Friday was lovely and sunny with very little wind. I was surprised about how quickly and smoothly the big Quicksilver boat moved over the water out the pontoon. Because the boat is spilt into many different layers, I forgot that I was siting on a boat that can take hundreds.

As a certified diver I joined my three friends and went diving with Nick Dolphin. He gave the most comprehensive and clear introductory dive lesson I have witnessed (and I have sat through a few!) The dive lines are an excellent and safe way to get everybody to ascend and descend at the same rate - I had never used them before and found I had no problems with equalising or reverse block, which I sometimes suffer from. Nick did very well making us all comfortable in the water (a hard task seeing as my friend Cameron water phobia as a child!)

I felt very comfortable on the pontoon, again there are a lot of people but they are all spread out so there is plenty of room for everybody. Some are in the semi sub, some snorkelling, some eating, some in the underwater observatory, some sun baking and some out diving or Helmut diving. There is certainly something for everybody even if you don't want to get wet. I enjoyed some wonderful snorkelling along a wall just off the pontoon for about an hour just following parrotfish and trigger fish. The food was plentiful and it was lovely to have a warm dish after my dive, some boats only offer cold smorgasbord - which doesn't help you warm up after being in the water.

I found all the staff on board very friendly and accommodating. The highlight of the day was seeing a whale that came up and swam around and under the boat. This was truly a very magical experience and very funny to hear 300 people say ‘ohhh' at the same time.

Anna