Page 7 - Wish Stream Year of 2017

An early reveille preceded a final clear-up and the drive to the airport for the 1110hrs flight from Ali- cante to London Stansted. Rental car return to Avis was straightforward, taking very little time by simply dropping the keys off at the desk in the underground car park. For some reason we were unable to check-in online; the check-in process in the terminal was quick although the security channels were very slow. Luckily, we’d arrived with enough time to combat this issue.
44 Sqn met us in the terminal on arrival back to the UK, and upon returning to RMAS, a final kit check was completed.
The whole expedition was highly successful and could not have been achieved without the kind support from the Academy, especially Capt D Couchman and Veronica Bartlett, as well as the Sandhurst Trust.
On Sunday 16th of April ten Officer Cadets and two Royal Navy Reservist instructors departed for Marsalforne Bay, Gozo, Malta.
The aim of the expedition was to qualify eight Officer Cadets to the level of British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) Ocean Diver. After some ‘highly entertaining’ antics in the airport revolving pre- dominantly around convincing the expedition leader that three OCdts were due to miss the
sat huddled in a corner of the waiting room and began the course.
After an early start to do some food shopping, we all headed to Atlantis Dive Centre, our hosts for the week, to fill in paperwork and get fitted with our SCUBA equipment. Those eight OCdts undertaking the Ocean Diver qualification sat down for a morning of lectures. The instructors delivered four lectures throughout the morning. The lectures consisted of topics, varying from reading dive tables to how gasses, such as air and Nitrox, affect our bodies when inhaled at increasing pressures. We learnt how to dive with a buddy and how to navigate by pilotage (using prominent features) underwater. That afternoon came our first chance to try out the theory under the water. We travelled to Mgarr ix-Xini Bay, where
Exercise AZURE CADET
That afternoon came our first chance to try out the theory under the water.
flight, we all boarded in good time and good spirits. While we waited for our ferry from Malta to Gozo, it was decided to get a head start on the theory class for the following morning. We
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