerie Fear at the start of her trip back to Melbourne. Going through the duty-free area on entry to the airport was a different experience. Instead of shops full of consumer goods, alcohol, and perfumes, we saw white goods and household appliances. (None of us felt like buying a fridge, but in hindsight, it would have made a nice addition to the rooms at the diving resort.) Once through customs, we were met by Peter Fear and our driver, Ivan. By the time my head hit the pillow at a hotel in nearby Negombo, it was 1:30 a.m. on Sunday in Sri Lanka. My body clock was telling me it was 6 a.m. in Melbourne. After a few hours' sleep, we were up, showered, dressed and catching up with everyone else in the dive party over breakfast. There had been a mix-up when checking into this hotel the night before, and Brian, Allan, and I had been allocated an extra room at the back that hadn't been prepared for our arrival. It was dirty and grubby in comparison to the other rooms at the hotel. Soon enough, it was time to hit the road. We loaded ourselves into two Toyota Hiace vans and began the long road trip to Batticaloa, on the other side of Sri Lanka, stopping for lunch along the way. I was amazed at how much everything reminded me of Bali - roads, driving, houses, shops, etc. What didn't remind me of Bali was the presence of the military everywhere. Checkpoints, machine gun emplacements, and heavy security, among other measures. In the rural areas, the vegetation had been cleared for a considerable distance on either side of the road. I soon realised that this was a killing zone to make it more difficult for the Tamil attacks to take place. We arrived at the dive resort in Batticaloa at 4:30 p.m. It had been a long two days getting there. THE JOURNEY HOME: On Saturday morning, we were up early, packing our gear, eating breakfast, and settling our accounts. The plan was for us to depart in the two Toyota Hiaces at around 9 a.m. We left a bit later than that. It takes time to say one's goodbyes and appropriately thank the staff for being such great hosts. We pooled our tips and made sure they were generous sums, as is appropriate given how well they had all looked after us. Some in the dive party got a bit of a shock when it came to settling accounts. The meals were extra. 'Buddhika' and 'Mahesh' did an excellent job with the food, and we had no complaints about the variety, portion sizes, or quality of cooking. Additionally, we were always able to make special requests, including some for dishes that were not even on the menu. However, if we had the set meal prepared, the meals were being charged at a fixed price per head, and the rate wasn't very competitive with the usual prices in Sri Lanka. More importantly, some didn't eat very much at breakfast and lunch times, and thus were surprised at how much extra they had to pay for their meals. It was suggested to Feli that he might come up with a better way to handle this, so that future groups wouldn't get the same surprise. The three boat captains joined us for the journey back across Sri Lanka. Ivan drove Peter, Alan, Brian, Vincent and me. We stopped briefly at a wood carving place to buy some gifts. We also stopped at a magnificent resort hotel, which Peter, Stuart and Helena had been to the previous week in tourist mode. Peter was keen for us to enjoy the buffet luncheon. So Peter, Allan, Brian, and I did so while the others decided the cafe lunch would suffice. We shopped for more gifts in the hotel shops and then recommenced our journey. You might be getting the impression that I'm not a great tourist and traveller, even though I do quite a bit of it one way or another. You'd be spot on. I go places to do things whilst there. I rarely delight in the journey, and I'm never keen to get into tourist mode. So when we stopped to see a Buddhist temple, I was not the least bit interested. Again, Peter, Stuart and Helena had been to the temple the previous week and thought we would love it. While the others did the tourist thing, Stuart, Helena and I got in a Tut-Tut and went into the central part of the nearby town. I came across a tool store and proceeded to purchase a toolbox, sets of spanners, pliers and screwdrivers, plus a can of WD-40 for Vincent. Next time he'd have to strip down a motor out on the water, he'd be better equipped. He was delighted at the unexpected gift. Soon we were all back on the road again. It was 8 p.m. before we arrived at the hotel in Negombo, near the airport. Peter, Alan, Brian and I were continuing to the airport and flying out in just a few hours. We were able to shower and change at the hotel and grab dinner. The others accepted Vincent's kind invitation to have dinner at his house nearby. There was some drama for me at the airport. When I'd packed my two check-in bags to come on the trip, they weighed in at 32 kg, which was two kilograms over the 30 kg limit. So I expected to pay the A$6 per kilo excess baggage. At Melbourne airport check-in, they confirmed 32 kg, but said it was okay. On the return journey, I wasn't able to weigh my bags before heading to the airport. However, I was bringing back less stuff than I'd taken, having left batteries, suntan lotion and other articles behind. However, at check-in, they told me the two bags weighed 36 kg and that it would be US$30 per kg for excess baggage, which converts to A$200 in total. I explained that this couldn't be possible and that I'd been told the excess baggage charge was significantly less. Nope, I had to pay. (On arriving home, I weighed the two bags on my accurate scales. The dive bag was .5 kg over what it had been on the outward leg — same stuff in it, but not fully dry, so that makes sense. My clothing bag was .5 kg under what it had been on the outward leg. I'd expected it to be a bit lighter than that. Still, the combined total was 32 kg, not the 36 kg that the check-in at Colombo had claimed. Given that I've also lost 14 kg in body weight since last travelling with Singapore Airlines, it's even more annoying. Plus, I'd paid $200 for preferred seating, which others received for no extra cost on some flights. I feel I've been totally ripped off. I'll NEVER be travelling on Singapore Airlines again.) We made a point of catching up with the dive group coming in from Sydney to dive the HMS Hermes that week. We were able to pass on to them some of the lessons we'd learnt. Peter, Brian, Allan, and I left Sri Lanka at 1 a.m. on Sunday — four hours flying to Singapore, a two-hour stopover, and 8 hours on to Melbourne. Cheryl's warm and smiling face on arriving at Melbourne airport on Sunday evening was a most welcome sight. |
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