Hello everyone.
Well I returned to snowy, cold Ottawa yesterday in record time. Both flights (one out of Nassau the other out of Pillidelphia) left on schedule and both arrived early. We were 25 minutes early getting to Philly and 15 minutes early to Ottawa. Yes, I know that today is very mild for Ottawa in December but I am more glad of this than you can imagine. I need to be eased into this weather. To aid this along it was drizzly and chilly (22 degress C) in Nassau when I left.
My last 3 days were SOOOOOO AWESOME. The Orange Hill Beach Inn was a great place to stay. They are so laid-back there and the other guests there are of similar temperment. I had wanted to go diving - take a refresher course and a dive less than 65 feet but did so much more. A guest at Orange Hill, Nick from England, is an avid diver and helped me choose a dive company. It is a place called Stuart Cove's Dive which is a PADI Discover Scuba facility offering highly professional instructors, PADI certifications and tons of FUN.
So on Tuesday I went for the "refresher" dive. Did a quick equipment, communications and safety review followed by a skills review in shallow water (4'-8'). I was the only certified diver on that dive other than the photographer, instructors and dive master.
So I signed up for another dive on Wednesday. This was a 2 tank dive. Nick had a rented car and we drove over early to get all our gear prepared and ready for the trip so that when everyone else was arriving and frantically setting up we could sit and discuss the upcoming dive. Nick buddied up with a German fellow and long-time diver (I forget his name) and I buddied up with a guy who's name we didn't know because everyone referred to him by nicknames like "cellphone dude" or "stressed guy" or "NY trader". I think that says it all... the guy needs lessons in relaxation.
The first dive I registered my deepest as about 101 feet on my depth gauge and "cellphone dude" registered 29.8 metres on his dive computer. We were down for 41 minutes. It was a wall dive. Wall dives are just as it sounds... you dive down to a choral encrusted underwater cliff and dive down along the cliff exploring the coral, plants, fish, plankton, crustaceans and other sealife living on the wall/cliff. It was the best experience of my life and I must continue diving in order to see more.
The second dive was on a wreck but because I am not yet wreck trained and certified I did not go inside. There are specific methods, safety precautions and rules to wreck diving that I need to learn first. The "wreck" was deliberately sunk by Stuart Cove's Dive in the 70s for the filming of 007 Never Say Never Again (hope I got that title right - I'm not a big James Bond fan) and they provided training and stunt doubles for the film. It was interesting to see that this "wreck" has become home to so much sealife and an artificial reef. It is completely encrusted with coral and plankton. The dive went to 13-14 metres and lasted 44 minutes.
So I have already booked 2 morning 2-tank dives for January 2 & 3 when I go back. While I'm here I'll pick up some gear that is half the price here that I'd pay in the Bahamas.
Wednesday afternoon I went to the Yoga Retreat for one last 4:00pm class and meal. Another guest from Orange Hill, Gillian, had asked me the day before for a suggestion of a relaxing way to spend the day and I said "spend it at the yoga retreat" so she did. She was in the yoga class with me (her first in many years) and said later that she really enjoyed her day there. I said all my goodbyes to everyone and Gillian and I got on the boat to Nassau, got the 7:00pm Western Bus from "town" to Orange Hill and were home by 7:45. Nick was holding seats in the bar and buying a round so we all sat and reviewed our day. Nick and I bored everyone else with talk of the dive and diving in general.
I made so many new friends on this trip and have many people to visit all over the world now. I am planning to travel the UK and Ireland in June after the trip to Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland where I now have 5 people to visit.
It has also been suggested to me that I take the Teacher's Training Course offered through Sivanada Yoga. So a group of us are looking into doing that in India in 2003.
Well I will be in touch again soon but must get on with my day. Much to do and I am not anxious to go outside. YUCK!
Posted by gailene at December 20, 2002 10:43 AM