It’s becoming the norm for me to be away from Hong Kong for a lot of the peak summer season (June to July), and this year was no different. However, I did manage to get in some diving before this, and will hopefully keep going into the autumn, before the cool waters get too cool for students in 3mm wetsuits.
I did manage to get some teaching in in May, with a handful of AOW and OW students. We are always waiting for that week that the pool temperatures change so that we can happily spend a day in the pool without getting too cold. It probably sounds mad to those who are living in colder climates, but we really need to water to be around 28°C before we can spend an entire confined water day without students (and instructors!) complaining of the cold. Cold diving is no fun, so it really seems that May is the earliest start for the outdoor season. Luckily, the hot weather starts to warm up the sea temps, and we were at about 25°C at the beginning of the season. Again, you’d be surprised but people do start to get cold after 30 mins of diving in a 3mm suit, even at those temperatures.
We were treated to a spectacular day out at Basalt Island in mid-May. Basalt Island is one of the few deep (deep is 20m here!) sites in Hong Kong, and when we could see the bottom whilst still on the boat, we knew it was going to be good. We managed four dives that day, with the highlight being a pair of beautiful ghost pipefish.
Unfortunately, a bit of a medical issue kept me out of the water until the beginning of August, but we had some good diving in August, and through into last month, with very few “pea soup” days. We do get these sometimes, but you’d be unlucky to get into double digits in a year of busy diving. As well as teaching, I managed to get my sidemount kit out and enjoyed a few fun dives, but didn’t manage much tec diving over the summer. Water temps were still 30°C at the end of September, so hoping this continues for the school programmes in October.
I managed a couple of trips to the Philippines too. We’re very lucky that we have such a diving paradise only a two hour flight away. We’re off to Thailand soon, and then it’ll be full winter season again in Hong Kong.