MITSUGIRLY decides to CONQUEST new ports-complete pictorial review

[tandemcruzr]

Great pics from all 3 of you.

 

Hope all is well with the 'little fish'

 

][/color]Makuaku birds

.Love those Frigate birds.They are something to watch.

[jenseib]

caught up again!

I am laughing at your peeing discussion. They would call me a liar too...but I NEVER pee in the ocean in a swimsuit or otherwise. I am horrified to even think of doing it. LOL.

On our family cruise in Oct. my sister told me my niece was a water pee-er and even my daughter was disgusted. It's just never even been a thought for me...If I have to go I find a bathroom.

 

But after our discussion that day I found out I am one of the odd ones out. Who knew? :')

 

All the scuba pictures are fabulous.

I just googled fire coral as I wasn't sure what it looked like and it came up with a lot of yellow coral pictures. I actually saw a ton of this in Oct and had no clue it was fire coral. I did scrape my leg on it too and it wasn't a pleasant feeling but it wasn't bad either.....so either I didn't touch it too much...it wasn't actually fire coral...or I had a high tolerance.

 

Is this it?

 

stt58 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

stt166 by Jenseib, on Flickr

[Hatteras51]

Now I remember posting on the boards that I wanted a picture of the "Aruba" sign and was told "Sit on the right side of the cab/bus" and you'll pass it on the way to Arashi. I ask the cab driver about it and he said "No, it's on the left", so that's where I sat. WELL GUESS WHERE IT WAS??? On the RIGHT! My peeps on here are more knowledgeable than the people of Aruba that drive that route daily! Well, at least I knew exactly where it was now, which would be before the mall area and it was before the roundabout in the road on the way. I would just sit on the left side going back and catch it. No worries...

 

The shopping mall that we had planned to go to later in the evening.

 

 

 

Hi Kim. I am the person from the Aruba board that talked to you a lot about Aruba. I have been anxious to read your review. You were correct that you were told that the sign would be on your right. This picture was taken on a different road. The taxi driver didn't drive down the "strip." He took you up the main highway. Had you driven up the "strip" you would have seen the sign on your right. However, when you got to the area where there were kite surfers, there should have been one on the left. It sets close to the road on the beach side. I am glad that you were able to able to catch the bus back from Arashi, as they don't run very often after 6:00. We always arrange a time for the taxi driver to pick us up. Snorkeling at Arashi can be hit or miss, and is usually worse in the afternoons, when the snorkel boats arrive. In the early mornings, we have often seen turtles, but they scatter when the boats arrive. You had originally mentioned that you were also planning on going up to Boca Catalina, which is usually better for snorkeling. Arashi is a beautiful beach. I'm glad that you enjoyed Aruba. We love it so much that we vacation there for 2 - 3 weeks each winter. The cute buildings near the port that light up are going to be a flea market. Currently, there are vendors next to the bus station and down the street, across from the gas station, that will be moving in there. The ones along the waterfront will be staying.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Hatteras51

[mitsugirly]

So, here we go.

 

Everyone wants to know why I was hesitant to post this part of the review as it happened and I'll tell you why...for several reasons.

 

This day was amazing, exciting, thrilling, scary, some mishaps, and some things that shouldn't happened.

 

First of all, I didn't want to post about the "depth" and having Sakari down that far. She is not allowed down that far. In the US, she is allowed at her dive shop to go down 12 feet. I have found in the Caribbean, they only allow her to go down 6 feet. I'm not sure if that's just the rules down there OR if it's the rules for maybe ocean water. She definitely was not "within guidelines" and I'm honestly not exactly sure how far down she went. IF I had to guess, the wall and drop off had to have been a good 30 feet.

 

So, I don't want to get anyone into trouble (the dive shop or the instructor). I'm pretty sure that had we dove with the owner, Hans, this day would have never happened...he made that clear. But also, I'm pretty sure we were supposed to have 2 instructors..one for us and going deeper and one for Sakari to keep her at 6'. I'm not sure, but I imagine that we only ended up with 1 instructor because we were only a party of 3 and Hans was off on another "actual open water boat dive" that day.

 

I know what we did. I know we were out far. I KNOW it was not no 6' or even 12' of water Sakari was in. We've done this before in St Thomas and I seen how deep we were that time and it was 35'. Don't tell me that we only went 12' because you are not fooling me. (This is what he would write on our dive log). I kept saying "no way" and he would say "yep, that's it, just 12 feet". Now I KNOW the reason he would do this is because I'm pretty sure he would get into trouble. I don't know if it would be by the dive shop or PADI or what. But I believe this was his fear. So, my reluctance to post anything about it, but I just had to share the pictures and her accomplishments this time around. She has struggled for awhile with her ears and this was a milestone for her..especially that deep.

 

This would be our dive log that was given to us.

 

 

 

It also states that we dove for 70 minutes. I'm honestly not sure "how" they calculate the time. Is it when you first go under and start the journey? Or arrive at the first spot? Or from the beginning to the last spot and not include swimming back to the beach? Because I took a picture of my watch when we started at 11:04 and took a picture of my watch when we ended and came up from the water at the beach, which was 12:24pm. So that's actually 84 minutes...or 1 hour and 24 minutes total. He said and wrote 70 minutes. So I have no clue how this works or is calculated.

 

Of course on Sakari's dive log, there's no mention of a depth or time. I'm not sure why the kids have logs in their books that look like this with no info on it.

 

 

Now, I know that she shouldn't have been down that deep. I know that it takes children longer to develop their lungs and the skills needed to scuba dive. I know she has had issues in the past. But I also know that she knows her limit and will come up if she has problems. She is definitely more qualified than we are down there and I think she handles herself well for the most part.

 

But I'm sure that these rules were put in place for a reason...and they were broken on this day for some reason as well. Do I blame the dive shop? Partially. They know better and should not have taken her out that far. They also should have had another instructor with us assigned especially for Sakari. This would have eliminated her "running off" and having to be told to come back by another diver at one point. They also failed to have us do our "skills" when we first got in the water. When we were back at the office and going over the "book" in class, he did say we would do these skills prior to our dive. It did not happen. That was his fault, but yet...still mine because I didn't speak up and say anything about not doing it at the time. But honestly, I thought he was just going to take us out a little bit, where it was a sandy bottom, to do them. I had no clue that we would be continuing on.

 

Do I blame myself? Partially. Like I've said before, I'm on several diving social media sites. I read A LOT of the articles and information on there. There are many articles that are published about the do's and don't of diving and how people "get into trouble". I know that they express how important it is to not do something you are not comfortable with. I was not comfortable when we first started and didn't have enough time to accommodate myself with the breathing in the beginning and panicked. Although I did express my feelings when I panicked, I didn't speak up and say "I'm just not comfortable yet". I did mention "I'm sorry, it just takes me awhile to get used to the breathing and I'm having other issues with mask fogging and not being able to regulate my buoyancy as well".

 

One of the rules is to never do something just because someone else is and never leave someone behind. There's a buddy system in place for a reason (many of these article's are about someone not wanting to go into an area or ship wreck and waiting outside for the other to go in alone instead of abandoning the dive for both of them). I should have spoke up about things, but I didn't. I continued on with everyone else no matter my comfort level at the time.

 

Did I panic for no reason when Sakari went into the drop off and wall? Maybe. Maybe not. He had his eye on her...but he didn't signal her back or go close to her. She was not within reach. That is what really scared me I believe.

 

I'm sure there's other things I had intended on saying, but those were the main things. Something might jog my memory later, but that was the jist of it.

 

I am VERY grateful that this day took place. It was an amazing experience, even with the few mishaps from the day and even though I almost gave myself a heart attack. I'm pretty sure we probably won't be able to experience this again, as a family, for at least another year when she turns 10 and can actually "legally" do this with us. Also by then, she'll have a lot more experience behind her...and we will too hopefully. I know on the next dive, she will probably be very disappointed when they don't allow her to go out and as deep with us like she did this time. It will be a struggle. She thinks she's grown and a big girl and can do everything an adult can do. I'll have a sad little diver on my hands the next round I'm sure.

 

I plan on continuing to try DSD when cruising, but I'm taking it slowly and learning more and more each time. Hopefully I'll get a little more used to the breathing and learn to calm down more. I feel this dive was a little more intimidating than our last. Will I ever really get my diving license? Only time will tell. I'm honestly not sure at this point. I may just be happy with the DSD from now on. But, I'm well aware that I need more practice and more time in the water. This will happen!

 

 

[Hatteras51]

Very beautiful homes along the way...

 

 

I made sure to sit on the left side so that I was able to get my picture of the Aruba sign on the way back.

 

The hubby and I were watching where we were at and then we hit the roundabout and knew it was right after that except.....the bus turned. Wait what? What just happened? He was going a different way! Ugh. I wouldn't get my Aruba sign picture after all. He turned at the shopping mall, that we had planned on going to that night, and was heading toward that little town area.

 

 

 

However, it was really neat to see that area. It looks like there's a lot to see and do there and plenty of food as well.

 

 

 

I was actually glad that we went that way when it was all done and over because it made me realize that I would actually really love to come here for a vacation and stay.

 

The hubby giggled and said "There's your Aruba sign"...so I took a pic.

 

 

Not the sign I was looking for...but it would have to do.

 

 

THIS is the area that I suggested that you visit in the evening. Right passed the last picture (about a block up) was another Aruba sign. It would have been on your left, going home.

 

You definitely got ripped off with the chairs at Arashi. They should have offered you a reduced price. If you are so inclined, you could contact the Aruba Tourism Authority and let them know about your experience. They have been cracking down on vendors lately, especially ones that don't have permits (but I believe that this guy does have a permit). But what he did is definitely shady.

 

 

I'm glad that you enjoyed Aruba and are considering it for a land vacation. If you ever want any info. on places to stay,etc. just let me know.

[mitsugirly]

hate to tell you this..... but there is lots of fire coral in shallow areas on all reefs. There is much much less when you get deeper.

 

Yea, we've noticed all the fire coral everywhere we go. She tries to stay away from it, but this day I just think she got carried away by taking pictures of everything she was seeing.

 

 

Great review, there should not be any backlash, it's not like you let Sakari go on her own while you both drank on the beach. My dad let me try anything at her age...and I've turned out pretty good!

 

I see Kolin no longer has a fiancée- after your last review I'm not surprised [emoji6].

 

Keep up the great work, btw they have snorkelling excursions on the Alaskan cruises...trouble is Sakari might want to bring home a seal.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Yea, but I still blame both us and the instructor.

 

 

Yep, Kolin is without a fiance now. After 5 1/2 years and a child, she decided someone else at work was worth pursuing and threw it all away after Kolin got her an apartment. He's still trying to recover and we're still trying to convince him that there's other "fish in the sea" that will treat you right and not go after another tuna when they flash their tail fins her way.

 

 

Yea, I've read all about the snorkeling cruises in Alaska. I think I would have to pass on that. I totally laughed loud when I read that Sakari might want to bring home a seal. I can totally see that! :p

 

DSD (WHAT IS DSD?) ,

 

 

DSD MEANS DISCOVER SCUBA DIVING...that's what it's called for the beginners and what we did this time (and last in St Thomas).

 

NOT AT ALL! IM PSYCHO ABOUT BIG DOGS! I HAVENT HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE EITHER. THEYRE JUST SO INTIMIDATING!

Hopefully she'll get over it some day. I plan on getting a big dog in the future.

 

Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just so tired.

 

NO WORRIES AT ALL! WE ARE THE OPPOSITE OF YALL. WE WAKE UP EARLY BUT WE GO TO BED EARLY! I AM A CRANKY MESS AFTER ABOUT 8:30PM! LOL. SO IS MY DD!

 

The night is young for us at that time.

 

I READ ABOUT IT! I WAS ACTUALLY RELIEVED THAT IT WASNT SOMETHING AWFUL! ILL HAVE TO GOOGLE TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT IT IS THAT SHE RAN INTO AND THE RAMIFICATIONS BUT GLAD SHES OKAY! SHES SUCH A LITTLE TROOPER!

 

She is a little trooper. Running into the fire coral wasn't the reason that I was worried to post. That could happen to anyone, and has happened to her before. It's the day as a whole was my problem.

 

 

FUNNY YOU SAY THAT! IM TAKING SNORKEL LESSONS THIS SUMMER FOR OUR NOVEMBER CRUISE! THE INSTRUCTOR WANTS ME TO TAKE DIVE LESSONS AS WELL BUT I AM NOT A STRONG SWIMMER. SHE SWEARS IT DOESNT MATTER. YOUR POST MAKES ME FEEL ALOT BETTER! SUPER EXCITED FOR THE ADVENTURE. IM ALWAYS UP TO TRYING SOMETHING NEW ON VACATION AS LONG AS ITS SAFE!

 

 

Well good for you on the snorkeling lessons. I hope you have an amazing cruise in November and are able to accomplish snorkeling. Hopefully she'll also talk you into trying scuba. Just remember...doing it in the ocean and salt water is a different experience than in a fresh water pool. :D

 

 

 

We will be on the Disney Fantasy. They are doing a special cruising this summer that is a 10 night cruise stopping at those islands. I got a REALLY REALLY good rate.....Like I saved around $6000 on the going rate for the room I am in....so it was hard to pass up. Every so often I can score a good rate like this...but not often.

 

 

That's awesome. I always have people asking me if I ever plan to cruise Disney and I always give them a definite "no" because of the price. Glad you were able to find such a great deal.

 

 

Great review, great pics. I know you're not happy with some of the pics but they are great. Don't look at them as bad pics but as great memories. I love reading your reviews keep up the good work, I can tell it is a labor of love.

 

Thank you so much! That's sweet.

 

 

Yes...its a clam.

The pink and yellow things is are types of sponge, as is the orange thing.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I was thinking that is what it is, but wasn't sure. I had planned on looking it up in my "Reef" books set.

 

 

yes....

 

there are two types of divers..... the ones who pee in their wetsuit, and the ones who lie about it.

it is actually a scientific fact, diving makes you have to pee because it forces the water in your body to disperse.

 

Haha, I've heard that saying before and I have read, in the past, about those facts and peeing. It didn't help that I drank 2 cans of pop prior to heading to the dive site too.

 

 

 

Glad her sting wasn't too bad. I think every diver has touched fire coral at least once. Tell her she is official now.

 

I'll tell her she's a part of the official scuba diving fire coral club now.

 

 

Hi all!

 

mitsugirly ~ loving so many things about this review!! It's the Conquest which I'm going on in Oct., love the pictures, as always so beautiful, love those new watermarks, very creative! It's so great that you got to scuba as a family.

 

I think a land trip to Aruba is in order. There's lots to see there, another dive over by the sunken warship, the rugged side of the island, beautiful beaches & of course you must find the turquoise lizard!

 

Are you considering the Escape for October or do you have something else in mind?

 

~ Jo ~

 

I'm definitely going to weigh my options about our summer vacation...whether it be another cruise or an actual land vacation.

 

 

I "think" that we scheduled our vacation time for November. But, that was when Kolin (my son) and Courtney (his now ex fiance) HAD to have their time in at work for vacation. It might change now.

 

 

Great pics from all 3 of you.

 

Hope all is well with the 'little fish'

 

][/color]Makuaku birds

.Love those Frigate birds.They are something to watch.

Yes, she is fine and recovered well. By the end of the day, her battle wounds on her leg were gone and it was a forgotten memory.

caught up again!

I am laughing at your peeing discussion. They would call me a liar too...but I NEVER pee in the ocean in a swimsuit or otherwise. I am horrified to even think of doing it. LOL.

On our family cruise in Oct. my sister told me my niece was a water pee-er and even my daughter was disgusted. It's just never even been a thought for me...If I have to go I find a bathroom.

 

But after our discussion that day I found out I am one of the odd ones out. Who knew?

 

All the scuba pictures are fabulous.

I just googled fire coral as I wasn't sure what it looked like and it came up with a lot of yellow coral pictures. I actually saw a ton of this in Oct and had no clue it was fire coral. I did scrape my leg on it too and it wasn't a pleasant feeling but it wasn't bad either.....so either I didn't touch it too much...it wasn't actually fire coral...or I had a high tolerance.

 

Is this it?

 

 

 

LOL, pshhh, I'll pee in the ocean any day...ain't no one got time to get out of the ocean and stop snorkeling for that. Let'er rip! But in the wet suit...I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It wasn't mine and the thought of not knowing how this worked or how it came out or if I'd be forced to swim with it contained against my body. LOL I just couldn't.

 

 

YEP! That's the culprit. FIRE CORAL!

 

 

Hi Kim. I am the person from the Aruba board that talked to you a lot about Aruba. I have been anxious to read your review. You were correct that you were told that the sign would be on your right. This picture was taken on a different road. The taxi driver didn't drive down the "strip." He took you up the main highway. Had you driven up the "strip" you would have seen the sign on your right. However, when you got to the area where there were kite surfers, there should have been one on the left. It sets close to the road on the beach side. I am glad that you were able to able to catch the bus back from Arashi, as they don't run very often after 6:00. We always arrange a time for the taxi driver to pick us up. Snorkeling at Arashi can be hit or miss, and is usually worse in the afternoons, when the snorkel boats arrive. In the early mornings, we have often seen turtles, but they scatter when the boats arrive. You had originally mentioned that you were also planning on going up to Boca Catalina, which is usually better for snorkeling. Arashi is a beautiful beach. I'm glad that you enjoyed Aruba. We love it so much that we vacation there for 2 - 3 weeks each winter. The cute buildings near the port that light up are going to be a flea market. Currently, there are vendors next to the bus station and down the street, across from the gas station, that will be moving in there. The ones along the waterfront will be staying.

 

 

Yes, I remember you. Thanks for all of your information.

 

 

Yep, I'm sure we were on the main road on the way to Arashi. It had several turn arounds. But there was a sign there on the right and I was sitting on the left because that's what the taxi driver told me to do in order to get the picture.

 

 

We did not see one in the area of the kite surfers. I was watching on one side and the hubs on the other. We only seen the one on the right of the main road on the way to Arashi.

 

I was very shocked that a bus was coming that late as well...but very grateful because I honestly liked that experience better than the taxi ride.

 

Thanks for the info on the little lit up buildings. I figured that's what they was (or going to be).

 

I was also shocked at how many things were open there in town when we returned. I remember everyone saying that things would be closed early and everyone heads to the shopping mall area. There was actually a family that got on the bus there in town and then someone on the street was telling them that the city/town closed down by the cruise port early (as they were walking up on the bus) and he confirmed with the driver that this was true. They were going there to get food (not sure why because there was TONS of food places there where they were at). But when we got off at the bus station, there were a lot of stores/shops and food places open. Weird.

 

 

 

THIS is the area that I suggested that you visit in the evening. Right passed the last picture (about a block up) was another Aruba sign. It would have been on your left, going home.

 

You definitely got ripped off with the chairs at Arashi. They should have offered you a reduced price. If you are so inclined, you could contact the Aruba Tourism Authority and let them know about your experience. They have been cracking down on vendors lately, especially ones that don't have permits (but I believe that this guy does have a permit). But what he did is definitely shady.

 

 

I'm glad that you enjoyed Aruba and are considering it for a land vacation. If you ever want any info. on places to stay,etc. just let me know.

 

Yes, I knew when I seen that place that this was the area that was suggested to go to. I will have to try to make it there again some time to check it out. It looked like a wonderful place with a lot to do.

 

 

I was sitting on the left side of the bus and taking pictures the entire time on the way back. I did not see another sign on that side.

 

 

Thanks for the Aruba tourism information. Good point, they should have offered a reduced amount for the short few hours we had the chairs.

[mitsugirly]

Ok, on with the review and I'm going to try to finish out this day.

 

It was 1:55pm, according to my watch, and we piled in a different company truck and headed back to the port. However, like always, the hubby had been talking "shop talk" when Ro asked us what we did for a living. He said his little brother was a skateboarder and there was only one skate shop on the island. He asked if we would like to go by and check it out on the way back to the ship. Sure...we had plenty of time still. So off we went.

 

Along the way...taking pictures OF COURSE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at the skate shop in about 10 minutes and the hubby needed a picture of it with him in it.

 

 

 

We went in to check it out. The owner was at the front desk. I was trying to conceal that I was taking pictures, so they didn't turn out too well. I didn't want the owner thinking something weird was up. I know if someone came in and started taking pictures in our shop, we would be weirded out.

 

 

It was a small store that carried skateboards and parts, surf boards, and shoes and clothes. Nothing too big and nothing compared to ours. It reminded us of when the hubby first started his business years ago and only started with one item...skates.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We headed out back to check out the attached skate park. It was small but cute.

 

 

The local kids were having a blast and I did see information on the walls about them having "camp" there.

 

 

 

The hubby finally introduced himself to the owner and told him where we were from and that we owned a shop too. They chatted for awhile, he gave the hubby one of his business cards with his website to check out (which happens to be a bad website that doesn't even work) and he copied down the hubby's website as well.

 

Then we were back in the truck and off to the port.

 

Here is the graveyard and it's like most places in the Caribbean and they are buried above ground.

 

 

I seen an opening coming up and took a chance and managed to get the shot like if we were standing right in front of it not moving.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I could see our ship in the distance and knew we were about to be on the winding roads that felt like we were just going in circles.

 

 

The "boys" started talking car talk and Ro was telling us about how the people there liked to fix up hot rods and such. We spotted an old car on the side of the road and the hubby was telling him just how much people back in the states would pay for that, fix it up, then sell it for tons of money. Ro was amazed.

 

 

Ro also told us about one person on the island had a Lamborghini shipped there and the roads are just too bad to drive it on, so once a week, the owner will pull it out of his garage, clean it, then put it back away. He doesn't even drive it for fear of messing it up.

 

 

We started talking "house talk" with Ro and he told us you can actually buy a house there for around $30k I think he said. It's not one of these nicer homes...but he said it wasn't in the ghetto either. Hmm, that makes me wonder what you could actually get for that amount. Summer home anyone?

 

Maybe this is what you can get for that amount...a "fixer-upper".

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of cute homes there and I also noticed many had "names" on them.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JinxyB]

We will be on the Disney Fantasy. They are doing a special cruising this summer that is a 10 night cruise stopping at those islands. I got a REALLY REALLY good rate.....Like I saved around $6000 on the going rate for the room I am in....so it was hard to pass up. Every so often I can score a good rate like this...but not often.

 

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but jenseib can you share how you got this amazing deal? I have been eyeing the 10 and 11 day cruises this summer and next summer, but the price just isn't worth it to me. I have been on 2 Disney cruises, both in off season, and the price was still astronomical. Thanks.

[mitsugirly]

Is this a prison or something?

 

 

School?

 

 

 

 

Ro mentioned that this was their local hospital. It looks like it's getting a make-over.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Movies.

 

We arrived back at the port around 1:26pm, said our goodbyes, thanked Ro for an amazing day, and gave him our tip. Then we were off to do a little shopping before getting back on the ship.

 

 

 

I was able to find myself a magnet that I liked

 

 

Then we continued on to the other shops.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

I wish I could somehow collect money from each port, but I never take the time to find a way to get some of the local money. This was a good idea and this guy at this shop actually makes these himself. I wish they all did that.

 

I believe it was around $3 or $5 or something like that and when I ask him with the exchange rate how much was it really and I think he said about $2.50. Hey, I was ok with that just to have some of their money to put in my scrapbook.

 

 

 

Sakari was on a hunt to find a shell jewelry box. She had seen them in Aruba and new that she wanted one. They were actually pretty hard to find, but the guy with the money actually had some behind his counter and showed us. This is what she picked out. He gave it to us for cheaper than the price he had on it.

 

 

We were finishing up our cans of pop before getting back on the ship and Sakari decided she would go over and sit on the rocks to wait on us and play with her new shell box.

 

 

 

We headed back to the ship at a little after 2pm. We went up the ramp, we put our things in the xray machine and walked around and picked them up. I was secretly preparing my "I had no idea my daughter put a conch shell in my bag" story...but they never said a word. Then I would endure the "see, you lied to me about that mommy, you CAN bring shells back with you!" Ugh...ok, so you got away with it this time, it doesn't always happen like that.

 

I'm happy she was able to bring it back. She's not one that just collects them to be taking them. She actually displays them in her room and we also use them for projects as well.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

As soon as we got to the room, our towel animal for the DAY was waiting on us.

 

 

We showered and went food hunting...only to find our options were...pizza of course.

 

I have become quite fond of the quattro pizza...I mean what choice do I have?

 

 

Hubby got a pepperoni and we all shared...but Sakari just wasn't too interested in pizza AGAIN. She took a few bites and said she would rather wait to eat with the kids.

 

 

 

We then headed upstairs and met up with Thrilled, who was now bff's with one of the guys that was up on stage during the hypnotist show (and his wife). We all got to know each other and we had a blast talking. They were a wonderful couple! The hubby took Sakari to the kids club to play for an hour (then they would close for an hour). We were still talking during that entire hour and it was time to go pick her up already.

 

I did see this circling the ship several times at some point.

 

 

 

I was starting to wonder if we were about to have an evacuation.

 

 

We continued to talk with our new friends and getting the scoop on how he felt during they hypnotist show and we had such a good time. It was now officially time to drop Sakari back off at the kids club for her dinner. We all decided to split up and thrilled went back to get her daughter talked into going to eat with Sakari. Sakari was so happy to see her and off they went to eat.

 

We headed to the casino for awhile. I wasn't doing the best and thrilled was skipping around like a frog on the machines. Wait...what's in your drink Kia? LOL I did end up winning $44 that day on the "Asian frog" machine. But that would be the extent of my winnings.

 

We had decided to go to the Punchliner comedy club at 7:30 that night. I knew it was the "kids" version, but that's really the only option we have because the adult version is usually after it's time to pick up Sakari.

 

 

This guy would go around the audience and pick kids and tell them to stand up, tell their name, and what they wanted to be when they grow up. Most he could find something funny to pick on or revert to the "father's" line of work. He kept us laughing and the kids made it funny.

 

 

 

 

 

[ABQrobin]

Very exciting day and I am proud of all of you!

 

Now for the concerns....aka....backlash...

Yes, she is not allowed that deep. She should have had an instructor with her, and you and husband should have had a DM or higher with you. Doing a Discover Scuba, you are allowed to go that deep, I think up to 60' but honestly most dive ops in Caribbean do not adhere to that. They let the divers go as deep as they (DM or instructor) see they are able to handle safely. Trust me, I have seen some crazy sh** done by a DM with Discover students, just so he can get a good tip. That is always my concern. PADI has strict guidelines for all diving, and dive shops are "supposed" to follow them or they could lose their PADI membership. If something had gone wrong, that instructor could have been in deep xxxx. My husband is no longer an instructor, it just took up too many weekends (he still has a real job during the week) and wasn't worth the hassle or the $$$. (Instructors have to pay liability insurance and PADI membership dues, so he was just breaking even.)

 

The good things --- Your instructor was taking you at a shallow shore site, and the fact you brought her book saying what she had done, and the fact you seemed to be somewhat informed may have influenced him to take you all out together. I would never have let her take a camera though...sorry, too much "task loading" for her age in the big, bad ocean. He gave you all a great taste of diving and being on a dive for 60+ minutes was good.

 

I hope you are now thinking about certification classes. They really will put your mind at ease and also you get pool practice, learn how to set up the gear and what all those things are on the BC and console. You are detailed enough to learn it pretty quickly. And it really does look like all 3 of you had a blast.

 

Sorry for the rant... and rambling. Loved all the photos.. too.

 

robin

[mitsugirly]

After the show, we headed to Pixels to get our pictures from Aruba and Curacao. We could not find our Aruba pictures. We had tried the day before with no luck either. The staff told us to, once again, try tomorrow because sometimes they get stuck together or moved around.

 

Since we really didn't eat all of our pizza and just wasn't into it, we thought we would try out the MDR again. Once again, we would wind our way around only to find out that we were on the wrong side and wrong floor. Ugh! Well guess what...we are walking in and around again!

 

As we were walking through the dinning room, I heard this voice...it was a familiar voice...I just knew that Thrilled was somewhere in the area. I looked around and there she was, sitting with another couple at dinner. LOL

 

We walked up to give them our names and got a "We'd be happy to seat you...but after you go back to your room and change your shirt sir". Um wait what? It's not formal night is it? "No, but you can't have sleeves that short". ......... "Um ok, what about that person. And that person. I guess it's ok for them?" We got a few stutters from her and we walked out during one of her mid-stutters. It's just weird that they have different rules for different people. He was not wearing a muscle shirt and it was just a tee shirt with shorter than normal sleeves. They are so weird.

 

I guess we'll have to head to the buffet again.

 

Once again, they would have the same noodles. I'm seeing a trend here. BUT, they did have shrimp tonight, so that was satisfying. I even managed to get the hubby to eat some. I also noticed they had the yummy bread pudding again. But when I bit into it, there was something with a different texture in it. I pulled it out...it was an apple. The hubby laughed and said "um yea, it said apple right on it". I guess I missed that part. It was still good, but I liked the plain better from the other night.

 

 

We went out on the deck to relax a little and then it was time to pick up the munchkin from the kids club.

 

I have no notes after that and can not tell you what we did. My guess is that we were so tired from our scuba diving that we just headed back to the room and went to bed.

 

Sakari would decide to do a quick drawing and then Zzzzz occurred.

 

 

 

This concludes our day in Curacao. :D

[LMBB]

I'm sorry if you mentioned it already and I just missed it, but how was the Internet on conquest? Sufficient for business purposes?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KatEnz]

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[aztekpm]

I had a feeling the issue you mentioned would be how deep you all went with Sakari the minute I saw your pictures. I'm glad everything worked out and understand how easy it is sometimes to just go along with a situation. She certainly is a water baby, I thought I was, but, she far exceeds anything i did growing up or now!

[gui218]

WOW another great Mitsugirly Review.

You have a very enjoyable writing style and provide spectacular photos.

The photos by Sakari and Sam were very good for first Scuba and photo taking.

The ear plugs for Sam made this dive much better than last time.

Sakari did amazing and gave your review drama and suspense.

We will be waiting patiently for next review and Scuba.

Take care.:):):):):)

[mikayla73]

I'm still back on page 3, but I'm excited to read this review. We're not going on the Conquest, but we are hitting those same ports later this year. Plus I love your reviews! Thank you!!

[KatEnz]

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Oops, hit send on a blank post before.

 

Following! Amazing review as usual.

 

 

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[ArkieCruisin]

Loving your review as always. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures. I tried scuba diving years ago and had lots of trouble equalizing. Tried all the tricks you hear about with no success. Kept popping a blood vessel behind my ear drum and having to take a dose pack to take care of that, so I stopped. Still enjoy snorkeling though :)

[mitsugirly]

Very exciting day and I am proud of all of you!

 

Now for the concerns....aka....backlash...

Yes, she is not allowed that deep. She should have had an instructor with her, and you and husband should have had a DM or higher with you. Doing a Discover Scuba, you are allowed to go that deep, I think up to 60' but honestly most dive ops in Caribbean do not adhere to that. They let the divers go as deep as they (DM or instructor) see they are able to handle safely. Trust me, I have seen some crazy sh** done by a DM with Discover students, just so he can get a good tip. That is always my concern. PADI has strict guidelines for all diving, and dive shops are "supposed" to follow them or they could lose their PADI membership. If something had gone wrong, that instructor could have been in deep xxxx. My husband is no longer an instructor, it just took up too many weekends (he still has a real job during the week) and wasn't worth the hassle or the $$$. (Instructors have to pay liability insurance and PADI membership dues, so he was just breaking even.)

 

The good things --- Your instructor was taking you at a shallow shore site, and the fact you brought her book saying what she had done, and the fact you seemed to be somewhat informed may have influenced him to take you all out together. I would never have let her take a camera though...sorry, too much "task loading" for her age in the big, bad ocean. He gave you all a great taste of diving and being on a dive for 60+ minutes was good.

 

I hope you are now thinking about certification classes. They really will put your mind at ease and also you get pool practice, learn how to set up the gear and what all those things are on the BC and console. You are detailed enough to learn it pretty quickly. And it really does look like all 3 of you had a blast.

 

Sorry for the rant... and rambling. Loved all the photos.. too.

 

robin

 

Whew. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see your reply and thoughts.

 

 

Thanks for being proud of us.

 

 

So we should have had a DM with us? Is this a requirement by PADI? Is this something that we should check when booking our next DSD? I want to be in the know on what to look for.

 

 

I looked him up and according to his #, he is an open water instructor and EFR instructor (which was not renewed since Dec 2013). :o

 

According to PADI, DSD can go down 12 meters (which is 40 feet correct?). That's what I have always been told by various instructors/dive masters both here and in the Caribbean and it's also what I read on the PAID site. The only information I have ever found about kids diving is the bubblemaker class/student can only go down 6' and that the "Seal Team" member is more advanced in skills and practices other skills, such as photography, buoyancy, environmental awareness and so on. It does allow them to go down 12 feet (which is why he covered his arse and said that's all we went down).

 

 

I have heard and read about stories and how these places can be a little "relaxed" and allow things to go on that is not supposed to. But I had a lot of problems finding anyone that would break the rules back when I was trying to find something we all could do. Or, maybe they just said that (as this place did too) and then once we would get there, things might have been different. I'm not sure.

 

 

Yes, I definitely made sure with every place I contacted that I was going from a shallow/off beach site with easy entry and I wanted to make sure there wasn't much of a current and maybe a protected bay area. Each place I contacted I requested where they would be taking me and did some online research about the place. That was one of the reasons I picked this dive shop, because of it being one of the easiest places to scuba for us (according to everything I had read online about it and what others had said).

 

 

As far as the camera...that is one thing that I wasn't worried about and I'm still not worried about and will always allow her to take the camera. This is the reason why...it's not like she is doing a DSD and this is only her second class (like us), so she has the experience. She does have several dives under her belt with classes, team and going monthly, plus vacation. She's been in the ocean since 3 years old and it's not like the ocean is new to her (as it could be for a lot of people going on vacation and trying something like this out). But, most of all, I made sure that she had her aquamission that was a class specifically on photography and diving prior to this vacation. So, although she has not been in the ocean scuba diving with her camera before now, she has taken it to her class several times and used it while diving and getting use to it along with having the class specifically for doing this. She has also used my camera, while snorkeling in the past, and she practiced with her camera off and on, during this cruise, prior to the dive as well. I feel real confident in her being able to take pictures and still know what she's doing. She was still doing all of her normal skills with removing her regulator and everything during the dive while taking pictures of herself doing it. Now the issue is going over things with her about sticking with the group closer, paying more attention to the instructor and listening for his clicks, being more aware of her surroundings and not hitting the coral, standing, or anything else (I honestly believe that even if she didn't have a camera with her, she could have easily bumped some fire coral anyhow because she still gets up close to observe things). So, hopefully this will put your mind at ease a little on her with a camera. But I will definitely conduct my own "class" with rules prior to any future dive.

 

 

We are still considering the class ourselves. But, I believe we will probably continue to just do DSD for now...at least until she turns 10 and she can start doing DSD with us. This experience was just amazing...even with the mishaps and worry from my end. It's not something I'm willing to give up on. I want to continue to practice and become more confident in getting used to the breathing under water to relieve my anxiety in the future.

 

 

I REALLY appreciate all your thoughts, advice, and everything else. You know this. And you were a big help with previous questions in the past regarding scuba. Thank you so much Robin!

 

 

 

I'm sorry if you mentioned it already and I just missed it, but how was the Internet on conquest? Sufficient for business purposes?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The hubby was able to use his computer and the phone for work with no problems. Yes, there can be some lag at times and it also depended where you were at. I found it weird that it worked better in our room than up on the highest deck. But, during those few times that it had a few issues connecting (or I should say taking longer than expected) it eventually worked within minutes and then wouldn't have a problem after that.

 

 

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There's no comment...try again. :)

 

 

I had a feeling the issue you mentioned would be how deep you all went with Sakari the minute I saw your pictures. I'm glad everything worked out and understand how easy it is sometimes to just go along with a situation. She certainly is a water baby, I thought I was, but, she far exceeds anything i did growing up or now!

 

Yea, then you would have guessed right. Of course I think I'm the one with the issue about it. No one else seemed to care that day and her dad didn't seem to think there was a problem and was so proud of her. I'm just a worry-wart I guess.

 

 

She would live in the water if you aloud her to. She has been trying to talk me into putting a pool in the back yard this summer. We had one at our old house before we sold it (before she was born) and I have been checking pricing and it seems like they have increased by about 3x. Eek! She's also requesting a "deep" pool so that she can get her own scuba gear and scuba in her own pool. Oh boy...I've created a monster. :o

 

WOW another great Mitsugirly Review.

You have a very enjoyable writing style and provide spectacular photos.

The photos by Sakari and Sam were very good for first Scuba and photo taking.

The ear plugs for Sam made this dive much better than last time.

Sakari did amazing and gave your review drama and suspense.

We will be waiting patiently for next review and Scuba.

Take care.

 

Thank you so much. I'm glad you are enjoying it and like the style. I just tell it as it is and how it happens....the good and the bad. It is what it is.

 

 

Yea, I was proud of their dive and photo skills this time. We'll have to make this a habit from now on. The hubby REALLY enjoyed himself this time for sure. He kept talking about it and saying so.

 

 

I could have done without a few of the drama and suspense Sakari gave me this time around. :eek:

 

Thank you! Take care yourself.

 

 

 

I'm still back on page 3, but I'm excited to read this review. We're not going on the Conquest, but we are hitting those same ports later this year. Plus I love your reviews! Thank you!!

 

 

Thanks for joining and I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

Oops, hit send on a blank post before.

 

Following! Amazing review as usual.

 

 

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Oh, I was wondering. Thanks for the comments and glad you are liking it.

 

 

Loving your review as always. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures. I tried scuba diving years ago and had lots of trouble equalizing. Tried all the tricks you hear about with no success. Kept popping a blood vessel behind my ear drum and having to take a dose pack to take care of that, so I stopped. Still enjoy snorkeling though

 

Thank you so much. Sorry to hear you had issues with scuba years ago. I was so afraid this was going to be an issue with Sakari as well. I'm glad she was able to do it this time. It has been a big concern of mine after reading that it sometimes just don't happen for some people. That would devastate her! Seriously!