Today was a good day. Bittersweet, because it is our last day of diving, but it was a good one.
We got up at 5:45, which is the usual time for us if we have a morning dive. The dive shop asks us to be there by 7:15, and our prearranged tuk tuk arives at 6:50. We usually don’t particularly have our stuff organized, so it gives us time to make coffee, eat breakfast and get ready.
Oddly enough, its also about the time I wake up for work, so its like I’m not even on vacation at all.
Our tuk tuk diver Chover has always been super prompt. Actually, for the most part, everyone is super prompt. We have not run into any Island time here, so, when we were ready on our beach and my watch said 6:53, we decided to start to walk, just in case.
We made it just a little ways, and Chover drove up to get us. We had him stop at the ATM on the way, and we were off.
A funny story about the ATM. On Saturday when we arrived, we hit the bank as one of our first stops. We each have our Charles Schwab investor checking cash card, but generally, only I use mine. Nathan’s is just for back up. The ATM is one of those locked cubicles. You put the card in the slot, the door unlocks, and you pull the card out and go in. It took several tries to get in, because we kept pulling the card out before pulling the door open.
So, anyways, we both get inside the cubicle. I put my card in the machine and the words on screen are all Spanish. Crap. Pull card out. The machine then asks English or Español. Whew. It also tell me to put the card back in because it has a chip. Done. I select English and I thought we were in business. Pin, checking, withdrawal, 5000 lempiras, denied. It said I tried my pin too many times. Great. Mild panic. We tried again with my card. All the same steps, same result. Fudge. We tried again with Nathan’s card, and what we thought was his pin. No go. Moderate panic and fear. I tried again with his card and my pin. All the same steps, and we were successful. Hallelujah, we can eat tonight.
I added call schwab to my list of tasks for day number one, and we went about our business. Only the next day, when I pulled my card out to make the call, did we figure out we’d each had the other person’s card in our pocket or wallet. Whoops!
Dewey, Julio, and Mariam were already there getting gear ready. We got our gear on the boat and then we waited. There is a new couple joining us today. Dewey and Nathan went upstairs to get coffee, and we waited.
The new couple showed up, got their gear ready, and Dewey overheard me explaining to them what all the doo dads were on their BCD and how to use them. Not sure what Dewey was thinking exactly, but he had a big smile on his face.
We all boarded the boat and took off. We also have Claudia and two snorkelers, so it is a full boat. We got to the first dive site, Jack Neil, and we all hopped in. There is a large sand patch to cross, and we crossed it looking for creatures that live in the sand.
The new divers seem less experienced and the wife was having trouble equalizing. Hey, we’ve all been there. It was an odd feeling to hang back and let Dewey attend to them while I just toodled around on my own. Not anxious and somewhat gratifying, I guess. One of the nice things about diving in close proximity to Dewey is that he points out all the little creatures of interest, so that was what I was potentially missing.
Towards the end of the first dive, Dewey spotted a seahorse in about 12-15 feet of water. We all hovered for a closer look. I was too buoyant in that shallow water, what with the two slices of cake I ate yesterday, and I slowly floated to the top. I was on the surface looking down when Dewey noticed and added some weight to me so I could descend again.
We got to the boat and the new couple got out. Nathan got out too, but I was still under water for a bit. When I finally surfaced, Dewey, Mariam and Claudia had gone back under water with the camera to look at the seahorse. Since I didn’t get the greatest look at him before, I descended by myself and went over to see him. So cool. Dewey was helping me stay still, and Claudia was breathing with Mariam’s octopus.
3 dives for the price of one! Wow. We got back in the boat, had pineapple and cantaloupe and motored to the second dive site.
After our surface interval, we all geared back up and hopped back in the water. Mariam and her student Julio were first, and then Dewey’s group was second.
We hadn’t been in the water very long, when I could hear someone furiously banging their tank. I looked around, and Dewey was behind us attending to the new couple, so I discounted the noise for a second, but it continued. Mariam and Julio were below us, Mariam furiously banging her tank and pointing. And there he was, a spotted eagle ray swimming along in front of us.
Towards the end of the dive, we completed our safety stop, and hovered over the coral at about 12-15 feet or so. Dewey motioned to us that we could get out when we were done. The new couple promptly did, but I had lots of air left, so I stayed watching the fish. I was especially enamored with the Fairy basslets. Totally bright purple head and front half of the body, with an equally bright orange rear and tail.
Nathan also got out of the water and by this time Dewey is telling me its time to get out. One more minute I motion. I was at 59 minutes, and I wanted to make it 60.
We got back in the boat and drove to the shop, cleaned up our gear, and settled up. Tomorrow is our last full day before flying, so we can’t go diving.
We headed upstairs for an after dive anafre and margarita, and then started walking home before catching a tuk tuk.
We spent the afternoon, on our porch, and in the hammock. Its quite windy, so snorkeling was out. I tried standing in the sandy patch in the water and reading, but promply got my book wet and ripped a page, so that was out too.
Around 4 pm, Nathan noticed that our usb wall charger wasn’t working, and he thought it was broken. Shit. Turns out the power on the island is out. Great.
We tidied our room before heading to dinner, since we don’t know when the power might come back on. We don’t have enough cash for dinner, and I suspected that the ATM wouldn’t work, so we grabbed some USD and walked into town.
I was right. No power, no ATM, and no power, no credit card. We got by with what we had and an unripped American $20.
The power came back on by the time we walked home, but wouldn’t you know, the ATM had run out of cash. An errand for tomorrow I guess.