Woke up early to make it early at the department and connect with the Socionical workshop that started today at the Victoria Hotel in Sliema ... wanted so much to be there to welcome all the partners but this trip turned up ... still i was able to help as much as i could for its success and this morning there is the opening.
Arrived at my desk a bit after 8am so the workshop had begun but managed to follow the opening talk by the co-ordinator and around 8.30am i prepared to go to the DOP diving place for this morning's dive ... but before i had to stop at Norberto to pay him and pick up my kit.
Around 9am i was at Norberto and only he was around sorting stuff at this hut ... so we had a short talk ... i paid him and then grabbed my kit and started the short 10min walk to the diving section.
As i got there nobody was around and so snapped some pics as i had nothing else to do ... this first picture is basically the divers section with numerous rooms to sort out the various activities. All the way in is the technician's workshop ... a mess ... basically is this period he uses it to fill the pods with CuSO4 ... then the hut with the grey top is an office, together with an adjoining dressing room, an adjoining kit room, and 2 showers ... then the red top hut and adjoining grey top room ... well thats the next picture.
These two rooms ... actually only 1 room and a rinsing sort of space covered with red sheeting ... but the room is the compressor room ... so all cylinders go in there empty and come out nice warm and charged ... you can see other scattered on the floor ... very normal ...
Finally the poor pickup van we use ... actually you can see my blue box with my kit in it as well as my faithful yellow bag which i adopted for 4 weeks ... its my carry bag and i run around Horta with it all the time as i do not have a backpack or any other bag
After some 15 minutes all the others started to arrive and so i could finally prepare to set up my kit and wear the suit. This morning there was a lot of planning as the laying of lines the day before had started and my job today is to remove the deepest line laid and place it parallel on the inner most side to create the next lane where the divers will work ... agreed!
The usual routine of loading the pickup ... driving to harbour ... loading the rib and out to the site ... was performed with the slight difference that the Italian guy, Martino, who was with me at the Princess Alice trip was with us today as well and so we were going to be working together.
As we dropped off the rib and descended to a maximum of 25m everyone knew what to do and so me and Martino took off to remove the last cable and create a new lane closer to the shore ... each lane was a 100m long and 20m apart ... so basically we had to swim 100m to reach the extreme end where the reel was ... reel in the line ... pick up the anchorage at the end ... and swimming in past the other lanes ... as two other lanes were already set up parallel to the last one ... where the divers were currently working.
Sounds like a lot but its ok ... especially if you know what you're doing ... so u enjoy it. As i reached the last line i needed to count 20 or so kicks with my fins which will approximately be 20m to create the begining of the next lane ... i anchored the first end of this new lane ... and started to unwind the line again to create the lane at a bearing of 90 degrees ... took some 15 mins maximum.
Everybody onboard ... all divers have completed their tasks ... lets drive back to the jetty. Cylinders were loaded onto the pickup and as we drove back to DOP we stopped to speak to Norberto who had just returned from a diving trip with some clients. At this point one of the DOP divers, Cesar, informed us that Saturday evening its his birthday and that we were all invited to an open air party infront of Norberto's hut ... fantastic!
Rinsed my stuff ... had a shower ... and started my walk toward the department ... planned not to do the second dive and so took all my stuff back with me. At the department i checked email, sorted some documents, and had some talk with Joao Monteiro who has given up hope that the hardware we need to hold the Nitrox courses will ever materialise ... not my problem really ... but maybe they will ask me to come back another time to do their courses ... that would be nice.
Around 5pm i started my way back home as i need some dinner but as i went out of the department i saw the bus stop by and so quickly pulled out 30c and boarded ... yeeha ... will be home earlier and with no hassle ... so off i was on the bus with all the old ladies chatting away.
At home i prepared some Aglio e Olio sauce as well as a nice fresh hobza with cheese & ham ... i say fresh because this is an experiment i am trying of freezing fresh bread and use it after some days ... works perfectly ... didnt believe it would be as fresh even though several people had told me so.
The rest of the evening spent at home ... watched TV ... prepared a hot bath ... brewed some tea to sip in the bath ... shaved ... and prepared to go to sleep ... movie this night was about Air Force 1 ... the US president's plane ... that was supposedly hijacked ... Harrison Ford main actor.
Good night ... tomorrow really air around 6am as Socionical General Assembly starts at 9am Malta time.
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