After what seems like a year (though it was really only since november) I got my feet properly wet again. There’s nothing like a day out on the boat combined with diving in the off season…

It’s just as cold down there (13-15°C below 15m) but the feeling is so completely different it might as well be an entirely different planet. Maybe because there’s just you and (almost) nobody else around.

I only did few dives, first of which was a night dive (not really a standard practice) and the last one I screwed up (plain and simple). Apparently I didn’t fasten the tank to the BCD well enough (or the BCD is useless) and it slipped away at 35m. As the location didn’t really allow much fumbling around (current, nothing to hold on to etc.) I didn’t take the BCD off to work it out and continue so I aborted the dive with both hands behind my back holding the tank in place.

You might question why my buddy didn’t help out but as it happens we had a complete failure in communication. She didn’t understand what I was trying to point out, never noticed what the problem was and I didn’t hassle her long enough for her to finally get it. I still don’t really know why I didn’t do anything to solve the situation either on my own or with her help but at the time I felt aborting was the only real option. You can imagine the dissapointment. Even though we made our way out slowly, with a few peeks here and there, and did 75% of the planned dive we still got out half an hour sooner than expected.

I screwed up…

I was however fortunate to act as a dive guide for Croatia Undersea project backed by Croatian national television HRT. Guys were great to dive with but I had to cut my participation in this awesome project short because I had to return home (only to realize later on I didn’t really have to go back)… §@$¤!!!

image gallery (only did two dives with a camera so there are far fewer photos than usual)

preview:

Reading a post by Jason Calacanis about refusing to do a phone interview for Wired got me in a t’riffic mood. Of course Wired didn’t hold back but the thing that makes this amusing is the fact that Calacanis is so paranoid about being misquoted he’ll only do email interviews.

I can understand his “I don’t need publicity” position but what I fail to understand is how someone like himself doesn’t recognize how boring such interviews are for the journalists and especially for people to read. The whole point of an interview is the interaction between both parties involved. It’s about the spontaneity, follow-up questions and answers, digging deep, pushing the envelope of what you can get out of a person. When you look at it from such a perspective you might be inclined to believe Calacanis is simply affraid of being led into a trap and revealing too much.

Sure, you’ll be misquoted a few times but that’s easily rectified. Just as easy as doing it all by email.