I hardly know where to begin. So much has happened in the past three weeks. However in my brain all I can think about is all the diving I have done, and really there is only so much you can say about that. Great, I hope that doesn't make me sound like I am getting bored or spoiled with the diving here. It is great and each dive is always different. I can't say enough good things about it. So recently we had this real interesting guy, Pete, come stay at the place and dive with us for 10 days. He has had quite the life and has so many experiences and stories that are completely different from any I will ever have. This is mostly because he is a quadriplegic. He had a terrible water skiing accident when he was younger and was paralyzed with limited use of his arms. However, he is an amazing person, and just seeing him live his life like everyone else was really eye opening. He has been scuba diving for quite some time, and in fact he did his 300th dive while he was here. Of course, things are a bit different for him but that does not stop him. When I first heard about Pete and that he was coming I was slightly nervous. I didn't want to offend him in anyway, and yet I did not want act like I wasn't going to help at all. However, upon meeting him all my nerves were put rest. After learning the drill and figuring out what I could do to help it was quite easy and Pete of course always had remarks or jokes which all had us laughing. It was really great to dive with him and made me appreciate how easy I have it. He also proved that if you love something enough, nothing should stop you.
So we have had several cruise boat days which are always different from the norm. For one we only do two dives during the day, which is nice, and necessary (“beware the Bends”) considering half the time we are racing up and down the water column chasing runaway intro divers. As you can tell these intro divers from the cruises cause a bit of stress, but I always try to look at it as a learning experience. Then you have the ones that go blank once they are on the bottom and you literally have to physically make contact with them to get their attention. Those are also the ones that think they know where they are going and if you don't watch them closely you will soon have a missing diver on your hands. Luckily that has not happened, and that is only because you can easily spot those divers. Another fun category of intro divers that I have encountered are the “handicapped” swimmers. I don't mean physically handicapped, but mentally handicapped. It is for these people that PADI includes a small section about how to swim underwater. Yes, I know that swimming underwater is not hard, and you should see the faces I get when I try to explain it. I have even gotten a few laughs from people when I try to explain. And yes, usually it are these people that look simply stupid trying to swim underwater. For example, there are countless people who have no idea why they are staying on the surface when we are trying to go down. Of course, if these people would stop frantically kicking their fins when they have their head above water they would see they would have no problem going down. Another group of bad swimmers are the dog paddlers. Okay, so they do get around, however they look ridiculous and also they go through a full tank in about 15 minutes. Then you have the ones that get to the bottom and start swimming, only with their bodies pointed slightly up so within 30 kicks they are halfway to the surface, meaning I have to jet upwards to get them to come back down. It is not fun to do this and then have your dive computer freak out and lock you out for the rest of the dive. Another group are the divers that freeze as they go to the descend, so their legs flare out and they end up in a sitting position with their legs straight out. Of course they do not pay attention to where they are and end up sitting on the person's head just below them. This causes a mess, because no one wants a butt or aluminum tank slamming down on top of their head. Okay, so now you probably think that I hate intro dives, which is wrong. There are of course the people I just described but then the majority are perfectly capable divers, who are so much fun to dive with. It takes me back to when I first started diving and each and every fish was something to stare at with awe. It is so much fun to watch these peoples faces light up and actually see smiles behind those obnoxious regulators. One of the coolest intro dives I did happened the other week. I had three people, one guy and then a brother and sister, and they were pretty good underwater. What was neat was that as we were heading to the boat I looked behind to check on them. Instead of my three divers I had two huge white behemoths rocket past me. No they weren't fat, underwater streakers, but huge dugongs. There was two of them and they ended up hanging around us for a while. What was great was the reaction from the other divers. They freaked! I must admit that when I first saw them they scared me a bit.......not too much fun to realize that you are not the biggest fish in the sea, so yes my bladder might have failed me for a second.
Anyway, whenever we are not diving we are either cleaning (rarely), exploring, or resting up. The evenings can be quite fun. Unfortunately for me, we concocted a new drink that is dangerously good. We get a bottle of vodka and place 5 vanilla beans in it and allow it to sit for a few days. Then we mix it with dry ginger ale and man, is it good. Everyone here at the shop knows that I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking and also that I rarely drank before I got here. They of course thought it was so great how I got slightly buzzed after 2 or 3 drinks. However, I never go overboard and I definitely know when to stop and have no problem doing so. Usually on Thursday nights we have the most fun. We invite all our friends (3 people) to come join us at the shop and enjoy drinks and a mean game of cards. We have had some violent games of bullsh**, presidents and a**holes, and spoons. The other night was quite fun because we taught Leanne (the boss) bullsh** and she had quite a bit of fun with that game. Luckily for us our neighbors are pretty far away and so the obscenities screamed at the top of our lungs did not bug them. Let me just say that these crazy nights are far and few between and if any photos appear from them don't think I am toasted, just a little looser than normal.
Well, I could talk about everything else around here that goes on, but then I would have nothing to blog about in the future. I also should say that I am starting to look for my next place so I will let everyone know about anything that might come up.
