Picture the scene. It’s the Original Diving office Christmas
party, and several members of the team start an impromptu round of
the ‘Guess the Three-Letter Airport Code’ game. One of the interns
is overheard to say: ‘Wow, you lot really are travel nerds.’ Thank
you, Fenella – there is literally no greater compliment. You see,
travel nerdery (copyright new word) might not make us much fun at
parties but it’s how we know when the octopus mating season is in
Dumaguete, or your best chance of seeing the huge gatherings of
groupers in Fakarava South before spawning. In short, travel
nerdery is how we tailormake your Original Diving trips to
perfection.
But there’s a problem. At the moment, all that expertise is
going to seed. With no-one able to travel for the time being we’re
like world class athletes stuck at home not able to compete. There
are two solutions. First: the slow but steady rise in the number of
enquiries we’re seeing as clients plan for life after lockdown. And
the other? Simple – until the trickle of enquiries becomes a
torrent again we have tasked the team with designing a devilishly
difficult dive-related travel quiz.
So, drum roll please, welcome to the inaugural Original
Travel Quiz. With questions provided by teams from across the
business from Finance (guess the currency) to Flights (yes, those
three-letter airport codes) you can pit yourself against the true
travel experts. Or shamelessly steal the questions for when you’re
hosting your next virtual pub quiz. Good luck!
The Questions
1. Rhincodon typus is the scientific name for which
species of large migratory fish that gives birth to live young?
2. If you were flying into diving hotspot Honiara, what country
would you be landing in?
3. The flag above is the national flag of which country?
…
4. What type of shell was used as the first known currency in
the Maldives?
5. The airport with the three-letter code ‘GPS’ serves an
archipelago world famous for diving. What is the archipelago
called?
6. Name two of the three official languages in the
Seychelles.
7. At which famous dive site was this photo (above and to the
right) taken?
…
8. If the time and date in the UK is 9am on 1st May, what is the
time and date in Papeete in French Polynesia?
9. ‘Wednesday are go’ is the anagram of which rare marine
creature found only in the cooler waters of southern Australia?
10. In which country was the famous underwater scene in James
Bond movie Thunderball filmed?
11. What is the common name for this tropical reef dweller
pictured above?
…
12. Which 419ft long ship (and world-famous wreck) sunk on 6th
October in 1941 in the Red Sea, later to be discovered by
Jacques-Yves Cousteau?
13. Name three of the seven species of marine turtle
14. What year was the first successful scuba dive with an
Aqua-lung completed, and by whom?
15. What is the largest number of fish species ever recorded on
one dive, at Cape Kri in Raja Ampat?
a) 374, b) 437, c) 743
The Answers:
1. The whale shark
2. The Solomon Islands
3. Palau
4. Cowrie shells
5. The Galapagos in Ecuador. The airport in question is Seymour
Airport, on the island of Baltra
6. English, French and Seselwa (Seychellois Creole)
7. Boo Windows in Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
8. 10pm on the 30th April. French Polynesia has three time
zones, and Papeete (Tahiti Time) is GMT-10, then another hour to
factor in British Summer Time
9. Weedy seadragon
10. The Bahamas
11. Yellow boxfish (juvenile, to be precise)
12. SS Thistlegorm
13. Green, hawksbill, olive ridley, loggerhead, leatherback,
flatback and Kemp’s ridley
14. 1942, by Jacques-Yves Cousteau (and, for a bonus point, his
co-inventor Emile Gagnan)
15. 374 species
Scores on the Doors
0 – 5: Errrr… What were you actually doing in
geography lessons? Maybe listen in on the children’s home schooling
next time. And it might be time for a PADI refresher course.
6 – 10: You need to get out more. When legally
permissible, of course. Until then, swot up on the Original Diving
website.
11 – 15: Better, but you won’t be winning any
pub quizzes – virtual or otherwise – with a score like that.
16 – 19: Wow. Impressive. Fancy a job?
20: Your underwear appears to be on fire.
Private Scuba Tuition – Learn Scuba Skills.
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