He also hands me the coloured cloth – now a rich play of bright reds pinks and purples

He also hands me the coloured cloth – now a rich play of bright reds, pinks and purples. “The lack of light at depth has a dramatic effect,” says Vinny.We lunch on the boat and Vinny briefs the group on our next dive “This will be a shallow dive, no more than 12m,” he says “Andrew, you will be completing your navigation dive. I want you to take us to the reef about 100m off the bow of the boat, navigate a square and then return to the anchor line.”Navigating underwater is the same as on dry land: you use a compass. However, on dry land you can see physical features in the far distance: buildings, hills and trees In the sea, visibility is dramatically curtailed. Here, it’s down to 12m.My previous night’s reading of the PADI manual introduced me to certain physical features that exist under the sea.

For example, ripples in the sand are always perpendicular to the shore. It also suggests speaking to divers who know a particular dive site well. Each site will have specific features – large rocks, corals, currents, reefs – that can guide the diver.I set my compass on the boat, get in the water, and head in the direction of the reef. Vinny gives me a few minor directional adjustments but we arrive on our target We take in the superb, psychedelic coral bed. Suddenly, Vinny darts for a rock, shoving his hand underneath He has found a puffer fish. It sails out fully inflated, covered in nasty looking spikes, its tiny fins rotating in fury.We leave the puffer behind, I complete my “square” – it’s actually more like a collapsing oblong – and then, with Vinny’s helping hand, guide us directly back to the anchor line.After an hour on deck, it’s back in the water to complete the first of my three elective dives – Peak Performance Buoyancy.

The other two – Wreck Dive and Boat Dive – will be completed tomorrow.”Good buoyancy is essential to make a controlled dive,” says Vinny. “You’ll need to do this to penetrate a wreck effectively and safely. Making sure you are correctly weighted for the conditions is very important.” I’ve been diving with 5kg of extra weight but Vinny tells me to reduce it to 4kg. “You want to be neutrally buoyant throughout the dive,” he says.