Page 120 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

progress towards achieving their BSAC Dive Leader qualification, whilst LCpl Pybis and LCpl Ledger progressed towards BSAC Advanced Diver and SADS (instructor) qualifications. Begin- ning the week with a shakeout dive at Popeye Village, this more experienced group also dived at multiple locations including the Blue Grotto and Cirkewwa. Each day brought depth progres- sion and ranged from reef and wall dives to wreck dives, with divers seeing a multitude of marine life from stingrays to cuttlefish and barracuda. With two to three dives per day, all students honed their skills and drills as well as exploring the underwater realm of the Maltese shores.
Thursday 4th July brought a much-needed pause in diving for everyone, with a day to revise course material and recover after some intense courses and diver training. It also gave the divers the opportunity to visit more of Malta, with some soldiers choosing to travel to the capital city of Valetta for the afternoon.
to light, including an octopus and a sea cucum- ber. All divers successfully navigated their way in challenging conditions, resulting in a great finish to the exercise. A compulsory 24hr gap between diving and flying brought a day to relax and enjoy
a trip to Comino Island as a group; a final blast of sun and swimming fol- lowed by a team meal to top off the expedition.
Overall, Exercise AZURE FOX has been a huge success, with nine personnel successfully completing a BSAC qualification and four pax
working towards their next BSAC Diving grade. A fantastic opportunity was enjoyed by all, who are very grateful for the continued support of the QOY, trustees and Dive Deep Blue who have enabled this exercise to go ahead. The team look forward to future diving expeditions and other opportunities on the horizon!
On Friday 5th July, with all person-
nel now qualified divers, the team
travelled by ferry to Gozo Island
to dive together. Pairing up the
experienced divers with the newly
qualified ones, the team explored
a reef off the edge of Gozo in their
first dive and a cavern in the second, whilst stra- tegically dodging jellyfish! They then headed back to Cirkewwa, one of their favourite diving spots, for the pinnacle of the expedition; the night dive! After enjoying the sunset as a group, the team kitted up, dived in and began to explore the sea- bed by torchlight. A multitude of marine life came
It also gave
the divers the opportunity to visit more of Malta...
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