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Oceania » Cook Islands » Rarotonga
February 7th 2011
Published: February 7th 2011
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As we say here on Raro… The Island always wins, and this week it stole my time from me. I completely failed to post last week, somehow it just kept getting put off. So this week I will hopefully catch everyone up!

24/1

Busy day at the shop. When I got home I decided to go to bed early. I hadn’t been sleeping well so I popped a few Tylenol PMs and looked forward to just crashing. Unfortunately, around 930pm Steve called and told me he was picking me up because Sara had been in a bike accident and I needed to either help watch his kids or go with Sara to the hospital. Obviously I jumped out of bed and we headed over to where she was. I ended up riding in the Ambulance with her, she was pretty shaken up. We got to the hospital and they cleaned her up and took a few x-rays of her right hand, it was pretty badly cut up. The good thing was she was wearing a jacket so most of her injuries were just surface scratches, but those really hurt the worst because they effect all the nerve endings. The doctor wasn’t in, of course so she had an appointment for the next day. Thank goodness the final prognosis was pretty good. She ended up with one stitch above her eye, two in a cut on her elbow, some pretty good scratches up and down her right leg and arm with accompanied bruises. She had severed a tendon in her hand and had to have that operated on but she is healing VERY well and is almost back to new. Her hand looks great, all of her fingers work and she should be able to get back in the water soon. It was pretty scary though, and another reminder to be extra careful on the gravel with these scooters.

25/1

Lack of sleep caught up with me and thank goodness I got to go home after going to the pool and took a 2 hour nap. Felt ok for the afternoon but after I got home I made dinner and went straight to bed at 730pm and didn’t even roll over for 12 hours. Felt like magic the next day though!

26/1

Happy Australia Day!!! In honor of our Aussie Instructor, Courtney, we had a big BBQ with everyone from the shop, some recent Open Water students and the staff from another dive shop on the island.

28/1

The gang got together for another BBQ at Steve’s. Tom made the most amazing sushi with a tuna one of the locals had dropped off for Steve. Tom, Sara, Steve and I had the next day off so we had a great time getting completely hammered, haha!

29/1

My first Saturday off! I got up around 8 and met up with Brynn and Ina at the weekend markets. They are every Saturday in town and are a great place to get handmade gifts as well as great food and even the best prices for local produce. For breakfast we had this amazing grilled flying fish with coconut cream and taro….mmmmm, very yummy! For dessert I topped it off with a crepe filled with Nutella and banana, also absolutely amazing! I got some fruit and veggies, did some shopping and then headed home. It was a pretty gross, rainy day. Sara picked me up after her doctor’s appointment and we watched movies and ate junk food all afternoon. It was a great day off.

30/1

Tim and Lucile moved into their new apartment just down the road and had us over for dinner. The place is absolutely amazing!! They are up on the hill with a great view of the lagoon and the motu’s with a porch covered with a passion fruit vine…..I am seriously jealous!

31/1

Tim and I went on our first night dive which was great. It was even more quiet and peaceful than diving in the day. I thought I would be pretty nervous but I really enjoyed it. At one point we all covered our flashlights and you can move your hand through the water and small fluorescent particles light up. The last ten minutes weren’t all that great though because for some reason the visibility started to diminish which meant even though we had torches, we couldn’t really see. The sky was really clear on the surface though and the stars were out in full force. Great sight out on the ocean! At 1am our new intern Amanda got in. She is living with me now and its just the two of us since Tim and Lucile moved out and Sara is at Steve’s temporarily babysitting for half the day. She is 26, from London and a lot of fun. We get along great so far and I am looking forward to having lots of great stories to tell.

1/2

I worked in the morning then took the afternoon off since we were slow and took Amanda for a tour around the island. We stopped in town and got her some groceries and what not. Its hard when you don’t have wheels of your own and you just get to a place not knowing where anything is. I know I would have been a lot worse off if Sara hadn’t helped me out my first day here. I figured I would pass on the sentiment.

2/2

Poor Amanda had the craziest first day ever. In the morning she went out on the boat with Tim and Tom. They had a group of 5 Americans from the cruise ship that had come in. One lady ended up needing oxygen and had to be taken back to the ship, we aren’t exactly sure why she freaked out. She was at the surface and sort of had a meltdown. Poor Amanda! The afternoon was just as hysterical with Courtney’s Open Water student being a total moron. He was super odd and totally not with it. Which is very concerning seeing as he is an ER triage doctor. Yikes!

3/2

Torrential doesn’t even describe the rain sometimes here in the tropics. Even though it was pouring buckets of rain, I went to the Rarotongan’s pool and as I am sure you can guess, there was not a soul there to turn into business. The staff took pity on me though and hooked me up with a free latte. The afternoon actually cleared up and Tom, Amanda and I took the boat out so Tom could repair the mooring at the Mataora Wreck site. After he was done, Amanda and I went for a quick 30 minute dive. I lead us around the wreck then out into the nice coral formations. It was a fun dive and I felt pretty confident leading it myself which was nice! Courtney came over after work and the three of us has some quality girl time, drinking beer and complaining about guys. Telling funny stories and just having a good time. To top it off, we went back to the shop and Tom made us all dinner. What a good guy! Tom is a pretty good cook and I do envy Courtney that for sure! I also got a present that night, the mechanic who sold me my bike took it into look at it since it was pulling to the left pretty bad as it went down the road and after dinner I came home to two brand new tires and a new seat, free of charge!! Woohoo! 

4/2

TGIF. It was a beautiful day in paradise and we had a clear morning so Steve grabbed Tim, Amanda and I and we took the boat out. I did my last skill dive towards my Advanced Open Water which was a search and recovery dive. Steve hid 4 weights at the bottom and I had to use two different search patterns to find them, with Tim as my buddy. I navigated while he was the lookout. After they were found I used a lift bag to bring them to the surface. These are pretty cool things, you fill them with a bit of air from your tank and they float stuff up to the top. My perfectionism came through in flying colors, Steve told me that I had the most precisely executed search patterns he has ever seen, which tend to be pretty tricky. I was pretty proud of myself for the rest of the day. I am also really excited because I am now done with my Advanced! In a few weeks I will be starting my Rescue Diver Course and then I will start my Divemaster. I am 6 weeks into my 18 week trip and also a third done with my training… good stuff! Amanda and I went out for drinks and dancing that night and had an absolutely amazing time! Good cap off to the week.

5/2

Another rainy day. There was a bit of miscommunication on whether Amanda or I was supposed to work so we both went in. My bike was still in town because we were not in a state to drive it back at the end of the night so Tim and I went in to check on the boat and grab my bike. Since there was nothing going on we took our time, stopped for coffee and breakfast. When we got to the boat, we left the lights on too long on the truck (about 2 minutes total!) and killed the battery. We ended up pulling the battery out, put it on the footboard of my bike and hauled it back to the shop. Picture this sight for a minute though: its pouring down rain so I was inventive and grabbed a mask from the shop, put it on so I could see, hopped on my bike, car battery between my feet and Tim huddled up on the back….. driving down the road at 60km like its normal. I don’t know if I will be able to fit back in to American life when I get back. I am quite comfortable living like this. I am also pretty sure that I will be buying either another scooter or a full on motorcycle when I get back because these bad boys are addicting!!!

6/2

I was off today. Opted for some beach time instead of going to the bar to watch the Super Bowl. From what I see on Facebook, it was not terribly great anyway. I cleaned the house and we are having everyone over for sushi night at ours.


As always….. so much love to my family!! I finally got to talk to my Daddy on the phone this week and it put so much joy in my heart. My Dad is my rock. He is my constant in an ever changing sea of uncertainty. He is my soft landing spot on the ground when my flying takes me too high. He is also always there to re-launch me and encourage me to soar, even if he doesn’t really understand why I want to in the first place. He calms me and guides me and I miss him. I used to think it took a strong person to leave home and travel the World. To leave a place and life you know and become completely free and different. I thought I really wanted to be that person, one who was quite content to leave home behind. Now I am starting to think it takes a stronger person to leave home, travel the World, and still love and appreciate where they come from. I’m not sure how, but I’d like to keep my roots as well as my wings. To all those who support me: Thank you!! I would be lost without you!!

Until next week!
Kia Orana
C
xx


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10th February 2011

And I was worried about the diving....
Sounds like I need to worry about the DRIVING.... Hope Sara is OK and you take your own advice......watch those gravel roads....not the beautiful scenery, water, guys......?!?!?!?!!?

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