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Vail Colorado
Mesa, Me, Ian (my brother), and Kim Vail Colorado
I visited my brother and his wife in Colorado for a weekend in the mountains to go snowboarding. Even though it was late season we received lots of fresh fluffy snow, which was good for me since it had been so long since the last time I went snowboarding. The only bad part was that I was so excited to be back in the mountains and then I had to leave again so soon. I definitely need to plan the next trip to be longer.
Puerto Rico
I had the opportunity to visit Puerto Rico for a few days, so of course I jumped on it. Unfortunately the day I flew there I came down with the flu bug and spent the next few days in bed. I was able to spend one day touring the small island. The beaches were either breaking with great surfing waves, or calm clear water where you could see the reef below. One thing on the island I noticed was that across the island walls, fences, buildings and old ruined buildings were painted with beautiful murals. It made everything so much more attractive.
Another amazing thing was that in a
Puerto Rico
Painted wall along a city beach matter of 20 min we went from hot 90 degree weather at sea level to thousands of feet up to the chilly mountains where you literally are above the clouds looking down onto them. It was so beautiful.
STCW 95 Course
In the beginning of April I attended the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies for a course to fulfill the requirements for the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, STCW '95 Certification. This is a basic certification required by most ships to work offshore.
The certification is actually a completion of 4 small separate courses:
Basic Firefighting - In this course I actually went to the firefighting academy and was able to fight real fires. It was super interesting and challenging. First we had to find our way through a completely dark two story house on our knees in full firefighting gear including the self contained breathing apparatus. Then we did second drill similar but in a smoke filled black out following the water hose in and then back out. We were able to extinguish various small fires with different hand held fire extinguishers. We also learned how to man the firefighting
Firefighting
Gearing up. (I was the only girl with 13 other men) hoses and eventually used them to put out a simulated engine fire in a very small "engine room". The heat was intense and you can even feel the pressure changes popping your ears. This was an absolutely fascinating experience for me since I always wanted to try firefighting. It's not an easy job!
Personal Survival Techniques - Here we learned numerous in water techniques for survival in man overboard and abandon ship scenarios. The best part of this was maneuvering in survival suits - giant super buoyant/warm suits. You basically turn into a giant red marshmallow puff man designed to float on top of the water.
Personal Safety and Social Responsibility and
Basic First Aid Costa Rica
I went back to Playas del Coco, Costa Rica for one last week. It was nice and relaxing and really great to see everyone again. While I was there I gave my final course, the DAN Oxygen Provider Course for Scuba Diving Injuries, to some of the employees at Ocotal.
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
I visited my old roommate, Kat, in her new home in the British Virgin Islands. I had been taking care of her cat,
Road Town, Tortola
Colorful caribbean street. Pedro, for the last year in a half and now it was time to bring him back to his mom. Kat is the manager of Dive Tortola so I was able to do some nice diving. We even visited the famous wreck of the 310 ft RMS Rhone that sank in a hurricane in 1867. This was a great dive! Also, it is amazing how big lobsters can get when they are protected!!
We also jumped in and joined a small sailing race which was super fun! The boat Kat and I were on came in 2nd place overall (I'm not sure that we had much to do with that though). We did learn a lot more sailing terminology and see how close the boats come to "almost" hitting each other!
And next...
Now I will be heading off to start working offshore. I'll update this page when I can with info abut my new job.
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones that you did. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the harbor and catch the trade Vail Colorado
It's snowing! winds in your sails. EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER.
-Mark Twain
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andrea
non-member comment
FORTUNATE TRAVELLER!!! Never forget how fortunate you are. How many places you've visited, how many different people you've met, how many streets you've walked by... all those oceans, mountains and cities you've seen! Some times the easiest things to forget are the best we've lived...