Manatees and more

---

Last weekend was quite the Carribean weekend! I have been continuing to soak up the sun and catch up on all the amenities available to us lucky folks spending time in Ambergris Caye.

PADI
I finished the water portion of my open water PADI course I have been taking with Oliver on Saturday. We had 2 dives and more skills to complete. After we set up our equipment, and headed over the reef, we were quick to get in the water. I did a back roll entry for the first time (put all the equipment on, and sitting on the side of the boat, roll backwards into the water), and then Oliver and I started descending right away. Immediately I started to panic. I could breath just fine, and was equalizing my ears, but for some reason I was panicked. Oliver was right with me, and holding my hand, looking into my eyes, so he knew I was panicked. Using our hand signals I was able to tell him something wasn’t right, and after a few minutes, we came to the surface. Turns out we had only been about 5-10 feet under. After talking for a second, we started to descend again. I knew I could breath, and I didn’t have this problem yesterday at all, so I didn’t know what was wrong. Again on the descent I was panicked, but continued down. Soon, Oliver pointed out some fish, and immediately I was more relaxed and started swimming with them as we continued down.
The dive then went great. Even though I was now comfortable, the initial panic stayed with me a little, and even though I tried not to think this, I was looking forward to being done. At one time during the dive I noticed a spotted eagle ray heading towards us. We stopped to watch, and the eagle ray danced along the edge of the reef. It then turned out away from the reef and made a big circle out into the deep and back. As it was swimming out into the deep, (deep being the edge of the coral, or the edge of the world as Oliver calls it. It feels like this because the coral stops and you can really see nothing further as the ocean gets very deep and very black here), I had to turn back and look at the coral. Seems I was getting panicked again looking out into that vast space. At the end of the dive, we slowly ascended and headed to a calm spot on the other side of the reef for awhile to let the nitrogen levels in our blood even out.
I believe that what panicked me was that I was disoriented, but did not recognize it yet. The ocean was rough, and I had just entered with a back roll and then immediately went down. There was quite a distance for us to travel to reach the bottom and the in between is just a vast ocean without a point of reference. It reminded me of an empty, vast tunnel with the sun shining at the top, and unable to see the bottom. The tunnel between 2 worlds. Like the tunnel I hear about when traveling from this world to the next.
After our long stop, we headed back over the reef (even though I was hoping we were done) for our last dive. This time everything went much smoother. I didn’t panic at all, and had a lot of fun. My body felt very relaxed and I was able to focus more on my swimming style rather than just trying to remember everything I needed to do to stay safe. We stopped on the bottom for awhile, and it was fun to roll around on the ocean floor and walk around. I imagine this is what it would feel like to walk on the moon. Before I knew it, we had been down for an hour! So we ascended and that finished my water training. I was so happy to have a great experience for my last dive. Hopefully I will have an opportunity before I leave to go on another dive now that I am certified.

Lobster Fest
The same day was the Lobster Fest Celebration in central park. The evening started by meeting my friend Jacques and 4 new friends from France. The previous weekend I met 2 gals my age and 2 older gentlemen, all from France. I went to Placencia for the weekend, and they were chartering a catamaran from TMM which is where I was hanging out with Jacques who works there. The gals Seline and Lolo were on their way around the world for 1 year. They met some friends in Placencia for a 2 week catamaran trip. This weekend they stopped in San Pedro for 1 night, and we took them to Lobster Fest. Lobster Fest celebrates the beginning of lobster season by most of the restaurants in town selling lobster prepared in all different ways. I had Lobster Masala from Blue Lotus Restaurant, and some Lobster kabobs. It was incredible food, and there is always a lot of entertainment from the children's dance company whenever there is a event in central park. The evening ended dancing at Jaguars night club.

Manatee
Sunday was a friends 30th birthday, and her husband organized a surprise catamaran trip with her friends. We took the cat over near Caye Caulker for some chilling and swimming. Shortly after we arrived, a couple manatees showed themselves to us as they came up for air. I put my mask and snorkel on and started heading over. Once I got a little closer, Char came back and gave me her fins so I could swim better, and get closer. Ted pointed them out to me but it was still quite a ways a way, and I couldn’t see that well. So we swam closer, and then the manatee turned towards us and swam over to us. There it sat suspended about 8 feet under the surface just hanging out. It performed some nice gentle turns so I could get a good look at all his sides. He was very quiet and gentle. No sudden movements here. I was concerned that making noise would scare him, but I was clearing my snorkel a lot and swimming, and it didn’t seem to bother him at all. After a while I returned to the boat, just as 3 large boats full of snorkeling tourists arrived for some Manatee action. Seeing 35 pairs of flailing arms and fins looked like a sure fire way to scare away a Manatee so I was happy I had my one on one.

Believe it or not, I am still looking forward to coming home to see everyone!

---