(Actually, we had lights.) 

As we alluded to on Friday, we ran off for a quick dive trip this weekend. It was the same boat that we dove on last August for our anniversary dive, and it really makes for an amazing trip.

The MV Diverace spends half the year (or so) in Phuket, but when the Phuket monsoons come through and the dive season is over there, it comes south to Singapore. From April to August, the boat runs dive trips from Singapore and it really makes for the best dive trips (if not the absolute best dives).

I've mentioned this before, but you aren't supposed to fly for 24 hours after diving. So a dive trip anywhere outside of Singapore involves a flight there, usually one night on land if you get in at night, get on the boat first thing the next morning, dive, then return to the port, another night on land, and then catching a flight back to Singapore. This is very important to staying safe and healthy, but it does add expense and time to the trip that you're not actually using diving.

Diving from Singapore, however, requires none of that. Leave after work on Friday, take a 20 minute cab ride to the ferry terminal. Hop on the boat. Dinner that night on the boat, wake up the next morning in Malaysian waters, dive all day. Sunday morning get a few dives in by lunch time and take a leisurely cruise back to Singapore's harbor. Dinner on the boat. Breeze through customs thanks to the awesome customs machines. Home by 8:30 on Sunday night.

No flights. No hotels. No vacation days. No internet. No phone. No drama. Just great diving. Good Thai food (this boat has a Thai crew). Lots of relaxed, unplugged, time together.

The view from the boat heading back to Singapore at sunset.
(No dive pictures this time--no camera. But if you are in dive picture mood, you can check out some of ours above. See? I finally updated the thumbnails across the top of the blog. And some of them are dive pictures. Whoo hoo!)