Dive, Dive, Dive!

We’ve been scuba diving every day. As I was diving it occurred to me I ought to blog about it. For me it’s normal… awesome, but normal. However, for the vast majority of people it’s an unknown. Let me start at the beginning. A long, long time ago I went snorkeling in Hawaii. There were divers on the boat and I found myself watching them more than the fish. I was fascinated by their freedom. I got certified and am now an advanced diver (not a big deal in the scuba world). Let me tell you what happens when you dive at a Club Med.

We arrived Saturday, went straight to the dive team (Seafari), and signed up for the next morning. After grabbing breakfast with the other divers before most of the resort has woken up, we hustled to the scuba center. A Seafari diver (usually an instructor) handed us a BCD (an inflatable vest) and a regulator (the tubes and mouthpiece we breathe out of). It’s placed in a big bag and we shoulder it along with our fins and snorkels and headed down the dock to the scuba boat. First I handed the deck-hand my bags and then I timed my step onto the boat to not fall between the boat and the dock and make a fool of myself.

Once on board we went straight to one of the six benches lined with scuba tanks full of compressed air. What followed was about fifteen minutes of controlled chaos as beginners and super advanced divers all clank around trying to get their BCDs and regs attached to a tank. A dive master, who’s in charge of boat safety, did roll call as the giant catamaran is under way heading out the channel. Before we arrived at the site we were called together in groups to get a dive briefing from one of the instructors. They showed us a map and explained what type of sea life and topography we should see. They told us the diving laws for this country and some safety rules for the boat. Each boat has an alarm horn to alert us during our dive if they have an emergency on board and we must return as quickly as possible to the boat.

The boat arrived at the dive site and tied off to the buoy, and Captain Hemal says, “The pool is open!” Then it’s chaos again as we all shuffled to the back of the boat with at least fifty pounds worth of gear on our backs… while wearing fins! Every time a wave tilted the boat everyone shuffles sideways. Finally it was my turn to take the giant stride off the back. In my case I jumped in first (with a weighted belt on!), and they tossed my gear in to me. I put the BCD on in the water while Joe swam around me making sure it’s all done correctly (a Velcro cummerbund and 4 clips). We looked at each other through our masks and gave the “OK” sign to descend.

That’s when the world changes. The reef was below us as we slid through the silky salt water. The only sound was my Darth Vader breathing. My ears began to hurt immediately as always, so I pinched my nose and blew… pop! I continued to pop my ears as I descended to the reef-top. Joe and I felt the current and pointed the direction we should go—against the current. It’s so much easier to drift back to the boat on the way back. Then we swim out over the wall and the fun begins.

On this dive we were pretty excited because it’s one of our favorites. It’s called The Great Cut. Basically it’s a narrow canyon that drops from about 45 ft to 110 ft. The sun sent shafts of light into it making the dive surreal. Directly below, to the side, or above us, the grey reef sharks followed us curiously. I kept an eye on them in my periphery. They’re not at all dangerous, but still… they are sharks… big ones. Right away we encountered a giant barracuda blocking the entrance of the canyon. We politely swam over him while keeping an eye on those sharp teeth he kept opening his mouth to show us.

I pulled my flashlight out of my pocket and began inspecting every nook and cranny. After we exited the canyon we hooked a left and went along the outside wall, which drops off to an unknown depth. Right away I spotted the spindly legs of a lobster hiding under a coral ledge. I waved Joe over to see and it decided it had better defend its little cave and came charging out to wave its claws menacingly. We moved on before it had a heart attack. Next fun spotting was a black and white spotted eel. I don’t usually get to see anything but the head (except on night dives), but this guy had its head out pretty far, and as a bonus I could see about 6 inches of its tail peeking out of the coral several feet away.

The entire time the sharks were checking us out. Trust me, I was checking them out too. Then we saw a stingray with its fish. For some reason stingrays always have a medium sized black fish that swims directly above them. Another diver clanked a metal wand on their tank to get our attention. Looking over we saw her pointing to the reef. I swam over and stared at the spot. Looking up at her I lifted my hands questioningly. She pointed again. Just when I was ready to give up I saw the camouflaged scorpion fish right in front of me! That was a treat. Our air was getting low so we signaled to each other to head back to the boat. On the way we saw a couple more stingrays, a bat ray, and a million tiny fish going about their busy little lives.

Once we found the boat we held up three fingers and tapped our palms to communicate we agree to do our three minute safety stop. Slowly we ascended to about fifteen feet and floated for three minutes. This is always when I practice my buoyancy and keep an eye on those sharks. It’s fun to just hang there and watch the other divers all doing the same thing. Then it’s time to surface. We gave each other the signal and very slowly ascended to the noisy air breathing world. With water slapping me in the face I grabbed the ladder and removed my BCD to hand up to the dive master. Then I took my fins off while being tossed back and forth like a rag doll. Finally I climbed the ladder and the dive master asked, “How was your dive?”

Coming back to the resort we heard Captain Hemal shout, “Dolphins!” This caused a mad dash to the edge of the boat to watch our dolphins escort us to dock. There were two large ones and suddenly a small one swam into view. The dive team was ecstatic at this first sighting of the season. Dolphins tend to stay in the same area their entire lives. They were thrilled to see their pair had had a baby. The babfy will most likely move away at adulthood to find its own humans to play with. As soon as we reached the dock, tied off, unloaded our gear, and hauled it up to the dive shop, we raced back to the dock and jumped in. This was my very first swimming with dolphin experience, and boy did it deliver! They came right up to us and swam figure 8s around Joe and I for ten minutes. Occasionally they’d arch out of the water in mock battle. Wow, what a thrill! It took all my self-control to not touch them.

Club Med with Clay

I’m completely relaxed, as I sit here with the laptop on my lap… almost lethargic. The island music is softly playing behind me where I can hear the bartender dumping a bucket of ice into the ice-bin. The ocean is softly lapping against the rocks in front of me and a gentle breeze is fluttering my hair. The scent of salty air is mixed with the wine I’m sipping. It’s about 6:30 and the sun has slipped behind the clouds on the horizon leaving a pale apricot hue to the sky. Paradise.

To my left is Clay Boyce. He’s dozing with his shoes off in an Adirondack chair. He’s had an exciting three days, especially yesterday when he turned ninety years old (I wrote this last week but haven’t had strong enough WiFi to post it). We are at Club Med—Columbus Isle. They did a fantastic job of fussing over him and making his birthday a big deal, which it was. Club Med has a shirt that is standard issue at every Club Med… it has a 45 on it. No one knows why this is the most popular shirt for the company, but it is. As you know two 45s equals 90, therefore the management made the executive decision to have two of their female employees (GOs) guide him to his birthday party, one on each arm. Of course they had their 45 shirts on and Clay wore his shirt that said; It Took Me 90 Years to Look This Good.

We were all surprised when he was escorted to the theater after dinner, and they placed us in the front row. Well, okay I wasn’t surprised because they told me ahead of time, but Clay was very surprised when one of the top management guys at the resort dedicated a song to him, “Fly me to the Moon.”

He preceded his song by explaining to the audience who Clay was. Are you curious who Clay is yet? He came with Joe, me, and our buddy Bill to Club Med. I met him two years ago at Il Forno Classico in Gold River, California. I was sitting next to him at the bar and struck up a conversation with him… shocker huh? He had an iPad open and was perusing his collection of photos. The one that got my interest was a picture of the Saturn launch vehicle for the Apollo Program—I asked him about it. That was two years ago and now I’ve almost completed his biography. Someday you’ll be notified by me that his book is published.

Anyway his big day was definitely a big day! My present to him was a bottle of Oban Scotch. I knew the scotch at Club Med was probably going to be a disappointment to him, so I brought it from home. It was a good thing because he disliked their scotch so much he switched to light beer! He was very, very happy to have his Oban!  :)

Joe’s birthday was three days later and definitely low key compared to Clay. But it was fun because it was on White Night when everyone dresses in white and the restaurant is moved outdoors by the pool. Because it’s an elegant, romantic night several of the Bahamian waitresses softly sang happy birthday to him.