Day Three

 Day Three

       What an interesting day. I work up early again, around 7:30 (It is hard to sleep in here, especially if you’ve went to be early the night before, the sun come up verrrrry early). I got ready to go out after slapping my phone a couple times to snooze. I wanted to make sure I got a video of what the “main street” of West End looks like. So I put on the regular case to the GoPro camera (this is and HD video camera, for those of you who have no idea what a GoPro is), and I toured my room quickly, and then walked from my room to the beach, and then down to my dive shop, and then continued on for a bit. The bay is so beautiful in the mornings, I literally can not believe what I am seeing.

      I shut off the GoPro and headed back to the dive shop, which I had previously dropped my backpack off at while walking down the road (you’ll see it if you watch the video). I then proceeded to talk to one of the divers that was at the shop already, before the shop had opened. I wanted to get breakfast and he was eating the local food called “Baleada’s” – I wanted to try it. I went across the street to a cafe type restaurant, and told the lady I needed breakfast. She didn’t speak English well. I ended up getting some sort of deep fried ham and cheese type breakfast. I would compare it to aham and cheese pizza pocket – only deep fried. It was delicious, but not what I actually wanted. Whatever, it cost like 2.50 or something.

     

      I have to confess, the real reason I have been getting up early and heading to the dive shop (other than the amazing mornings, and the fact that I cant sleep in) is that I haven’t studied my dive book at night like I’ve told my divemaster I was going to. Luckily I finished the entire book this morning, and finished all the quizzes. Now I only have my final exam left. 

      Today I went out diving at 11:30 for my first real “reef” dive. Oh my GOD – for those of you have haven’t ever dived before, and for those of you who have dived – This place is so ridiculously crazy. The most amazing reef you can imagine. There are so many species of fish and coral and every other type of sealife, it would take me literally years to explain it to you. We keep a “dive log” of every dive you do, and dive number 1, was called “Turtle Crossing”. We dove 40 feet (12m) and lasted for 48 minutes. That seems like a lot, but trust me, it goes by QUICK when your down there. Some of the key points I wrote down in my dive log are as follows: 1. Saw two turtles, one very large, and a smaller – possible baby turtle. 2. A HUGE Barricuda – the DiveMaster said it was the biggest she has seen while diving. 3. Squirrelfish – this may be fairly common, I’m not sure, but it was certainly an interesting fish. 4. A Queen Triggerfish – This was a beautiful fish – very nice to watch. We also saw a Rough Box Crab and a Mutton Snapper (Very Tastey). The first dive went awesome, I don’t want to brag – but I feel like a natural diver, everybody who was with me told me so. It is one of the most exhilarating experiences somebody can have – especially if they love to snorkel. I cant even explain the feeling of going down 40 feet for almost an hour, and breathing and just watching the sea life. Us land dwellers have no idea what our oceans are really about, and that is a sad sad thing. 

      We chilled at the dive shop, ate lunch – A guy drove by in a pickup truck selling shrimp fettucini, shrimp curry subs, and chicken curry subs. He only had chicken curry subs left, so I bought one for 100 Lemp – which is $5. Very good, and a LOT of food. 

      We went on my second dive, to the “Lighthouse Reef”. Both dives had amazing conditions, clear and calm – not much current (Yes, this affects a dive IMMENSELY). On this dive some of the noteable sightings were – Caribbean Spiny lobster (HUGE, literally a foot long, and tentacles were 1.5-2 feet across). Banded Coral Shrimp – Pretty cool, I used to have one in my own fish tank. A small jellyfish type creature, not 100% sure on the name. I GOT STUNG. Didn’t see it coming, and then OUCH. Right on the top of my hand. Luckily it didn’t hurt that bad, hard to explain – but I could feel it for a few hours after. We saw another turtle, a Hawksbill, a Secretary Blenny, a Spinyhead Blenny, a Peacock Flounder, a Slender Filfish (Juvenile) and a Yellowfin Grouper. We saw hundreds of other fish, but these were the more notable ones. Once again this dive was at 12m for 51 minutes.

     

      We got back to the shop, cleaned up and then made dinner plans. I went home, showered and then headed down to the restaraunt we were going to. I didn’t know where it was, I actually didn’t even know the name of it – Anika from the dive shop told me it was 100 meters past the shop, so I took her word for it. Mistake. I walked down there about 4-10 minutes early..... kept walking..... couldn’t see it. I figured ahhhh, ill just sit on the side of the road and get some “fresh air” – Ill see them sooner or later. Luckily when i turned around and started walking back towards my hotel – I saw them walking towards me. We got dinner, rotisserie chicken – It was $6 or 120 Lemp, for ¼ Chicken, Rice and Pasta Salad – It was good, cheap and QUICK. One of the best chicken meals i’ve had out in a long time. 

    

      Walked back down the main drag after a beer and our meal – and a very interesting conversation. The people that are at my dive shop have literally travelled the globe, and have so many experiences to chat about. I have learned a lot from them, just listening.

      Me and one of the fellows from my shop went down to the Sundowners and caught the tail end of happy hour. Had a beer, watched the Third period of the Leafs game, where I met a guy named Kevin – he owns his own brewery in Denver Colorado and was here by himself as well. We had a drink with him, finished the game up, and then walked down to the bar that is attached to my dive shop. They were playing music trivia (hair bands) and it was a good time. I only knew a few songs like Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne. But we had fun. 

      Our new friend went home, but I went across the street to a bar called the Blue Marlin with my dive buddy. We had a beer and met a guy (whom I think my buddy had already knew) and He is going to take us ocean fishing on Wednesday at 5:30am. I cant wait – He says we will catch Tuna in the morning, and then Barracuda and Oahu for the rest of the time. Real nice guy, I ended up walking home with him after talking to him about fishing for around an hour. (Rocky Mountain fishing, ocean fishing, fly fishing, etc.). Now I have finally made it home, I have made a few new friends today, and continue to have an even better time, every minute that I am down here. Once again, the more people I talk to, the more people don’t leave this place............