Richelieu Rock, kid-in-a-candy-store-diving

Richelieu Rock was the most famous of the dives sites on our liveaboard trip.  Jacques Cousteau discovered this horseshoe shaped reef, near the coast of Burma.  It is well known for its purple corals and incredibly diverse and abundant marine life.  Having heard all the talk leading up to our first dive here, we were unsure what to expect.  Could it really be better than what we've seen already?  What makes it so special?  Well, we were about to find out.

Josh had been joking with our dive master, Neil, that he needed to "find" us a juvenile angelfish. We were anxious to see this little beauty that carried the vibrant colors of royal blue, white and black.  Neil had been pretty good about "finding" other fish for us but he was less confident about this one - they are elusive little guys - but he said Richelieu Rock was the best chance.

We jumped in the water from the dive deck and our group made the descent into wonderland...immediately upon going under water the dive site was in view.  The visibility was spectacular and the waters were alive with movement of little creatures.  The whole site had an incredible glow of purple from the abundant amount of soft purple corals.  I think we all felt like kids in the candy store as our eyes darted around not knowing which beautiful aspect to admire first. 

As soon as we made it to the bottom Neil was already turning back to Josh and swinging his cradled arms in front of him then drawing a circle around his head - dive language for baby angelfish!  Score!  We all gathered around to look at the stunning fish about the size of your palm. 

I was so excited and immediately began trying to take pictures as he was swimming near a small patch of coral.  My first attempt at closing in on him was too fast and with everyone else around I had to go forward and come back around for another approach.  I waited for the others to have a look and then steadied my hands on the camera, breathed slowly to control my bouyancy and softly flipped my fins to approach the shy fish as he had moved over to the base of a large wall of coral.

I took several careful pictures and was admiring his beauty. I smiled mentally (cause you can't really smile with a regulator in your mouth) and turned around because I was sure Josh was relishing this little guy as much as I was.  But there was no Josh.  There was no one!

I backed away from the wall and looked around - my group was gone!  Oh crap!  Rule number 2 of diving is to always stay with your buddy (Rule number 1 is to never hold your breath, in case you're curious).  Even in our short diving careers we had already established the normal attitude of being frustrated with people who wander off from their groups - it can cause dives to end early if you can't quickly reunite.  We were at Richelieu Rock and I was lost!  Although I firmly believed that Josh had left ME, I definitely didn't want to be the reason our whole group had to surface early at such an epic dive site. 

So, I looked around in the distance.  Thanks to the brilliant visibility I spotted our group in the distance over a coral ledge.  I quickly swam across the expanse and as I neared I realized it wasn't my group.  Double crap.  I turned around and looked again.  I saw another group up to the right, but that wasn't them.  Then I saw a group from our boat.  The dive master knew what was up and made the "buddy" sign at me and I had to shrug my shoulders in reply.  She motioned for me to join her group but just then I saw our group in the distance.  I pointed and motioned I was off and she waved goodbye.

As I approched that group, again, across an expanse, again, I realized it wasn't them.  Oh no!  I just sent that other group on their way!  Just as I was about to really have to consider surfacing, standard procedure when you are lost for more than 1 minute, Neil, Josh and crew all emerged from a narrow split in the corals off to the left.  SAVED! 

Josh and I both did the "where the heck did you go?", "why the heck did you leave me" shrugs, motions and wide eyes at each other.  Neil just looked at us both and gave us the buddy sign.  Gotcha.  Won't happen again.

Come to find out Neil was racing to be the first at the sea horse hangout.

The rest of the dive was unbelievable and we all stayed together. It was the most exciting dive we had had to date and not just because I got lost!  At the end of the hour, our group surfaced all grinning ear to ear.  And off the back of the boat was Richeilieu Rock just breaking the ocean surface.  You would never know what an exciting world sat beneath that simple set of rocks!

This Dive Site Is "Challenging"

(Disclamier - no photos were taken on this dive)

"The word of the day is 'challenging'", the dive leader announced as he kicked off our dive briefing and holding up the dive board with the color dive site description.

Yes, you have my attention.  We were tied up off the tiny uninhabited island of Koh Tachai.  Below us is the infamous dive site called the Dome or as locals call it, The Dome of Doom. Even now just thinking about it gives me chills.

This site is renowned for its STRONG currents but on this day they were worse and labeled challenging. Being fairly new divers and only used to mild currents, it wasn't something we wanted to hear as we were getting ready for our last dive of the day.

On top of the currents, we would be learning a new technique called a Negative Entry.  Normally after jumping into the water you remain at the surface to make sure everybody is ready to go before heading down together.  With the negative entry you do not surface and instead descend straight down to depth.  Why do this?  Well, the currents were so strong that even taking 30 seconds on the surface would cause you to drift so far off the dive site you may not be able to swim back.  It was so bad that one of the instructors joked, if you get caught in the current the boat would be picking you up in Burma - a few miles away.

Suited up and standing on the back of the boat, we watched a group of divers from another boat start their dive.  Skipping the negative entry they instantly drifted a long way off the site. Our dive master shook his head knowing they were in for a long hard swim.  We watched nervously thinking, here we go!

The boat pulled over the dive site and sounded the horn indicating, "go, go, go".  Our team jumped into the water, one after another in hurry to not get separated. We were a group of 4 and one dive master, all heading down to the dive site as usual with our hearts pounding with a nervous energy.  I couldn't help but think, "what are we in for?"

Initially, we were drifting with the current which was at quite a pace.  You didn't really have to kick your fins because the landscape was just breezing past you.  Then the dive master started changing directions looking for some rocks to hide behind so we could actually go slower to see something instead of just watching everything zoom past in dark blue motion blur.  An important rule of diving is to go slow but in this current that proved challenging.

Hiding behind some rocks, we were able to get some shelter from the strong current.  In buddy groups of 2, the normal diving safety mechanism, we moved from rock to rock. However, as soon as you broke cover the current would hit you square in the face and to beat the current you had to all out swim, kicking as hard and aggressively as you could.  When you finally found a calmer spot you needed to catch your breath from the excessive swimming.  In all this effort, spotting underwater life was tough.  What did we see, hmmm, not much because it took so much effort and focus to avoid being picked up in Burma.

Any diver knows air consumption is crucial and that a general rule of thumb is that when you get to 50 bars of air pressure remaining you need to start making your way to the surface.  Well on this dive the limit was 70 bars.  Keep in mind you only start with 200.  This was serious.

If you can't tell already, the dive was brutal.  I spent the whole time worry about current, Burma, air, and Steph. Fish?  What fish?  I can't tell you how relieved I was to signal to the dive master that I was at 70 bar.  But it wasn't over yet.  We still had to make it to the buoy line, do a safety stop and then signal the boat to pick us up.

Finally, we made it to the buoy line.  We all grabbed on, slowly inching ourselves up to the 5 meter mark.  At that depth, the current was at its strongest and frankly unbelievable!  Hanging on to the line with both hands we were all at 90 degree angles to the line flying in the current like we were flags on a pole!  The force was incredible.  The sound of the water rushing past with bubbles hitting you in the face was absolutely unreal.  None of us dared to turn and look at one another because the current could easily rip our masks off!  The sound, pressure and out of this world feelings were something I can't do justice.

Finally, we got the all clear to surface.  Up we went and quickly enough the dingy darted over to pick us up.  After helping Steph and grabbing a hold of the small boat for a tow it was a big relief.  Climbing out of the water on to the boat, we were exhausted and still buzzing from the adrenaline rush.  I was on 20 bars of air.  Wow!

Its no surprise that back on board the other group members echoed the same sentiment   I'm glad that's over!  The dive was short which normally isn't a good thing but in this case every one was ready to be done.

Dome of Doom - a challenge for sure!  We are better divers because of it.

Similan Islands liveaboard diving

Ever since learning to dive, discussion on amazing world dive sites always brought up a place called Sipidan on Borneo.  We weren’t able to make Sipidan work for our schedule and if we could do it over we would make it happen no matter what.

So, after speaking to folks on Koh Tao everybody raved about The Similan Islands off the west coast of Thailand. Supposedly, there were more “big fish” and the visibility was stellar.  The catch?  The only way to see them is via live aboard diving boats – which are costly.

Live aboards are literally that – you live on a boat and dive multiple times a day.  Eat, sleep and dive if you will.  The idea of so much diving in a day sounded daunting since we were still relatively new divers, but to be fair we had racked up over 30 dives and were feeling proficient in the water.

Then came our inevitable discussion of budget.  It was simply way out of budget.  So, we pondered for days and when our restlessness got to be too much we just decided – we were young, we were nearby and in the grand scheme of things we’d regret passing up the opportunity more than we’d miss the extra cash in our pockets.  So we booked it!

We were fresh off one of the most "backpacker" overnight ferries you could imagine - a long narrow ferry with 60 narrow mattresses side-by-side on the floor with only a narrow walk way running down the middle.  It was shoulder to shoulder backpackers returning to mainland! Backpacks were stacked in the front of the boat with personal bags at your feet. Forget blankets, pj's, brushing your teeth, etc., it was simply lay down and snooze.  You didn't dare roll over for fear of meeting a stranger just inches from your face.

So on very little sleep, we hit the ground running as the sun came up and caught our bus across the peninsula to Khao Lak.

Dazed and groggy, we were buzzing with excitement when we arrived in Khao Lak, an unimpressive little town north of Phuket, for boarding our Similans liveaboard.  For the next 4 days and 4 nights we would complete 14 dives in some of the world’s top dive sites - Similan Islands, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, Surin Islands and the epic Richelieu Rock.  Plus the idea of living on a boat for a few days sounded incredibly idyllic with stops at remote islands for afternoon beach time.

Our boat was the charming Manta Queen II from Khao Lak Scuba Adventures.  At the dock, instructors were holding a big plastic garbage bag at the gangway.  "Please deposit your sandals and flip flops in the bag - you won't need them for the next 4 days. Don't worry you will get them back".  Awesome.

Barefoot, we quickly started exploring our new home.  The lower deck was the dive deck, kitchen, cabins and bathrooms.  Upstairs was the "living room" - an open space with padded benches lining the perimeter, tables and a TV.  The upper deck was the sun deck, half covered and half exposed to the sun (or moon!) - it looked like a prime place to relax, err recover, between dives...

Not long after setting sail, they served a scrumptuous buffet dinner.  They had all angles covered down to fruits and jam biscuits for dessert, a beer and Coke fridge and hot/cold water cooler for unlimited coffee, tea or water.

Our energetic boat leader was Neil, an American, who had come travelling to Southeast Asia many years ago, found diving, and never left.  He was definitely not boring!  He welcomed us to the boat, outlined the schedule (basically, dive-eat-sleep-repeat) and gave us many pointers on diving so frequently back-to-back.  In one tip, he explained that the cooler water was filtered by reverse osmosis and as such, had no minerals.  Although it would wet your mouth it wouldn't provide the essential minerals needed by your body after the gruelling dive schedule.  So, they provided electrolyte packets, effectively powered Gatorade, and we were instructed to have at least two of them a day. 

Neil closed out the night by saying goodnight and to enjoy sleeping in the next morning...to 7am!  Because we'd be rising at 6am the other mornings.  Should be easy enough, right, seeing as though all we have to do is dive?

The next morning, we strangely woke up EARLY!  We went upstairs and enjoyed the peacefulness of being moored next to a remote island.  At 7am, we heard Neil come through with what would be his standard wake up call - his outrageously loud voice yelling "Waaaaake Uuuuuuup! Goooooood Mooooorning Diverssss!" Seriously!  Oh. my. gosh.  I'm awake.

Let the diving begin!

All dives went something like this.  You'd head up to the main deck and have a dive briefing to tell you all the ins and outs for the dive.  Things like dive depth, what to look out for, the dive site layout, etc.

Then you'd head down to the dive deck where it was all business.  Wetsuit on.  Wait belt on.  Turn your air supply on.  Sitting down you put your BCD and tank on like a backpack.  The deck hands then swooped in to put your fins on which after a few dives was a great luxury.  Standing up you found your buddy and performed your saftey check (Beef with Red wine and fries) BCD, Weight belt, Releases, Air, Final check.

It was dive time!  We would jump off the back of the boat and head down to wonderland.  Just don't forget to spit in your mask, first!

Afterwards it was taking off all your gear (and the deck hands would clean it all up!) then heading up to the main deck to log and discuss the dive.

And so began our schedule of dive-eat-sleep-repeat.  I won't bore you with the details but it was awesome.  Hearty meals.  Coffee anytime.  Nap anytime.  Increasingly awesome dive sites (I think they plan it this way, to build up to Richelieu Rock).  After the last dive of the day, you could have a cold beer, watch a movie, read a book, watch sunset over the ocean, stare at the stars from the sundeck or a little of all of them!  You didn't feel guilty for hitting the sack at a reasonable time - you had earned it.  It was indeed a grueling schedule, but so very rewarding!

A Fire Dancer

Meet Aung Ko Lin, our nightly entertainment during our stay on Koh Tao in Thailand.  Over the course of our three weeks on the island I had the pleasure of getting to meet this man who's hobby is fire dancing.  He was a very friendly guy that by day worked in the restaurant but by night turned his hobby into entertainment as a fire dancer!

Every evening as the sun was going down he started setting up.  First he'd take a bar stool down to the water's edge then bring over all his equipment, petrol, an empty beer bottle to sustain a lit flame and his tip jar.  As everyone settled in for the evening on the mats and tables out in front of the bar and restaurant, he'd start practicing.  Twirling and twisting, he was preparing for the night's show.  Then as darkness set in he'd don his NY Yankees hat, situate it to the side, grab a fire stick, dip it in petrol before dragging it over the flame to ignite the fire and then off he went in a furry of flames and dance moves.

He hails from Burma and has moved to Thailand for work to help his family back home.  His Mom still lives in a small remote village and needs his support.  Since we stayed so long I was able to make friends and learn a little about his culture.

Getting to know him was fascinating.  Every morning we'd sit on the deck of the restaurant.  He'd bring us our food and then stay and chat.  He had just recently been able to purchase a used laptop and once he found out my profession he opened up asking me all sorts of questions.

How do you type so fast?  How do I make a title bold in Word? What is Excel?  Can you help me setup a blog so I can post about fire dancing?

In the end, I was able to give him a few pointers and lessons in Word and Excel.  We even had a short typing lesson so he could learn a few easy commands like copy and paste.

All of the staff at the restaurant were Burmese and so once I got to know one of them they all started being more friendly and keeping an eye on us.  By the end there was always a friendly face waiting to take our order each day as quite a few of them knew our dinner order by heart - two beef penang currys and two Tiger beers.

As our time ended on Koh Tao, I realized I hadn't taken any photos of his show.  So the last night I spoke to him ahead of time to let him know to go all out because I'd be more than happy to do a little photography and give him the results - which I did.

Here is a photo with my new friend on the morning we left.  Best of luck to you Aung!

Diving Koh Tao

WARNING:  This post contains discussions of a supremely awesome nature.  If you are prone to jealous tendencies regarding beach holidays we strongly advise you do not read this post.  We generally try not to boast about our travels but its impossible to blog this without sounding "boasty".

There are times when you just land in what feels like a perfect spot.  Whether it is by plan or accident, time just slows down.  Its usually a combination of all sorts of factors from people, place, time, money, weather, etc.  For us, this was one of those times.  It wasn't the most cultural experience nor did we find something unknown to the world or learn about ourselves in some magical way.  But time slowed down and we relished every moment.

Just imagine, you are on an island 9000 miles from home in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand with tropical temperatures, golden sand beaches and lush green forrest.  The only way off the island is by ferry.  You wake up 6:30am, roll out of bed, slap on some sunscreen like a 5 year old and stroll 50 paces to the open air beach front restaurant.  You plop down in a beach chair with the ocean gently rolling at your feet and enjoy a light breakfast while the dive instructor pairings are announced.  Picking up your scuba gear you eagerly wade out in teal green knee deep water to the Thai long boat for a ride to the dive boat tied up in deeper water.  As the sun finishes rising above the horizon you climb aboard, drop your gear and climb the wooden ladder noting the crystal clear water as you make your way to your spot on the sun deck for the relaxing cruise to today's dive site.  Taking a seat you dangle your feet off the side of the boat and lazily lean on the railing with the sea breeze blowing in your hair.  Hiding behind your sunglasses, you gaze at the gorgeous deep blue ocean with the sun gently glistening off the water and the island slowing moving away in the distance.  Two dives in 80 degree (28 c) water later, you return just as the harsh sun sets in to relax in the shade after a rewarding morning of diving.

Other days you sleep in and catch the afternoon dives which are timed perfectly for sunset.  After returning and logging your dives you have joyous flashbacks of the all the underwater life you just witnessed.  Did you see that?  Yeah, it was so colorful!  You quickly run back to the room to take a quick shower and head back to the beach front restaurant to order some amazing Thai food (Penang beef curry) and a couple local beers.  The beer goes straight to your head after the exertion of diving and you sit back and relax while the sun drops below the horizon. The nightly fire dancer begins his show of twirling and spinning just as your plate of hot food arrives.  Tiki torches light the beach as far as you can see, music casually plays at the bar in the background and an occasional traditional Thai sky lantern floats off into the distance.  The ocean is calm and the breeze is warm when you realize the day is gone.  But it has been tremendous.  And tomorrow you get to do it all over again!  You hit the sack after hearing the buzz of a WHALE SHARK sighting.  Oh, what tomorrow will bring, sweet dreams...I can't wait!

I can't believe it myself but we were lucky enough to do this for 22 days!  Some days were morning dive days, other were afternoon dive days and some days we did both.  Throw in a few night dives, walks into to town for laundry, supplies and some shopping and you get the picture.

Now, a little background on Koh Tao.  Here you can find some of the most reasonably priced diving in the world and its a hit with the backpacking community.  As you can imagine, its not a high end island.  No Ritz Carlton, but enough basic rooms set on the beach to feed the crowds of eager new divers.  And the best catch - lodging can be included if you go on at least one dive a day.  Fair trade, I say!

The area where all the dive operators have accommodation and depart from is Sariee Beach which is a long curved bay full of dive shops set on the lush green forrest back drop of the island.  Going inland there is a fairly vibrant scene dominated by backpacker style establishments - restaurants, shops and bars, complete with plenty of pub crawls and Thai massage.  Local transport are motor bikes, of course, which whiz around you at all times.

After picking our tour operator, Big Blue diving, we settled in for a 3 day sprint of dives to get our Advanced Open Water certification, which among other things allows a person to dive up to 30 meters (100ft).  It opens up a lot of deeper dive sites in the world along with giving you more instruction and confidence.

Once we finished our certification all we had to do was sign up at least a couple hours ahead of a dive, grab your gear and head to the boat.  It was always posted on a board outside where they’d be going for the next couple of days so you could pick and choose based on your favorite sites.  Additionally, if you wanted to go to a specific site, all you had to do was ask and they’d schedule it in.  We stayed long enough to get to know the dive masters who took turns fighting over who gets to lead us - they realized we weren't going to be trouble and were light on our air usage thus increasing their dive time under water.

On off-days or mornings we would sit around enjoying our coffee, calling the family back home and sometimes watching Kentucky play basketball on the internet.  You can see Steph below making a phone call on Skype.  Not a bad phone booth.  Then if they had posted a good dive site we’d sign up by 11am and be off for an afternoon dive at 12:30.

It was the life and we really came to enjoy the routine.  It was just one of those times when we just were content staying put. I guess you can understand why we stayed there for over 20 days, right?

Now, to the diving.  How was it?  Well, it was very exciting!  It was whale shark season and there was always the potential to see them.  However, no luck under water although in a bit of luck we were on a surface interval when one swam by the boat.  We're counting it as a sighting!  Another time, the visibility wasn’t great and a whale shark was around; a couple groups on our boat even saw it.  We’d like to think he was there beside us, just barely out of view.
 
The marine life was exciting to discover. Aside from the elusive whale shark and huge schools of barracuda,  Koh Tao has a fairly diverse eco system of fish and colorful corals.  One of the more eventful fish was the the Titan Triggerfish!  It was nesting season and they could get aggressive if you intruded on their space.  Couple that with big chopping teeth for eating coral and you need to be on lookout to not go in their territory.  Fortunately, they never bothered us but we kept hearing stories back at the restaurant at night of someone getting “triggered” that day!

We also did a couple night dives - it just takes diving to a whole new level of challenge and intrigue.  Dark waters, a little moon glow and you're armed with only an 8-inch flashlight.  I have to admit descending in to the darkness was surreal - nothing in your downward shining light's path except particles in the water catching the light.  Then all of a sudden coral or the sea bed would come in to view.  You then had to do the shine-the-light-in-all-directions to gain some sort of sense of spatial awareness.  And as soon as you started moving forward that sense was lost.

One of the most interesting things during the night dive was the psychedelic bio luminescent algae.  Yeah, that's a couple of big words - let me explain (we had to ask a couple times!).  Bio luminescent algae glows when its disturbed.  The psychedelic part comes in when you put your light to your chest (to block all the light) then wave your hand in the water and watch waves of glowing sparkles in front of your face.  It was especially cool when our whole group was blacked out and creating a circle of this glowing phenomenon.  Very cool. 


The area dive sites had plenty of diversity.  Some shallow, some deep while others had swim throughs.  At first the swim throughs were a challenge while we both still trying to master our buoyancy.  At the end we improved and they became so much fun. Afterwards we'd surface with huge grins on our faces, thrilled at the excitement and challenge of down, around and through rock formations.  It wasn't all fun and games as one swim through did “jump out and bite me” (Steph) – I must have kicked a little too broadly and came up with a nasty cut on my ankle.  We returned to that site a couple more times and proudly had no further rock encounters.

The diving was an exciting new challenge and we relished improving. We were always trying to hone our skills - buoyancy, control your air consumption, keep from using our hands to swim or balance, ability to get face to face with a coral to see a tiny nudibranch and then back away without touching it or stirring up sand, etc.  Slow methodical movements.  Be in control and keep your air consumption to a minimum. This did however take a lot of our daily energy so outside of diving we really took it easy and enjoyed island life. 

After many nights of beach dining we decided to change it up and went for a nice night out - the infamous steak dinner at Lung Pae.  We ordered the "E4" and it was a delicious change from the daily Thai food.  They even had a door to door truck service since they sat at the top of a remote hill.

As awesome as it was to be pseudo beach bums for almost a month, the realization set in – we were starting to get restless.  But where to next?

We shook hands and hugged the many dive instructors we had gotten to know over the weeks and set off for the other side of the Thailand peninsula via a crowded overnight ferry boat and bumpy bus ride.

Similans Islands, and live aboard diving here we come!

Travel to Thailand and Steph's mask incident

We spent February moving across Borneo, Brunei and over to mainland Malaysia.  Thailand was calling so on March 1st we flew from KL to Surat Thani, Thailand – a port town and the jumping off point to catch a ferry to one of three amazing islands off the East coast of Thailand.

In doing our travel research we came across a set of islands in the Gulf of Thailand that caught our attention.  We wanted to soak up the famous Thailand beaches along with putting our newly acquired diving skills to use.  When making decisions on where to go we generally look for places that are laid back and a little less travelled.  So, when we read about the following 3 islands which one do you think we chose?

• Koh Samui: Crazy beautiful beaches, “once THE destination for paradise sands fringed with palm trees but development behind the beach is extensive and often thoughtless”.  There are however pockets of less developed areas which attract a backpacker crowd.
• Koh Pha Ngan: “In recent years, backpackers have tended to move over to Koh Samui’s little sibling”, still a simple atmosphere, dense jungle inland and home to the infamous Full Moon parties.
• Koh Tao: “Forty kilometers north of Koh Pha Ngan, small, forested Koh Tao is the last and most remote island of the archipelago”, beautiful beaches, rocky coves, famous for beach bungalows, blessed with a rich marine life perfect for diving.

Koh Tao was an easy choice even though the journey was complicated by having to take multiple ferry connections.  After a bus from Surat Thani we caught the last ferry to Koh Samui where we just missed the last ferry to Koh Tao.

It wasn't a big deal because it allowed us to spend a night on Koh Samui where along with a picturesque beach bungalow (Shady Shack) we found our thus far elusive, but first of many, Penang Beef Curry.  It. Was. Awesome.  The next morning, we walked down the beach to the ferry port and caught our ride to Koh Tao.

Some travel decisions come easier than others...case in point:  I mentioned it was March, right, well in Kentucky this is almost a religious month while basketball is in full swing.  This year was even more special because the Big Blue were favored to win the championship.  So, when our guide book listed several reputable diving companies and we saw the name “Big Blue Diving”, the other options didn't even matter – if we were going to be on Koh Tao while the Cats were playing in the NCAA tourney then we would have to be staying and diving with Big Blue.  Josh happily agreed!

Koh Tao is the equivalent of a diving mecca for backpackers.  They certify more divers here than any other place in the world thanks to a beautiful underwater world and wonderfully cheap prices.  It is a revolving door timed to the ferry schedules but the services are excellent.  All of the diving companies offer pick up services from the ferry and Big Blue Diving was no different.  We happily piled in the truck converted to a mini-bus for a bumpy ride down the pot-hole ridden roads. The island really only has one main road that goes through small sections of development and areas of forest.  Arrival at the resort was a bit of a horse-and-pony-show; they were clearly one of the major dive companies and have people coming and going every day.  The initial hustle and bustle was a bit of a turn off but we stuck it out, landed a great diving package to get our Advanced Open Water certifications and a simple room twenty paces from their beach restaurant which boasted a gorgeous view - all at around 30 dollars a dive including lodging.  Score!

The next morning we had out very first dive, which ended unexpectedly.  At this point we were still getting the hang of diving with only a few dives under our belt and I was still not fully confident. About 20 minutes into the dive my mask started to leak which is something you are trained to deal with.

We were down about 18 meters (60 ft) and it was leaking so much that I was just constantly clearing it.  The first rule of diving is STAY CALM which initially I did.  I notified the instructor and he came over to help but we couldn't get the mask to stop leaking.  This started to make me nervous and I wasn’t confident enough to do the underwater mask switch so I gave the thumbs up and asked to surface.  Still fairly calm, the assistant instructor started taking Josh and I to the surface where we stopped on the buoy line to do the normal safety stop.  I was ready to be at the surface and this is where things started to unravel.

There was a crowd of people holding on the line above me and the line was bouncing back and forth heavily with the surge.  That only made my mask leak more and in trying to clear it one handed (while holding the line) while being jerked around I started getting water in my breathing regulator.  In studying for our Open Water, it talked about the “wide open eyes” of a diver panicking.  I no doubt had those eyes at this point and Josh was watching me intently trying to see what I needed.  There is no hand signal for “water in my regulator, I’m trying to breath as shallowly as I can, while not panicking, so as to not swallow water, but with each breath its getting worse and now I AM panicking."  There was no remaining calm now and the surface was only a few swift kicks up.  So I did what I knew was safe to do – I gave Josh the “up” signal, let go of the line and began to surface as the assistant instructor went to grab my kicking legs. 

It was one of those scary, hand above my head ascents where upon surfacing I spat out my reg and ripped off my mask and coughed and gasped for breath.  I had definitely been drinking a sea water cocktail!
  
Your heart may be racing a bit but honestly, I think that was the best thing that could have happened to me early on in my diving.  Recreational diving is taught to be as safe as possible and we were never out of the bounds of safety   Even at 18 meters, I could have slowly ascended straight to the surface without a problem.  So, what happend?  It turned out the mask strap had slid up high on the back of my head so kept the mask at an angle which let in water.  I hadn’t really felt the back of the straps; I had only been trying to tighten it which may have made it worse.  At the time I couldn’t understand why water was in my reg while holding the line, but I figured it out the next day.  The jerking of the line was also jerking my reg and I didn’t have a strong enough bite thus letting water enter.  Finally, my “emergency” ascent – well, it was completely safe.  Based on the depths you’re allowed as a recreational diver you shouldn’t ever actually have to make a decompression stop – we all just do it for extra safety.  And the speed at which you ascend should be slower than your smallest bubbles, which it was.  I did look up to ensure I was coming up safely too.

Having had that minor mishap actually made me feel much more confident in the water.  I practiced letting water in my mask and will probably still practice it before the next time I dive.  I think a lot of my issue was the residual fear from when I used to wear contacts.  If I lost my contacts I would have been blind as a bat and really freaked out.  But thankfully, I’ve had my eyes fixed with ICL (implantable contact lenses) so I can start to let go of that fear.

I recovered and really enjoy diving and thus far haven't had any more incidents.  Diving is surreal and we had only just begun!

What happened to 2012?

Wasn't it just July?

People keep telling me that as the years tick on they just go faster and faster.  If 2012 and the first 2 months of 2013 are any indication then life is set to continue on at a blazing speed.

So, after 5 months, some 30 thousand miles of traveling on countless buses, trains and planes we landed safely back in Kentucky with one heck of an achievement under our belt.  However, we needed to transition back to the real world.  We were tired and needed some familiarity along with a good dose of friends and family at home because there were adjustments that had to be made.  What do you mean I can't get a full meal for $2 dollars?  We had lived on $50 dollars a day in India and now a tank of gas costs at least that much.  Besides price shock there were those darn social pressures like having to take daily showers, wear more than just 2 outfits of clothing and keep reminding myself to leave the camera at home.  I know, I know, you're thinking, "seriously"?

Plus there was no time to rest.  We only had a few weeks to organize a move to NYC because work start dates were on the horizon.  On top finding an apartment, we had stuff in 3 storage locations that had to be sorted through and some how moved to the city.  Steph sure had fun sorting through all her clothes after living out of a backpack for months.  There were a lot of, "I had forgotten about that", as she pulled stuff out of boxes.  In the end, it all went surprisingly well and we found a great apartment that suits our needs for now.

After the move and settling into our apartment in Manhattan, we went through a lay low phase and were sofa bums.  We weren't up for eating out or sight seeing and the camera collected a little more dust than usual.  This was the first time we'd stopped in 6 months and it felt good.  We were content to stay in, giving us time to adjust to being back in the US and being back to work.  So, with the nice summer weather we enjoyed our roof views (last photo below) and taking the opportunity to picnic there to relax and soak in the city.  The months ticked away, summer turned to fall then to winter.

The problem is we still have a lot left to talk about from our trek through Thailand and India.  Not to mention there are a few stories we'd still like to tell from the last few years like Carnivale in Venice, eating churros in Madrid or the penguins from Boulder Beach.   But for now, I'll try and get out a few interesting posts and we'll see how it goes.

Now before I jump back into the trip, I wanted to give a light run down of what's been keeping us busy since moving to NYC.

There have been a few walks in Central Park, Broadway shows, breakfast at Tiffany's, visits from friends, and Christmas in the city.  The only real travel to speak of was a weekend trip to Long Island - some beaches, the Hampton's, Montauk and a native American pow wow.  The traditional costumes were outstanding plus after travelling it was interesting to see a little American history and culture.  Little did we know that a few months later a hurricane would bare down on the area and devastate some of the beaches we visited.

Then Hurricane Sandy.  Whoa - our first hurricane experience.  However, we didn't have any problems compared to others.  14 floors up on the west side of the island, we just hunkered down and stayed inside.  It was only a little rain so we were lucky.

We also had a slew of trips home for birthdays and the holidays - my brother had a milestone birthday, our first thanksgiving in 5 years and then Christmas in both West Virginia and Kentucky.  It ended up being 4 trips in about 8 weeks.

Late in 2012 I ran into a bit of a medical problem.  To make a long story short, I tore a ligament in my wrist (an old sports injury) and had to have surgery to repair it.  What a pain.  Poor Steph has had to take care of me because I'm in a cast for 10 weeks.  The x-ray should tell the story and needless to say I can't use my left arm to do much.

Anyway, now that we are solidly into the new year and the NYC winter is in full swing, the travel itch is swiftly returning.  We are starting to look at travel destinations for 2013 and starting to re-live all of the travel from 2012.  It was one heck of year but there are still stories to be told like a hand stand on the Brooklyn Bridge, a gorgeous sunset over the Statue of Liberty or our view in the evening on a clear night at our rooftop picnic...

New York is such a vibrant and exciting city and we are just scratching the surface!  It will let us out at some point for more travel adventures.  Stay tuned.