Curaçao Diving Paradise

Miranda Perik, a well-known photographer in Curacao, approached me some time ago with the question if I, as an underwater photographer, was interested to try something new: an underwater photo shoot with models. And sure I was. After quite some preparation and organization the happening took place on Saturday January 16, 2010 in the swimming pool of the Moon Restaurant and Lounge in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles.

On Saturday December 5, 2009 we once again went to the tugboat wreck at Vaersenbaai. This is a dive beyond the limits for recreational diving, so we don't do this too often. But we still needed to take some measurements to find out the dimensions of the boat. And we wanted to know if the engine is still in the engine room.

WARNING: don't do this dive unless you know what you are doing; this is a deco dive!

By an unimaginable coincidence my wife and I happened to be in Aruba for a short vacation at exact the same day that the owners of the axe that was used to launch the ss Dahlia (original name of the ss Mediator) visited Aruba on board of a cruise ship. So when we found this out during our mail conversations an appointment was made to meet at the cruise terminal. My wife and I were waiting at the gate of the cruise terminal at 9 AM; I was wearing my Alphen / Mediator T-shirt to be recognizable and I was holding a picture of them that I got from Elizabeth via e-mail.

On Sunday November 22, 2009 we went back to the Mediator for the first time since a long time. The reason for the long period of absence is that we are lacking sufficient volunteers to do the regular things. But this time 5 members of the hard core of the volunteers were present plus a number of guests for a guided tour. The idea was to check the status of the airlift, to find out what is blocking the entrance to the front hold (under the bow deck) and to restart the guided tours. This all with the intention to work at the Mediator at least every other weekend.

My goal was to find out what mysteriously blocked the portside entrance to the hold under the bow deck. Swimming under the bow deck from portside to the starboard side is one of the attractions during the guided tour, but last time we found out that this was no longer possible. I took some pictures of the area last time but apparently missed the essential piece.