I’ve never felt like I’m missing out when Dave goes diving.  I’ve either tagged along and snorkeled, or chilled out at the beach.

Fast forward to today.  The place we stayed on St. Thomas had a dive shop that offered a free “Discover Scuba” course.  I’m not sure why I decided to take the class, but I did.  Maybe because it was free.  Or maybe because it was in a swimming pool instead of the ocean like the time in Australia.  Or maybe because I was a little tired of hearing Dave say things like, “I really think you’d be fine with diving if you tried again and learned in a pool.”  Or maybe because I wanted to push myself.  Probably a combination of all of these things.  Anyway, Dave was off doing the morning dive out on the ocean, so I took the opportunity to take the class.   

I had a mild freak out at the beginning of the pool session, but my instructor, Jessica, was amazing (there was another instructor that worked with the other people taking the class, who were decidedly not freaking out).  Jessica basically gave me a private Scuba lesson.  After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was probably 5 minutes, I finally got comfortable sitting on the bottom of the pool just breathing through the regulator (Jessica was sitting right across from me, very patiently waiting until her zen-like calm permeated through the water and reached me).  And after that, I practiced skills that I thought I would find difficult, like clearing my mask, equalizing my ears, and taking the regulator out and putting it back in under water.  They were actually pretty easy.  Then I put on my fins and went down to the deep end and swam around under water.

That afternoon, the dive boat went out to a spot that was good for divers and snorkelers.  I originally thought I would snorkel, but I decided to try diving.  The other people who took the morning class went too, so they had extra instructors there.  My new best friend Jessica stuck with me, and Dave documented the event that I’m sure he thought he’d never witness by following us around with his camera.  At first, it took a while for me to get down to the bottom because I didn’t have enough weights in my weight belt (I’m sure I looked hilarious – my legs kept floating upward no matter how much I tried to move downward).  But then Jessica put some more weights on my belt and I was in business.  Then, we started swimming around at depths between 15 and 40 feet.  I found it a little challenging, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised I was actually diving!  Here’s proof:

Taking the plunge.

It might be difficult to see in this picture but Jessica is holding my hand.

Comfortable enough for Jessica to swim a short distance away from me.

We did two dives that afternoon – the second one was a lot easier.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get certified, because it seems like a lot of hassle (there’s a lot to remember, there’s a lot of equipment, and I’m sure I won’t have someone as patient/attentive as Jessica next time).  But I’d like to try it again sometime.  It was very cool.

Here’s a picture neither of us ever thought would happen.

- Meredith

Checking out a small wreck.

For someone this is the one that got away. Who knows how long he’s been hauling that sinker around.

A live conch in its shell. In a bigger version of this, you can see an eyeball peeking out.

A big school of Southern Sennet.

The least skittish turtle I’ve seen. He swam up to us to check us out. Probably about 2 feet from my mask.

Our group  swims around the Cow.

A well hidden spiny lobster. Almost didn’t see him.

Squid. Mmm…calamari….

A squirrel fish.

And finally, yours truly.

- Dave

We dropped anchor in a small cove and snorkeled and ate lunch.

In a few hours we turned around and sailed back to the hotel. 

- Dave

On Wednesday night, the beach bar near our hotel was hosting a carnival night.  The food was a West Indian buffet, and we enjoyed the entertainment – a steel drum band made up of local school children, a stilt walker and some music.  We downshifted quickly to “island time” while waiting about an hour for our table.  Don’t feel bad for us – we were drinking piña coladas.

A Moko Jumbie (stilt walker) dances with children at the beach bar

On Thursday, we rented a car and drove around the island.  Everyone says St. Thomas is really crowded.  We didn’t think it was that bad – maybe it was because our expectations were set in advance, or maybe it was because there were only 2 cruise ships docked on the island that day.  We got acclimated to driving on the left side of the road, and off we went on a tour of the island, complete with wrong turns and a little bit of getting lost.  During the day, we went to Magen’s Bay beach, which really is a beautiful beach:

View of Magen’s Bay from the hills above

We also stopped for lunch at a place in Red Hook on the eastern end of the island.  Lunch was good, but my favorite part was the iguanas that hung out near the restaurant:

This guy was huge! Including the tail, he was probably 4 feet long.

Driving around the island was a beautiful and relaxing way to spend the day, and a good way for us to get oriented.

- Meredith

- Meredith