One week in..........

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.......and settling in!

Hi everyone, hope you are all very well!

Well, I left London town last Sunday morn, and flew via Miami to Cancun. Met this 19 y.o. English girl at customs in Miami who was on the same flight. She's heading out to Mexico to do some diving on a nature reserve. She was a bit lost, as this was her first time flying on her own, so I took her under my wing and looked after her!

Anyway, American Airlines managed to lose both of our bags in between Miami and Cancun. Muppets! Took 2 days and several irate phonecalls before it finally landed in Caye Caulker!

The buses down from Cancun to Belize City were surprisingly fine. They took about 11 hours in all, and there were loads of Brits and Europeans on them! A few of the Brits came out to Caye Caulker for a few days so that was cool.

Caye Caulker itself is a tiny island that was split in half by a hurricane, Hurricane Hattie. It has to be sen to be believed! the main road is made out of sand, an iguana crossing the road causes a traffic jam, and the police car is a golf buggy with a blue flashing light on top of it!

I'm staying at Tina's hostel, and after changing rooms, I now have a lovely room that looks out onto the beach. Actually as soon as you step out of the hostel you're on the beach. 3 steps and you're in the sea! There are plenty of friendly people passing through, and there's always someone to sit in the hammocks and have a rum and coke with! (Exactly where I'm off after writing this!)

here's the link. Unfortunately Tina is away at the moment............... ;0)

http://falconview0.tripod.com/tinasbackpackershostel/

As for the dive school, I was really thrown in at the deep end (Sorry!). I turned up on Monday afternoon, and have been diving twice a day ever since. As I'm doing my Dive Master qualification, I'm expected to help out the students and have even led a few dives. It was quite frightening to think that I was expected to do and know everything on day 1, and it took a couple of days to get used to it, but the good thing is that its all second nature now.

Here's the link to the school:

http://www.belizedivingservice.com/

The woman who runs the school, Kathy, is like a headmistress. She's ex US military, and is very upfront. It took a couple of days to gain her trust, but fortunately she had a lot of positive feedback off some of the divers I dived with, and I got 100% in my first exam, so now she's cool! ;0) The rest of the guys (about 7 of them) took a bit of getting used to, especially learning their names, and understanding what the heck they are saying. Still got no effing idea most of the time!

Anway, having got to know them, and spending a couple of evenings drinking rum and coke whilst whuppin them at pool, they're cool. They keep asking about English girls, England, and want to buy everything from my ipod to my mobile phone as everything is sooo expensive here for them!

The diving is really great though, all boat diving on reefs which is fun as I haven't done much boat diving before. As a Dive Master, my tank and jacket just gets thrown into the sea, and I have to dive in after it and put it on in the sea which takes a bit of getting used to!

The wildlife is fantastic, seen loads of turtles, including 2 huge loggerheads today. Lots of Nurse Sharks too. I accidentally kicked one whilst descending the other day! It was only about 5 foot and looked more scared than I was surprised! A few rays too, which are so beautiful to watch. Certainly beats the view from my old desk in London (No offence Kate!)..........

It looks as though I'm going to be here for a while yet. I've got at least another 22 dives to do, so thats 11 days at least. Then all my studying, working with students, practising techniques, swimming tests, etc, so will probably be here for at least 3 weeks.......But its cool, and a great place to unwind, relax and start my trip. It feels as though you're in a bubble on this island, which is really a great feeling!

I've got a ticket from Cancun to Rio on July the 6th, and would really like to head to Tikal, Palenque, and Chichen Itza before I leave. We'll see...............!

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