Diving with Hammerheads

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We woke up at 6am to grab breakfast at 6:45...fruit plate with some bread, cheese, juice, and coffee. After breakfast we headed to SCUBA Iguana for our dives today. We had to be there by 7:20 to make sure all the gear was ready. We met everyone else in our group of 8, hopped in the cabs, and headed to the other side of the island (near Baltra) to hop on the dive boat and head to Isla Beagle. After a 30 minute car ride, a 1.5 hour boat ride (which included naps by all) we finally made it to our first dive spot.

To begin, we started with a checkout dive to 20 feet to make sure we had the correct amount of weights and to make sure we knew how to get our regulators back if they came out. While we were getting ready we saw a seal playing around in the water and looking at us. We got in to show our skills but he was already gone! 😞. After everyone passed the exam we hopped back in the boat and moved closer to the isla. We hopped in and around 15 feet I felt a stabbing pain from my right cheek through my eye and into my eyebrow...something is seriously wrong with my sinuses. I managed to equalize down to 60 feet where all the action was happening (it took a while though and a lot of pain) but I got to see some sea turtles and the first set of hammerheads (but only for a few seconds). I also got to swim with a school of fish at the beginning...I was in the middle of their school with fish above, below, and next to me swimming in the same direction...very cool. After a while the pain would come back and I would ascend 5-10 feet. The same thing kept happening and I would ascend some more to escape the pain...eventually I was on the surface and ended my dive.

The diveboat came to pick me up while everyone else finished the dive. I immediately went to my camelback to get the nasal spray I had in it to squirt up my nose to hopefully get me better for the next dive that was guaranteed to be better but it wasn´t in there!!! I took it out that morning before the dive because I didn´t think I would need it!!! SHIT! So at this point I´m thinking I´m screwed...I paid all this money to come out and dive with sharks and now I´m not going to be able to do it because of my f*ing sinuses! I asked the captain if he had any decongestant and he searched the medical kit for pills but couldn´t find any...I´ll ask the other divers when they finish to see if they have anything in their day bags to help.

After about 10 minutes everyone else returned and got back on the boat. I asked if anyone had anything and nobody did! I asked our guide Paulo if there was anything in the medical kit for my sinuses and he said there was only decongestant spray...Afrin...PERFECT! He gave me the brand new bottle, I eagerly sprayed 3 pumps in each nostril to hopefully be ready in 2 hours for the next dive at Seymour (I saw the video from yesterday and it is AMAZING!). I did not want to miss it at all! I took a nap along with everyone else on the 2 hour boat ride and had chicken and vegetables (shredded carrots and greenbeans and potatoes) which was pretty good. About 10 minutes before we reached our destination I still had some pain so I popped an 800 mg motrin to help me get through the stabbing pain in my cheek and eye.

We reached Seymour, geared up, and hopped in. Immediately we noticed the visibility was greater than Beagle. We saw some fish and then we saw the first clearly visible hammerhead swimming around near the bottom...AWESOME! I made it down to 80 feet without a problem with my sinuses...THANK GOD! On this dive we saw quite a few hammerhead sharks, some sea turtles, two seals on the hunt chasing fish, and a giant school of spotted eagle rays (about 20 adults and babies)...WOW. We also saw quite a few white tipped reef sharks chilling on the bottom, I think sleeping. I was so close to them that I could actually touch them if I wanted...but didn´t because it´s against the law to touch the animals in the national park! Starfish were also VERY abundant and we came across a starfish field at one point with about 20 starfish. All in all this was an awesome dive that I am sooooo thrilled I was able to go on.

After the dive we headed back (napping again) to Baltra and hopped in the taxis to head back to Puerto Ayora on the other side of the island. We made it back to the dive center and watched the slideshow of the pictures and video that were taken today (lucky for us our divemaster was the video guy so my group of 4 had a lot of GREAT pictures and video with us in it!). It was all amazing so we bought the CD for $20 bucks, well worth it. On our way out, I invited the cute German doctor from the dive to join me for drinks at the Rock and then dancing at the discotec around 9...she said sure. Mom and I headed to the Red Mangrove for some good sushi (she ordered vegetable rolls). After dinner, I headed to the internet cafe to upload pics and video to facebook and get caught up on the blog from the previous days...I´m soo behind! Even now, as I´m writing today´s blog, it is actually tomorrow night and I´m on Isabella island! It took quite a while to post all the pics and before I knew it, it was 8:50. I ran back to the hotel, changed, threw some deodorant on and some cologne and headed to the Rock.

I met Charly (the german chic) along with another guy from our dive (a dorky Austrian). We had a drink and then headed to a live local concert that was going on a few blocks away (she was invited by some band members she met the previous night out on the town). It was pretty lame until the band she knew got up and played...they were pretty good. At one point they started playing Merengue, so I grabbed her and started dancing...she´s a great follower! After dancing, listening to the band, and a few drinks, we headed to the discotec to get the night going. The Austrian guy was a lawyer for a bank...a super dwebey guy with absolutely no game. I think we were both trying to work the german tonight.

I ordered a drink for myself and Charly and we started dancing, the Austrian was like a third wheel, but it was still group dancing so not that bad. At one point he started dancing with her exclusively so I went and started dancing with some other girls...a girl from holland at one point, and then I grabbed the hottest chic I could find in the club (the holland chic´s friend), a chic from Norway named Christina...very sexy, tall blonde...I like dancing with tall girls, makes the whole bump and grind thing a lot easier (a lot less of a workout when I´m not constantly doing a wall sit!). After dancing with her for a few songs I thanked her and then went to dance with the doc. After a few dances, we ran out of drinks and needed some air. The three of us went to the bar to get drinks. I told the Austrian to ask girls to dance, and he was like which ones and why?...What a moron...I pointed out the ones I danced with and said they wouldn´t mind, and because I will be dancing with "this one" (pointing to Charly). He just gave me this little dorky smile and said ok...although he never did!

Charly said she needed to get some air outside, so I orded a red bull and vodka and went to the bathroom. I danced with a few more girls for about an hour and then went outside to look for her. I asked the bouncers "Donde esta la gringa?" They immediately pointed upstairs so I went upstairs to look for her...didn´t know there were two levels to this place. I made my way upstairs and saw her hanging out with the band we saw previously with one of the members trying to work her pretty hard...he had little game as well. I was invited to join them in drinking a bottle of tequila one shot at a time...a crap bottle of tequila to boot. Their english was good and they were pretty funny to hang around with. I took a few shots of tequila quickly followed by chasers of my red bull. After about an hour, the upstairs section closed (around 2) so they left and Charly joined me downstairs for some dancing.

It was hot on the dance floor and at some point we were the only ones dancing! We started dancing closer and closer until we started kissing...the Austrian guy is nowhere to be seen, I´m thinking he´s gone by now since we were both MIA for over an hour. After about 10 minutes homeboy shows up and cuts in EVEN AFTER HE´S SEEN US KISSING!! What a sucka! So I let him get some dancing time in, even I can do some charitable service every once in a while. After 10 minutes I cut back in and he disappeared. The club eventually closed and we went to the harbor to hang out and make out under the stars...really cool. I called it a night at 6am and finally went to bed (didn´t know what time I would have to be up in the morning, but probably 7 or 8)...she caught a boat off the island at around 7.

All in all, a pretty productive day!

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