Today was my first day diving. It is an improvement over snorkeling but just slightly. There are more fish to see but that was about it. I did see part of a crab. Still no turtles, octopus or stingrays.
It does take time to get set up for the dive, I have to fill out some paperwork, they actually checked my certification card and being over a certain age they require a note from my doctor saying I am healthy enough for diving. I get my physical every year so I just have my doctor fill it out then. I’m not sure what will disqualify a person, they have a poster about scuba diving being inclusive of all kinds of people.
This is the first place that they have had me assemble my dive gear since doing it for my certification class in Jamaica. All the other places have it ready for you. I have a bin and hanger space assigned to me. My short fins are more suited for snorkeling so they gave me longer ones with my BCD and regulator. I used my mask and snorkel, I don’t use a wetsuit normally.
I did two dives, both 45 minutes according to the dive masters, I had two different ones. The first was Peter, he runs the shop and Jason an ex- homeland security guy from D.C. that has been living here the last two years. He’s logged over 400 dives and became a dive master in that time.
There is more salt in the water here so I need a few more pounds of weight to help keep me down, especially when the tank gets low, it becomes more buoyant.
The red filter shows up on some of the photos, I need to get an editor that will remove it or add it instead of keeping it on my camera. It helps with some of the deeper pictures and in blue waters.
Emily was able to go snorkeling from the same beaches with me and they didn’t interfere with her.
We went to Isabelle Off The Beach for dinner. The food was good but probably not the best value. It was a nice place overall but probably not somewhere that we will be going back to. Jason recommended the Jalapeno Watermelon Margaritas there, we skipped them.
I’m diving again tomorrow, I don’t know if anyone else is going with me. My first dive we took one of the employees learning to guide and the was a Canadian guy who might try for one more before he has to leave. He will need to wait before he can fly so I don’t know if he has the time.
Traveling with Emily! 