On Sarong Parties

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Today I took my first scuba dive ever! It was, in keeping with the theme of the trip, fabulous. One of those things that I've never done mainly never having been given the opportunity, but have always thought that if I ever tried it, I'd like it. I love it when I'm right!

We started with a Lesson in Scuba taught by Ray who used to be a scuba instructor. He showed us all the equipment, how it works, what the signals are that you use under water, and a few other bits. It seemed most people had been diving before at least once, but then not everyone was keen to go either.

My first decent was with Ray. I got all loaded up with a tank, flippers, weight belt, and various other paraphanelia and took a comically ungraceful walk over the back of the boat which Steve was good enough to capture on video (thanks for that). I then swam under the boat to where the anchor chain was and waited for Ray to join me. I'm not sure how long we were under, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second. Sea anemones, Nemo's (otherwise known as clown fish), urchins... So beyond beautiful. Wish I'd had a camera... Shauna went under with her camera wrapped up in some massive waterproof camera case so hopefully she'll have gotten some good shots...

Now I'm just waiting for dinner to be ready so perhaps I should mention that last night we had our Sarong Party. It was one of those events that I believe Jean and/or Nancy introduced as a planned activity for one night on the trip and, since Burma is so incredibly deserted, somehow it was decided that last night would be the night we would have it. Basic rules of engagement: No one comes to the sarong party unless they're wearing a sarong. Didn't really seem to matter how it was worn, just as long as it was on your person in one way, shape, or form.

As the night wore on and the G&T's flowed, there were those who got extremely creative - Steve, for one, at some point was wearing his like a veil. Katie turned hers into a dress as did Shauna. I'm really too tall to get away with that, so I wore mine in a more conventional manner. The boys overall were good sports about it and donned their sarongs with even a bit of pride, I think. We all agreed that Jim's was by far the best ("Have you seen Jim's? It's really quite impressive.")

Wolfgang made more of those raging pina coladas of his, and Chris put together some kind of bizarre concoction made of wine, beer, and I don't even know (or WANT to know) what else. I think it was Warren (who I should mention has aquired the nickname of "Casanova" for good reason!) dubbed Chris's mixture as the "bucket of booze".

Joy just announced dinner so I'm off. Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

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Photos

Sarong Party G&Ts
Left to right, Warren (Casanova), Nancy, The Other Warren, and me all enjoying our G&Ts at the Sarong Party. (Taken by Jean)

First Morning in Burma
AFTER we left the Kaw Thaung harbor, that is.

My First Dive
Me & Ray about to go down under. (Taken by Casanova)

The Chicago Club
Not ENTIRELY clear on what was going on here, but I think it centered around the fact that these were all the people in our group who either were from or had once lived near/in Chicago. (Left to right from the center: Nancy, Katie, Jim, Emily, & Jean)

Sarong Party Group Photo
This was an interesting picture to try and have taken as it was pitch black out and so no one could really see if the cameras were actually focused ON us or not. This was more or less the best of the bunch.