MITSUGIRLY has a JEWEL of a time on my 1st RC cruise in years!

Hi again Kim, I have another question for you. About the scuba and the breathing. You said it was totally different than breathing while snorkeling. Is that good or bad? You have me freaked out a little. Do you like scuba? I am wondering if I should stick to snorkeling. Which I love to do. Just thought I would try scuba since my DH and son are trying it.

You are going to hate me for this.....we saw a smaller spotted ray from the dock at Paradise Beach in Cozumel. It was just swimming around in pretty shallow water. We took pictures and video. It was so cool! Hope that you get to see one soon for yourself! So awesome that Sakari got to see it!

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She was pretty close!

 

 

And even closer!

 

 

 

 

I'm so happy that she got to experience the turtles like this because that's what it's really all about. It's providing her the thrill and experience of doing this and making memories. This is something she'll always remember and even though she's done it before, this experience was a little different I believe because she was free. She was a mermaid. She had no restrictions of life jackets or someone holding her back in a group. She had her fin and could dive down far just like the other guys did from the other excursion boats. She was able to swim alongside the turtles, fish and stingrays. She was part of their world.

 

 

So close to her! I tell ya, animals just trust her. I don't know what it is. She can get so close to them and they don't scare off. Pshh, they see me coming and run.

 

 

Great pictures, Sakari! What in the world does that turtle in the last picture have in it's mouth?

Kim, yours are good, too, as they always are! There were a couple of pics of Sakari just above the bow of the wreck that were beautiful, and one of her diving down fairly deep that I liked as well.

You really should do a calendar with some of your cruise/trip pictures. The hardest part is narrowing down the choices. I want to include them all, but for me if I use more than one per page it looks too cluttered. I love having a new vacation memory to look at each month!

Pirate Cove was really pretty, but if I go to Barbados without booking a dive, it will be Boatyard for me.

Hi Kim,

I'm also a Kim! What is the brand of mermaid tail you buy for Sakari? Is the mono-fin sold separately? If so, what brand is it? I bought my daughter a cheap one off of amazon just to see if she liked it and she did so I'm thinking of getting her a nicer one now. She turns 10 in August, so she is about the same age as Sakari. She is truly obsessed with mermaids and swears she saw Ariel once. My older daughter saw it too and says it was just some reddish seaweed floating on the water. I guess we'll never know the truth ;)

Thanks again for the wonderful review!

- Kim

Hi Harry. Ok, let's try to troubleshoot.

 

 

Where is this "attachment" you are speaking of? When you are posting, look up above at the area where you can change your font and so on. You'll see something that looks like a square with a picture of a mountain on it and yellow. You hit that. A box pops up saying "Please enter the URL of your image:" This is where you post the URL from your host site where you uploaded the picture to it. Then you hit ok and it should post in the body of your post.

 

If a picture is coming up in a separate window, you are posting it as a link and not the actual picture into the body of the text (maybe hitting the "world" button at the top for a link?)

 

There shouldn't be anything asking you to reduce the size of your picture. That's usually something your host site will ask on the size you want.

 

 

I haven't used flickr in years, although I still have an account with them. I use Smugmug but recently received a message that Smugmug has bought our Flickr so maybe I should check that out.

 

 

Let me know if any of this works.

The "attachment" I was talking about is the paper clip icon (attachments). When I tried to upload a pic from my photo storage in my computer I got the message that the attachment was to large. I went to a resize site, shrunk them and then when I uploaded I got the attachment rather than the pic. I'll try your suggestions and hope for the best. Thanks for taking the time to help.

Harry

I have a little time before I pick up Sakari from school so, on with the review.

 

Here's a video of her coming up from the bottom. She thought I was taking a picture so she was being still. lol

 

nxLNe_RM1oE

 

So....drum roll please...

A SPOTTED EAGLE RAY

 

 

Now people may get these mixed up with a stingray. They are a little different.

 

They can weigh about 507 pounds and their "wings" can grow up to 8 feet and overall body with its tail as long as 16 feet. The spotted eagle ray is one of the largest eagle rays (with manta rays growing a little bigger). They have a snout (nose) and use it to look for food buried in the sand. They do have teeth in both their upper and lower jaws. They can also jump.

 

Unlike Stingrays, who usually bury themselves on the bottom in the sand, the eagle ray is usually swimming around in the open water.

 

So there you have it and I'm still salty about her getting to see one while I was fumbling with my equipment. Ugh! Maybe some day.

Suspense over...dang!!! The eagle rays are beautiful!!! Hopefully you'll get to see one soon. Thanks for the tips for using the TG5 fisheye when snorkeling.

So after you posted about Pirates Cove and the $30 trip to see the shipwreck and turtles, I looked it up. I like that price so much more than all the catamaran tours mentioned on the Barbados forums. On the priates cove website, the $30 tour option links to Tranquility cruises (https://www.tranquilitycruises.com/), which shows the boat below. That looks nothing like the boat you were on. It seems like you wouldn't recommend your boat, but are there multiple tour options that go out of Pirates Cove? Did you ever see the boat below?

Kim,

As always, I am thoroughly enjoying this review and the pictures. It is absolutely WOW!

Love your fearless mermaid! Looking forward to reading more.

I have been reading off and on for several days now and finally caught up.

Another fabulous trip report!

I am loving all the snorkeling pictures and enjoying your adventures.

I have found so many people in the Caribbean to be rude too. I wonder if they think they bully you then you will not argue with them. Or maybe it's just their way?

The turtle picture Sakari got are amazing!

Anyways...loving it as usual.

Mitsugirly, Am so enjoying your review and especially all the great pics. I, on the other hand, am having a dickens of a time getting my pictures to post. Started out when I clicked on attachment, then selected the picture, it said it was too big so I went to an online site and shrunk them down to 1000x750 pixels. Tried uploading again and the first picture worked fine. EVERY one since then has resulted in the JPEG logo coming up with a highlighted line of script instead of the actual picture. When I click on it, the pic comes up in a separate window. Darn it, I want them to come up in the post. I opened a flickr account thinking that would work but it comes up with a line in the url that says email protected or something to that effect. I'm at my wits end. We're going on an Alaska cruise in a few days and I was hoping to do a proper "Live From" but it won't be the same if I can't get this pic upload to work. HELP! ANYBODY! Sorry to hijack but I am desperate Asked on the "Help" board but didn't get any.

 

Harry

I use flickr. I will tell you the easiest way to post pics here.

open your picture by clicking on it. On the bottom right side there is a curling arrow point to the right. click on that. It will bring a box up. At the top of the box you will click on BBCode which should be the last choice on top. The click on the code in the box...copy it....and then post it right in the post. No need to attach or anything. That code will make the picture show right up in a forum.

Cruise Critic only allows 6 pictures per post.

Sakari is truly becoming more and more like a Mermaid every trip. Those fish must take a look at her and see her beautiful tail and feel like she is one of them. I am so impressed by how deeply she can free dive and stay underwater for so long. She really had great pictures as well. I just love all of your reviews and underwater photography. I have always been and avid cruiser and snorkeler, but now that my husband is sick I cannot get away anymore and your posts really fill the void.

I'm always thinking the same thing...that the fish must see her as another fish because they never seem to be scared of her.

Started reading your review as we are going to be on the Jewel in July. I am having so much fun following along! I have even started reading your previous reviews when I get caught up on this one. I really love the detail and pictures you put into your reviews. We don't have much experience on cruises (yet) but your reviews have gotten me excited about continuing to cruise. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for putting all the time and effort in, it is much appreciated!

Aww thanks and glad you are getting excited about your upcoming cruise. Before long, you will be hooked. It's definitely a great way to travel and see different places!

Hi again Kim, I have another question for you. About the scuba and the breathing. You said it was totally different than breathing while snorkeling. Is that good or bad? You have me freaked out a little. Do you like scuba? I am wondering if I should stick to snorkeling. Which I love to do. Just thought I would try scuba since my DH and son are trying it.

 

You are going to hate me for this.....we saw a smaller spotted ray from the dock at Paradise Beach in Cozumel. It was just swimming around in pretty shallow water. We took pictures and video. It was so cool! Hope that you get to see one soon for yourself! So awesome that Sakari got to see it!

 

 

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I don't want to say anything to freak you out. You just need to try it and discover for yourself how you do. Most people are just fine and we go on trips with others or see others that do it for the first time with no problems. I just have this small freak out session when I first get started and them I'm fine. The breathing is just different...as in your are breathing the oxygen from the tank, which is weird and dry to me and takes me a minute to get used to it. My biggest issue is that when you have an issue when snorkeling, you just pop up out of water to fix it (like mask or water in your mouth). When scuba you have to fix it under water. But once you know how (which they teach you) it'll be fine. It's just knowing that you don't just pop up for the real air that freaks me out...but it's only in the beginning and getting started for me. (If you've read any of my other reviews with the scuba they go into great details my own struggle...but I continue to do it because it is fun and so different than snorkeling).

Hopefully some day I'll see an Eagle Ray too. They are so pretty.

Great pictures, Sakari! What in the world does that turtle in the last picture have in it's mouth?

 

Kim, yours are good, too, as they always are! There were a couple of pics of Sakari just above the bow of the wreck that were beautiful, and one of her diving down fairly deep that I liked as well.

 

You really should do a calendar with some of your cruise/trip pictures. The hardest part is narrowing down the choices. I want to include them all, but for me if I use more than one per page it looks too cluttered. I love having a new vacation memory to look at each month!

 

Pirate Cove was really pretty, but if I go to Barbados without booking a dive, it will be Boatyard for me.

The turtle had food in its mouth.

Yes, narrowing down the choices for a calendar would be extremely hard for me to do with the amount of pictures I have. It's hard enough to narrowing them down for my scrapbooks. LOL

Hi Kim,

I'm also a Kim! What is the brand of mermaid tail you buy for Sakari? Is the mono-fin sold separately? If so, what brand is it? I bought my daughter a cheap one off of amazon just to see if she liked it and she did so I'm thinking of getting her a nicer one now. She turns 10 in August, so she is about the same age as Sakari. She is truly obsessed with mermaids and swears she saw Ariel once. My older daughter saw it too and says it was just some reddish seaweed floating on the water. I guess we'll never know the truth

Thanks again for the wonderful review!

- Kim

Well hello there Kim.

We buy her the mermaid tails from finfunmermaid dot com. The has about 7 of them now. When we first started her out with got the entire gear: monofin, 2 tails, carrying bag and 2 bathing suits that matched. They are always changing styles (print) and she usually gets a new one for a birthday or Christmas. Plus, she's growing now and the last time we had to buy a bigger size (even though she can still fit the others...you can tell it doesn't fit as nicely). Then her monofin cover (the part that goes over the plastic part that holds your feet in) was getting a little worn out and we got another one of those. You can buy everything separately and as needed so that makes it nice. Also, they now have it were you can design your own cover. Sakari designed one, but we haven't got it for her yet. I just feel like she has so many of them as it is. LOL

The "attachment" I was talking about is the paper clip icon (attachments). When I tried to upload a pic from my photo storage in my computer I got the message that the attachment was to large. I went to a resize site, shrunk them and then when I uploaded I got the attachment rather than the pic. I'll try your suggestions and hope for the best. Thanks for taking the time to help.

 

Harry

Oh ok. Yea, you don't use the paperclip attachment. If you want a picture to show up, you have to use the picture and the picture has to be hosted somewhere online and not from your computer. That's why yours is not downloading right.

Suspense over...dang!!! The eagle rays are beautiful!!! Hopefully you'll get to see one soon. Thanks for the tips for using the TG5 fisheye when snorkeling.

Hopefully I will see one some day. No problem on the tips with the fisheye.

So after you posted about Pirates Cove and the $30 trip to see the shipwreck and turtles, I looked it up. I like that price so much more than all the catamaran tours mentioned on the Barbados forums. On the priates cove website, the $30 tour option links to Tranquility cruises (https://www.tranquilitycruises.com/), which shows the boat below. That looks nothing like the boat you were on. It seems like you wouldn't recommend your boat, but are there multiple tour options that go out of Pirates Cove? Did you ever see the boat below?

 

 

No, I didn't see the boat you showed me...at least not AT Pirates Cove. They could have been there at the turtle snorkeling site, but I wasn't paying attention to who was there and what the boats looked like.

It's not that I wouldn't recommend the boat we were on, it was the people...they were just very rude.

I don't think there are actually multiple tours that go out of Pirates Cove. They were the only boat there that day so I'm not sure about the listing they have on their website. Maybe it's the same company and they just had a different boat that day. But you can go to any of the beach clubs up and down that strip of beach and there will be vendors offering trips out to the turtles. So no matter where you go, you should be able to find one.

Kim,

As always, I am thoroughly enjoying this review and the pictures. It is absolutely WOW!

Love your fearless mermaid! Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks and yes she's pretty fearless.

I have been reading off and on for several days now and finally caught up.

Another fabulous trip report!

I am loving all the snorkeling pictures and enjoying your adventures.

I have found so many people in the Caribbean to be rude too. I wonder if they think they bully you then you will not argue with them. Or maybe it's just their way?

 

The turtle picture Sakari got are amazing!

 

Anyways...loving it as usual.

Thanks and glad you are enjoying it. I sometimes wonder about the people too but for the most part (at least with the vendors we normally use) that they are trying to please you so that they can make that extra tip. But I have ran into some rude ones here and there.

I use flickr. I will tell you the easiest way to post pics here.

open your picture by clicking on it. On the bottom right side there is a curling arrow point to the right. click on that. It will bring a box up. At the top of the box you will click on BBCode which should be the last choice on top. The click on the code in the box...copy it....and then post it right in the post. No need to attach or anything. That code will make the picture show right up in a forum.

Cruise Critic only allows 6 pictures per post.

Harry

Thanks Kim for your information about scuba.

I am just freaking myself out about it. Fear of the unknown, over thinking it.

I have read one of your other reviews. I think maybe it was the last one you did? I do remember that you talked about your struggles with scuba, especially when you first go in the water. If I remember right, you also don’t like it when you are at a drop off. (That would bother me too!) We were snorkeling in Hawaii at a place where the water got really deep and dark. I turned around and went back to where I felt comfortable.

I love nature and snorkeling is just so awesome! I hope that I like scuba too!

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Thank you. I will try that and let you know how it goes.

 

Harry

Ok, let me know.

Thanks Kim for your information about scuba.

 

I am just freaking myself out about it. Fear of the unknown, over thinking it.

 

I have read one of your other reviews. I think maybe it was the last one you did? I do remember that you talked about your struggles with scuba, especially when you first go in the water. If I remember right, you also don’t like it when you are at a drop off. (That would bother me too!) We were snorkeling in Hawaii at a place where the water got really deep and dark. I turned around and went back to where I felt comfortable.

 

I love nature and snorkeling is just so awesome! I hope that I like scuba too!

 

 

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That's what I have a tendency to do as well...over think things. The walls freak me out a little, but I enjoyed our last and went down it a little. I really hope you like scuba too. With each time I go, I get a little more comfortable with it. So, that's a good sign. :D

Ok, gonna try to squeeze in a little more before I have to leave in about an hour...Sakari has scuba class tonight.

Friday: GRENADA: Discover Scuba Diving and our first time here.

After a lot of research with the vendors here, we ended up booking with Native Spirit. They were pretty much the only choice we had because it was 11 days before Sakari's 10th birthday, which still made her 9 years old and all of the vendors (except Native Spirit) would not allow her to do the DSD with us. But, they agreed since she was just days away, she has been diving for 1 year and 6 months, she has officially obtained her "MASTER PADI seal" completion AND she has done 4 ocean dives so far. Yippee!!! I also had to find a vendor that would take us JUST to the statues. That was all that I was interested in.

This morning I woke up at .... you guessed it, 6:30am, just like every other day this week. I went up to get some pop to get my caffeine started...and of course the doors to the buffet area are closed. UGH! So, I walk around to the glass doors and figured I'd just endure the stares from the staff just like every other day this week....ONLY>>>>THIS TIME THEY WERE LOCKED TOO! Alright now I'm upset. Really? I paid for this package and can't even get my pop when I want. They really need to put the pop machines OUTSIDE of an area that is locked before 7am, between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner and after 9pm. Like seriously. They put an area outside of the buffet (where the sliding glass doors are) for those to get coffee in the mornings, but not everyone drinks coffee! I feel ripped off!

I went back to the room to wake up the fam and headed back up to the buffet and straight to the pop machine at 7am.

TODAY...the buffet was super crowded. I had never seen it like this before. Everyone must like Grenada and everyone was getting off? Something was going on. There wasn't even any chairs available and we had to circle around for quite some time to find a spot to eat at. I had my "normal" breakfast and headed outside to the pool area to exchange my towels again.

I met up with Kia on the deck and she informed me that she was not allowed to drop of Xander at the kids club until 9am. We were to meet our vendor for our scuba excursion today at 8:30am. So...the plan was for us to get off, meet the vendor, beg and plead for them to stay and even throw in a little bit of tears if needed, so that they would wait on Kia. Then I told Kia where to go to find us and to be looking for the boat at the dock. She said if she didn't find us and we left, she'd know they couldn't wait on her.

We got off the ship at 8:15am.

Had our picture taken and headed down the pier.

We were winding our way out of the building. A lot of things weren't open yet.

I tell Sakari not to talk to strangers, but she said this one was ok because he didn't talk.

We made it outside. Ok...now what? Our instructions were to go to the ferry dock. So, I'm picturing a dock that looked like the ferry dock from Martinique...however, there wasn't one.

We seen a small dock with 2 boats there and you had to walk down these steps. I stopped to ask someone about "Native Way" and they pointed down the steps. Down we went and one boat pulled away to allow them to dock.

I guess this was our boat. If they expected me to "look" for their boat that said "Native Way", I would have never found it. It was on there so light.

I explained to them about the rest of our party and the babysitting and they said "no worries, we still have to wait on others that are going over for the snorkeling". Whew! I felt so much better. We got on the boat and waited.

Before long, a group arrived. They must have been the snorkelers. Couldn't they have walked slower? Still no sign of Kia and Michaela.

Finally I was told that they had to leave in order to get the snorkelers there in time for their excursion. I was heartbroken. But, one of the guys told me not to worry because he "would find her and bring her". Um...how? They said they'd go drop us off and come back for her. I kept telling him that she is going to be looking for the boat and if she don't see it, she'll assume they left and she's not going. He also mentioned that he would possibly send a car. She's not going to be looking for a car either. This is not going well. I knew they'd never find her.

Off we went. Then I discovered that he hadn't even ask her name or a description or anything! (tear)

I use flickr. I will tell you the easiest way to post pics here.

open your picture by clicking on it. On the bottom right side there is a curling arrow point to the right. click on that. It will bring a box up. At the top of the box you will click on BBCode which should be the last choice on top. The click on the code in the box...copy it....and then post it right in the post. No need to attach or anything. That code will make the picture show right up in a forum.

Cruise Critic only allows 6 pictures per post.

This is for you. Thank you.

Harry

100_6313 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

I felt helpless and so many thoughts were racing in my mind. I really wanted us to go diving together and it would have been Kia and Michaela's first time.

This would be the trip of learning how to jump off and on a boat while docked in the water. I tell ya, I'm getting good at it! Only this time, they went a little too far in. Oops.

This beach was beautiful!

The dive shop is located at a resort: Radisson Hotel. This is located on Grand Anse Beach. So any of you that may be going to Grenada for a beach day, this beach is awesome! If I ever go back...I'll probably return to this beach. It's just so gorgeous!

This is the dive shop.

We checked in with the lady at the front desk and she happened to be the lady that I had been emailing back and forth. We filled out our paperwork and told her about our situation. She said "No worries, my husband can find anyone". My reply was "but if she doesn't see the boat, she's going to think we left and go back to the ship". I mean he hadn't ask for her name, a description, ages...nothing. She could have been a little old lady with green hair and with her grandson for all they knew. She kept assuring me that they would find them. When I booked this excursion, they knew my name and how many people in the party and that was it.

We ask if there was any place to get something to drink and we were told about a little vendor in an area down the beach. We decided to head down there. Of course, I would take pictures along the way of this beautiful beach.

I love beaches that have palm trees and other trees along it for natural shade.

Someone forgot to remove the tires years ago.

We made it to the vendor who had ice cold drinks. She told us $2 for a can of pop and $3 for juice. When I ask for diet, she told me $3. Um wait what? That's pop. She said "but it's DIET" ....and???? She tried to tell me that they don't make diet on the island and it has to be imported and cost more. So...they make the regular pop here on the island? Say what? So there's a Coke plant here on the island? Doubtful but whatever. The things I do for pop!

Back to the dive shop to wait around a little longer.

We sipped on our cold drinks on the porch of the dive shop and messaged our family back home. I told the kids I loved them if I didn't make it back and they told me I was crazy and everything would be fine.

My husbands post of me with the caption "My wife be on vacation like...Its ok hunni I looked up the reviews to this place"

I use flickr. I will tell you the easiest way to post pics here.

open your picture by clicking on it. On the bottom right side there is a curling arrow point to the right. click on that. It will bring a box up. At the top of the box you will click on BBCode which should be the last choice on top. The click on the code in the box...copy it....and then post it right in the post. No need to attach or anything. That code will make the picture show right up in a forum.

Cruise Critic only allows 6 pictures per post.

Ok, let me know.

 

Between your (Mitsugirly) advice and the detailed instructions of jenseib, I believe I've got it. Thank you to both of you for taking the time to help this neophyte. This is for both of you as evidence of my gratitude.

 

Harry

 

100_6314 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

 

Between your (Mitsugirly) advice and the detailed instructions of jenseib, I believe I've got it. Thank you to both of you for taking the time to help this neophyte. This is for both of you as evidence of my gratitude.

 

Harry

 

GREAT JOB! You did it! Woo hoo. So glad you were able to figure it out. :D

Three ladies patrolling the area.

After awhile, the lady at the desk yelled out "They're on their way". Wait what? "They who?" She replies that her husband and the other half of my party will be here in a few minutes. "Are you serious? He found them?" She replies "He can find ANYONE! I told you".

Wow, honestly I didn't really believe it until I seen it with my own eyes. And then I did....

Now I'm pretty sure the story this lady and her husband had about finding Kia and Michaela was totally different than the real story. It's more like Kia found HIM. When she didn't see us around, she figured it was too late. However, decided to ask around about Native Spirit and someone happened to know them and picked up the phone and called him and he said he was there looking for her. HA! If it hadn't been for her asking someone, he would have never found her. There's just no way.

They got the scenic route on the way to the dive shop. Instead of coming over by boat, they came by car. The boat had to go out to take the snorkelers, which went to Flamingo Bay or something like that (where there is supposed to a garden of flamingo tongue snails in the area there, which I would have loved to see this, but that's not what we were here for).

So we were fitted with our gear and I think Kia was in a bit of a shock with how much this equipment weighs. Whew!

I would like to thank you Mitsugirly. My wife and I just got back from Jewel of the seas and 2days before and 1 day after the cruise in Puerto Rico and did most of the beaches you recommended. They were great but the best of all was the Restaurant La Cueva Del Mar, the food was great. Again Thank You. Paul and Vickie

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It was now around 10am and they took some chairs under some trees beside the scuba shop. It was time for "class".

It was all fun and games prior to sitting down for us. We had no idea what was in store for the next 20 minutes or so.

We were handed our books and we started filling them out with the test and questions. We have done this so many times now that we already know the right answers and honestly, most are just common sense.

Then the class started.

We faced him for the class and as he spoke, you didn't dare look away or he was telling you "look at me, not anywhere else. You need to focus". At one point I felt something on my foot and looked down...I got the stare and look at me. Another time Sakari was scratching and got yelled at. Again, something on my foot...I had ants crawling on me but I sat there like I was in the Army and standing at attention for fear that I would be yelled at and have to hit the floor and give him 10.

I have to admit that every DSD class we have done in the past, they made it interesting and fun and held your attention. This was strict, boring and a little intimidating. Oh except for this "thing" I noticed he had going on with Kia. wink wink

After going over the test, we were told to go back for the equipment. Our tanks were strapped on and then we were about to walk to the pool. Wait, where's this pool at? Over at the resort. Like...all the way over there. Oh boy. It was so hot and you couldn't walk on the sidewalk because it burned your feet and now we are carrying an extra 35 or so pounds on our back. Go us!

We headed over to the resort pool and there were a couple of kids swimming. It was time for our skills check off. I really thought I would like this a lot better than doing it in the ocean. We were told to sit on our bottoms with ours legs straight out. Now this is a hard thing for me to do in water with a tank attached. Let me sit Indian style or on my knees or whatever...but not this. I kept floating backwards and couldn't get sat back up. It was uncomfortable. It was such an awkward position. It was tiring and I was constantly fighting to try to stay up. I have no idea what we were accomplishing.

He went down the line telling us which skill to do and first Michaela freaked out and up she went. It took awhile to get used to it, but she finally did. We each did our skills and then came something new, out of the 4-5 DSD dives we've done, this is never something we've practiced.

We were told to throw our regular down and take his octopus and use it to breathe air. (For those that don't know, the octo is an extra regulator that everyone has in case of a buddy running out of air, you can share air). As he went down the line, sharing his air, people were bouncing up like they were just hooked up to a jet pack. All I could think of is "this is not going too well".

Then it was my turn. I took my regulator out, I put his in....BOOM...UP I WENT. I now knew why...his octo wasn't working right. I got a mouthful of water. Now we are not just talking a "mouthful" of water...think you are inhaling...and thinking you are inhaling air to take a breath...and instead, you are inhaling water straight down your throat without time to think about it or stop the flow. I gulped. I swallowed it and it was disgusting. If you could have only seen that pool...you would have been disgusted too. We kept telling him it wasn't working right. He thought it was us.

Finally he checked it for himself and discovered that it wasn't screwed on all the way and tightened. AH HA! Maybe you should trust your students.

Next up...we were told to start swimming around the parameter of the pool and to follow each other. Well, the problem was, this water was so nasty and cloudy that you couldn't see the person in front of you OR the wall. I know I ran into it once and Sakari said she did the same. I couldn't tell if I was headed in the right direction or not. It was so weird.

We finally got out and walked back to the dive shop. Sakari was the only one that didn't have to carry her equipment. Ah to be young and little again.

It was finally time to get on the boat and head out to the scuba site. Oh boy...

It was now about 11:45am. On the way there, Sakari was enjoying her ride up front.

So then they made her move back by daddy. I guess it was ok to ride there on the way from the ferry dock to the dive shop but not from the dive shop to the dive site? Weird.

We arrived at the sculptures dive site within 15 minutes. It's just right past the cruise ship port.

There were people there snorkeling and also some people in kayaks.

Ok, breaking for the night.

I will start back up tomorrow with our scuba experience. :)