Day 5 - Richelieu Rock.
These days Richelieu gets busy - very. The last time I'd been here there had been 14 liveaboard boats on the site. Steve had us on a very early start to get there first and into the water before any other divers. We knew Richelieu could be temperamental. Maybe we face similar currents to the day before on Tachai...who knew?
We arrived on site a few minutes after dawn.....and we were first! The Captain reckoned the current was minimal too so this as looking good. I'd prepared my camera the night before and the batteries were fully charged, and the strobe had brand new ones straight from the shop in Patong. We had an appointment with a family of seahorses!
When we hit the water it was fantastic. Huge visibilty....no current....perfect. Steve led us down to the Sea horses. There could have been three - Male, Female and baby. As it was Mum wasn't there but the other two were. Time for pictures! Camera on...OK....strobe on....WTF....nothing happened. I couldn't believe it. Don't EVER buy batteries in Thailand!!! Incredible. And there was nothing to do as the internal flash was blacked out for the Inon optical firing system! Damn!
Well - the rest of the dive was great although I remained pretty pissed at Thai batteries! When we got back on the boat I just removed the strobe completely and reverted to the internal Olympus flash. I was still thinking about the trouble the day before as well. Then I went to Steve and more or less demanded that we go back to the Seahorses at the beginning of the second dive. While we were having breakfast it became clear that today was unusual. There were only three other boats with us, and they were likely to leave after two dives. We started to plan to stay here for three.......
Second dive.......back to the Seahorses..... now the camera worked.
Dad.......
......and Baby....
Woo hoo!!
So what's next.......okiedokie.......clown fish.....
....Cowries......
