Adventure Cook Islands

We are never too old to stop learning.
Meet Dale. Dale is one of our snow escapees from Canada and has been coming to Rarotonga every year since the 1990's. Dale is an experienced diver and dives 3 times per week, he does about 15 dives with us every year. Over the years he has logged many thousands of dives.
As Dale uses pretty much no air, all of his dives are at least 60 to 70 minutes long. Dale turned 80 at the beginning of the month and celebrated his 80's birthday in style with an 80 feet dive for 80 minutes! 🎉

As Dale regularly runs out of no-stop time and needs to finish the dive because of his tissue's nitrogen loading, Dale has now enrolled in (and completed) one of our Enriched Air Nitrox courses. Being 80 years old, this makes Dale undoubtedly the oldest student we have certified. It also teaches us all two lessons:

1. We are never too old to stop learning.
2. You are only as old as you feel you are.

Congratulations Dale, we love you! 🏆❤
You are an inspiration to us all and we wish you many more happy dives!

P.S.: There are two possible explanations for Dale's phenomenon (why he uses so little gas):
1. He is so old that he nearly stops breathing, hence the cylinder lasts forever.
2. He is a very good diver. (Dale thinks this is it) :-)

Pitcairn Angelfish live on Rarotonga's deep drop-off slopes and walls. Genicanthus Spinus are often camera shy, however this photogenic male posed for the camera in 75 metres, while we were exploring the steep slope below Peppermint Reef.

THE CALL OF THE DEEP

When you venture past recreational diving depths, Rarotonga’s deep drop-off’s and steep outer reef slopes offer fantastic sceneries and rare fauna waiting to be discovered. We feel very privileged to be able to explore these virtually unknown and incredibly special areas of Rarotonga.

All photos were taken at depths between 80 and 120 metres.

Another lucky soul rescued from Rutaki Passage. We found this old fella exhausted and drifting out in the passage this morning. He was shaken but relieved when we dropped him back to the beach again. When we asked him whether he did not see the no-swimming signs, he had nothing to say... What a way to finish the TDI Advanced Nitrox Diver course with our students from MMR.