Post-SCUBA update from Teresa
WOW what a SCUBA trip! We got off to a bit of a rocky start; we were supposed to meet Colette (our dive master) at 9am, and when we got out of the taxi she was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't too worried (island time and all) and besides, it gave me time to get a breakfast burrito!

We finally hooked up with Colette and our fellow divers, got all our gear stowed, and we were off! We anchored in a pretty little cove, and Colette did the teaching portion of the dive. I was very impressed by how she did this - even after going over all the info twice before, I still learned a lot from her. It made my dives much more pleasurable, so now I'm REALLY hooked!

Finally it was time to get into the water - our first back entry! Basically you get all your gear on, sit on the edge of the boat with your rear-end hanging over, and fall backwards into the water. Colette was watching us pretty closely, I think she thought it was going to scare us or something, but neither one of us was phased by it. In we went! We took some time getting re-acclimated to breathing under water, then went down to the bottom. Saw lots of little fish, a few bigger fish, and the Colette got our attention and pointed - a HUGE spotted ray swam by! She later told us it was just a baby, an adult must be a real sight to see! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take our cameras in for the first dive, she wanted to make sure we were focusing on the important things. The rest of this dive was pretty uneventful, until I tried to adjust my new mask and ended up with a mask FULL of water. Then I got so focused on fixing it, that I didn't notice I was sinking - right into fire coral. When they say fire coral hurts, they're not joking! All better now, but it sure did sting for a bit.

We got back into the boat, and I think Colette was pretty impressed with how the group in general was doing. We went out to a little island closer to St. John (I think it was called St. Peter's Island? Anyway, Paul McCartney vacations there) and did our second dive. This dive was absolutely amazing! We saw a huge sand dollar, a big lobster, two great big silver fish, and lots of really amazing sea life. I saw a little silvery blue fish with a yellow face that lived in a hole on the sea floor. He'd swim out of his hole and come take a look at me, then disappear back into his hole. It was almost like he was flirting! This dive was really fabulous, enough to make me sure that I want to get certified.

So now we're back, sunburned and waterlogged, but happy! And HUNGRY! Supper time now, we'll update more later.
- posted by Tim Stewart @ 1:23 PM