Just came back from dinner and took a shower, the first in 36 hours or so. The flights weren't too bad, although there was some turbulence on the CLT/BZE leg and I'm really bad with turbulence. I was happy when we got to our final destination: Ambergris Caye.
The weather here is nice: hot, partly cloudy, and (at least today) windy. I saw 2 kiteboarders during lunch, which wasn't until 2:30p (3:30p DC time). The sky is really blue and the water is even bluer - it's amazing!
Took a walk down one of the main "thoroughfares" - which is a laugh because the entire island is only 25 miles long, most of which doesn't seem to be inhabited. The "roads" are all packed sand and everyone drives around in golf carts likely because shipping cars here would be difficult and the roads aren't even big enough for even 1 car.
I realized I forgot my sunglasses so I had to go buy a pair. I do this EVERY trip so I own 3 pairs at this point. Sigh...
There's so much more to tell, particularly about my fellow divers, but I'm tired from traveling and waking up at 4:30a this morning so it will have to wait til another time.
So today was the first day of diving - it didn't go so well. I took some preventative dramamine, but that didn't help. Neither did the big, greasy breakfast! Going out was fine, but once we stopped it was really choppy. The strap to my mask broke and I had to make a last minute substitution for one that wasn't so good. Plus I had too much weight on my weight belt and sunk too quickly. So I was dealing with pressure issues, on top of mask clearing issues. Not so good. The dive master, George, offered to swap masks with me once we hit the bottom and that helped a lot. He even commented on how good I was at switching and clearing the mask under water!
We stayed down for quite a while while the students did some of their skills. The water was nice, the visibility was decent and there were some interesting fish and coral. I did well on air consumption, which is surprising given how much I normally talk! But as the dive ended and we began to surface, I started feeling sick. After the safety stop, I went to George and tried to motion that I was feeling queasy and eventually he understood me. He took me to the top, just in time for me to puke up my breakfast and give the fish something yummy to snack on.
Luckily, we came back to the island in between dives so I was able to get off the boat. I opted not to go back out, resting and getting some sun instead. I took a nice nap and that helped. I'm hoping tomorrow will be calmer.
We went out for this fabulous dinner - I had a salad and grilled grouper. Yum! Unfortunately, I also got the pacifier for most of dinner. The pacifier is a joke that Clement (the trip leader) made up. Anytime someone complains, they get the pacifier. It hangs on a string around your neck and you have to wear it at all times until you hear someone else complain and then you can pass it on. I was hoping not to have to wear it, but that didn't seem likely. I'm glad I managed a whole day without it and only had to wear it for an hour.
After dinner, we walked around and grabbed some ice cream, then walked back to the hotel along the beach. Tomorrow is another dive day. I have Clement's extra mask, which should work out well, plus the knowledge that I need fewer weights on the belt. That should make the diving a lot easier!
I am sick. Last night I woke up around 2a and puked up my dinner. Went back to bed and opted to spend the whole day resting. I'm drinking Sprite, but that's it so far. Any time someone came to the door and I had to get out of bed, I almost passed out. Not exactly an ideal reaction.
Needless to say, I haven't gone diving and slept most of the day. Turns out there are others at the hotel who are sick too, although not in our party. I'm not sure if it's related to the resort or just coincidence, but it sucks. I don't think I'm going diving for the rest of the trip - what a waste of money and vacation time. I'm just hoping to feel better enough tomorrow to get out of bed.
Feeling much better today. Got up and spent the morning by the pool. All today's dives were cancelled because of wind and poor visibility so I had lots of company - everyone seemed glad to see me up and about. Still not eating much, but starting to feel hungry, which is a good sign.
So I haven't mentioned the people on the trip. Besides Ron, Michelle, and myself, there's a family of four (Dick, Julie, and their two sons Max and Woody), Fran (who works at the Fed! It's a small world.), Lynn, Ripple, and Clement. Everyone is surprisingly nice and we get along really well - shocking for a random group of 11 and given our varying ages. But it's a fun group and we laugh a lot, which is nice.
Still don't know if I'm going to attempt diving tomorrow - I'd rather save myself for the last day of big dives. Fran has also been sick and Julie got a cold so I'm not the only one. This makes me feel marginally better.
[Paul: in the hotel restaurant they have a poster by Sark which says "Hug trees!"]
The weather couldn't be more beautiful - blue skies, temps in the 80's nice breeze. I've seen parasailers, windsurfers, and more kiteboarders. The atmosphere is so laid back; it's really relaxing.
Just went out to the "Chinese" place on the island to get some white rice for Ron and myself, since Ron isn't feeling good either. I don't think they quite understood me since there was fried chicken on top, but we made due. Both of us managed to get some down and I even nibbled some chicken. We'll see if it stays down. Given the fact that I've been OK eating soda, crackers, and bread for the past 48 hours, I'm hopeful!
After spending the morning by the pool, I went with Michelle, Dick, and Max for lunch, but the smell of someone's curry made Michelle and I feel sick so we left without eating. I spent an hour at the Internet cafe where I checked work email and wrote to family, friends, and Paul. Turns out Paul was online the same time I was so we even swapped a couple of emails in real time! That was fun. I'm really looking forward to him picking me up at the airport - we're going to a comedy show from the airport.
It's going to be another early night tonight. Our dive tomorrow leaves at 5:45a so I need to be up and at 'em at 5a. No guarantees I'll dive, but I'm going out there in the hopes that I'll feel up to it.
Wow! Just got back from diving and what a day it was. I woke up for our 5:45a departure at 4a, full of nerves. I went down to the dock around 5:15a to get my gear and wait to leave. Julie gave me some real Dramamine (mine was generic) to take before we left. That helped tons!
The ride out wasn't bad. The sun eventually came out (it was very overcast) and the water was pretty calm. At one point, I saw something big and smooth rise out of our wake and in front of the boat behind us. I don't know what it was, but I'm tempted to say some sort of whale! It was too big to be a normal fish or dolphin.
Our first dive was the Blue Hole - it was originally a gas vent for a volcano, rising high above the ocean but as the tectonic plates shifted, it sank and now lies completely submerged. It's a 130 ft. dive (point of reference: none of the dives I've done have gone deeper than 75-80 ft.) that follows a gradual slope, then you dive under the edge. It was so cool! When we got to 130 feet, we were swimming around stalagtites! And beneath us was a group of 5 bull sharks. It was awesome. After it was over, I got on to the boat no problem - no nausea, no nothing!
The second dive was shallower - about 65 feet. There were lots of pretty fish and coral on that dive and huge schools of small silver fish, but nothing very remarkable. After that dive, we stopped at Booby Island (one of 2 places the Booby bird nests; the other is the Galapagos) for lunch which I'm happy to say I ate! We walked around and saw a whole bunch of birds, plus the cutest puppy you ever saw - Negrita (Blackie), 3 mos old.
[Paul: there were tons of excellent spots for naked tree hugging pictures and I really wanted to take one, but there were too many people and I didn't want to steal your schtick]
The third and final dive of the day was about 55 feet. There were tons of massive fish on this dive and all these brightly colored smaller fish - blues, yellows, sherbert colors. It was great, but the best part was the TURTLE! We saw a sea turtle swimming along and it was awesome.
On the ride back home, we took a detour because the captain saw dolphins so we spent a good 15-20 minutes playing in the waves with them. They kept leaping out of the water, almost as if they were putting on a show for us. And there was a little baby one, which totally made my day!
The whole experience was amazing and I'm so glad I went. Haven't puked yet, but all the diving is done. Only one more day and then I come home. Boy did I get burned today! Ouch.
So the trip comes to an end. I spent the morning by the pool, but out of the sun, reading. We played a couple of games of Scrabble and I had a miraculous, game-ending play. I went out on a bingo (playing all 7 tiles) that included a triple word score for my word and the word I bridged off of. My word was "spreads" and the last "s" I connected to "tote" to make "totes". I scored 98 points and won the game - very exciting stuff!
I'm still really burnt and was attempting to stay out of the sun. So we went to lunch (yeah for being hungry) and then I went with some of the group to go buy this beautiful blue sarong that I'm now wearing.
Tonight we're going out as a group to this restaurant called Elvie's. We've spent most meals together or hanging out, which just goes to show how well we got along as a group. I'm really happy to have met all those people. I enjoyed this trip so much more because of them.
After dinner I'll pack. Then we leave tomorrow at 10a for all day flying. We go from San Pedro to Belize City to Charlotte to DC. Not looking forward to all day on the plane and in airports, or to all the laundry I'm going to have to do. Ugh. But I'll be happy to be home too.
The flights home were difficult. There was a lot of waiting around. Our flight out of San Pedro was fine, but how bad can a 14 minute flight really be? Once we got to Belize City, our flight was delayed because of weather so we hung around in the small terminal for hours. We amused ourselves with a NY Times crossword puzzle, books, and solitaire. Max and I wowed the crowd with our psychic abilities. He held up a card and I thought about it really hard and he managed to guess what it was! It was a hoot. Of course, we only did this successfully once but it was the first time and everyone was sufficiently impressed.
The Belize/Charlotte route was tough - we left an hour late and the flight was really bumpy. Luckily, Ron is the best friend ever and held my hand during the really bad parts. The inflight movie was "Lemony Snickett" and that helped to distract me some. After the movie, we played gin until we landed. We discovered that whoever deals the cards loses - at least when Ron and I play!
The Charlotte/DC route wasn't too bad, but it was only 50 minutes. Once we landed and sat on the tarmac for 15 minutes, we de-planed and I called my mom to talk about the trip. I was supposed to meet Paul at the arrivals so imagine my surprise to see him as soon as we went past security! The whole group had stopped so I couldn't see until I got closer that he had made me this HUGE welcome home sign that had all these blinking lights on it! It was such a great welcome home - that and the big hug and kiss he gave me.
So that was my trip. It was really relaxing and I had a good time, despite being sick. I'm nice and tan, although just starting to peel in some places. Thanks so much to Ron for being my nurse and to Michelle for being my diving partner. Thanks too to all of the others on the trip - I had a wonderful time with you and hope we can remain in touch now that the trip is over.
Love, Rachael