We weren’t starting off on a very good foot. Even before Cat Eye dropped us off at the dive shop, we knew we had forgotten our lunch. We had run out of yogurt for breakfast this morning, so we made eggs, and the added prep and clean up time caused for a bit of a mad scramble. I was fully ready with bag packed and body sunscreened, but Nathan was not. He was also the maker of breakfast, so I was trying to do my best to help him along.
We got to the dive shop and Allie and Neal were there with Marlon. We were the only divers so far, and we are expecting four others, all coming in off the cruise ship that just docked. The dive shop had discouraged them from attempting to make the morning dive, and had encouraged them to book the afternoon dive instead, but they eventually made it, and once all their gear was combobulated, we headed for the boat.
The waves are pretty big again today, but I get out to the boat with a dry head (goals!) and all in one piece.
The first dive today was the Victoria L, another wrecked ship. Marlon babysat me on the way down, and we again used the rope to get down. Once down there, he must have been holding on to the back of my BCD. I felt resistance as I tried to swim, and I felt a little like those toddler kids whose parents put them on leashes. Is that still allowed?
He eventually let go, or my imagination freed myself, and I was free to swim around the outside of the hull. There was quite a bit of growth on the boat and a lot of fishes swimming about. I made a few laps of the boat and noticed that the current was noticeably stronger at the bow and stern.
Nathan chose to go in the hull, and I looked from the top down into it, but no thank you, I was not going in there.
After about 20 minutes of boat exploration, we set off down the reef with Marlon in front, the four Canadian cruisers, and Nathan, myself and Allie in the rear. Towards the end of the dive, I saw a small goldspotted eel and Nathan and I lingered over it for maybe a bit too long, because once we were done and back to swimming along the reef, we couldn’t find the rest of the group.
Allie was quacking, and we were looking around, but eventually she made the call to end the dive. We made our three minute safety stop and surfaced. Within a few minutes, Marlon’s group had surfaced as well, and no Canadians or Americans were lost to the sea.
Its a shame too, because by the end of the day, Nathan and I were about ready to drown those friendly Canadians. The death knell was probably all their high tech dive gear they brought and their inability to get it all sorted and working correctly. As we were about to backward roll into the water for the second dive, one dude’s gear kept malfunctioning and the dive shop replaced his tank 3 times, before he was finally put together and not leaking air.
Allie looked back at me, to make sure I was ok, and I was fine, albeit annoyed. Canadians all put together, after what must have been a 10 minute delay, we were finally all ready to get into the water.
The second dive site was called The Valleys. There was quite a bit of current, and we basically just flowed with the current and let the reef pass us by.
Nathan saw a large scorpion fish and we also saw some bar jacks, many trumpetfish, a lobster walking around the bottom, and a lot of schooling chromis.
Once back on the boat, we motored to shore. The waves were pretty darn big, and Tim from the shop had waded out to the boat to help everyone off. When it was my turn, he said something British, which I took to mean I was too short to stand and a wave was going to take me anyway. So I leapt off the boat ladder and just started swimming away. Problem solved and I got props from Tim for a smart exit.
At the dive shop, we rinsed our gear, packed up and stamped our dive logs. Today was our last scheduled dive with Dive Grenada. I loosely inquired about tomorrow’s dive, which according to the board, had space for us.
Since we didn’t have a lunch, we ambled over to Savvy’s next door to have a bite to eat. The Canadian wives walked down to the Spice Market, and the Canadian husbands, by now on beer number two (or three) have invited themselves to join us at our table.
The service was leisurely, and for once, I was hoping to wham, bam, thank you ma’am this lunch and break free of those who seemed intent on having a six pack lunch. The wives showed back up, complaining about the length of the walk, and the sun, and all four moved to another table with more shade.
Once they had left, I proposed an idea for Nathan. We can join tomorrow’s dive, which Allie had said would be on the Atlantic side and the diver’s would all be locals. It would be an opportunity to see some new sites and potentially different terrain and fish. We agreed it seemed like a good idea, so I Whatsapp’d Allie and Cat Eye that we would be diving tomorrow.
Finally free to enjoy the beach, we set up our tent and spent the short remaining bit of the afternoon in the water and on the beach.
A quick grocery run to end the day, we hopped on a #1 bus to get home, and are currently tucked into our little cabana eating sushi with the spiciest wasabi on the planet.