Hurricane?
8-8-08
Was planning on posting this on LJ the night I wrote it, so naturally the internet spazzed out and I had to type it up in Word and wait for a new night to post it.
Gotta say, this is the best session by far. I have 11 uber guppies (more on that later), with 4 girls and 7 boys, all of which are a pretty good group. The lot of them are a hoot and all of them seem to get on pretty well together, and while they do enjoy locking one another in the lazaret (deep dark locker at the stern of the boat), I’m sure it’s in the most loving of ways… It’s been fun though, 5 on my boat are Barracudas, so we’re done with all the advanced lectures and homework, so all the dives are pretty much play time. Plus my other students on another boat are 3 fellas from Pleasure who are also working on their advances, so no confined water for me! I get to do 2 real dives in deep water, with half of them being basic enough to just fall off the boat without hitting the sides and then just having fun. The 3 from Pleasure are fun though, since they’re the oldest I’ve taught (15) and refuse to believe that I’m 20 years old (I asked each of them, they all thought I was between 23 and 27).
The one day we were all on the boat and I was trying to get them motivated to get in the water, when one of the older boys made a bizarre squeal like noise when he saw a moon jellyfish in the water. First I laughed at him, then called him a goober. He then pondered aloud if goober was similar to uber, or to guppies… hence my new name for the lot of them, since I rank uber guppies above sea monkeys. They seem to have taken to it, and when they asked about t-shirts I said that mine would have to say uber guppy squadron leader, but if it did then I just might wear it. They’re a weird lot, which is prolly why I’m fond of them. Have to grimace or laugh whenever one of my shipmates calls me Lyssie and tells the others that we’re meant to be and I’m going to the prom with him… told him I’d throw him overboard one night and that I’ve already got a date to prom. Also delivered underwater break dancing smack down on his ass, not to mention that my bubble rings have not been beaten, ooh rah!
Also scared the crap out of one of the guppies on our first night dive which was rather fun but maybe sorta deserved. I guess 2 of them were horse playing and pressing one anothers purge buttons, so the regulator delivers a burst of air into the water and persons cheeks flare out like a greedy chipmunks. Anywho, I was swimming along looking for something shibby to point out to them, when I feel bubbles beneathe me and realize that yet again Max is being a buttfish and is swimming in my personal bubble… so to speak. Then I see his hand raise up and tap my purge. I stop dead, hover and look at him. For being night and having half his face covered in scuba gear, it was astounding how well you could read the “oh crap” look he had (hehe). I cross my arms and stare and he hurriedly tries to explain by turning to point at his companion who he mistook me for (how I don’t know… I figured the bikini and rash guard, not to mention the boobs might be a hint that I’m not a 15 year old boy, guess not). Anyways, after he turns I just move up real close and when he turns back we’re mask to mask and you could practically hear a squeak. Go me! Plus we saw a batfish (I think), so a pretty funny dive, and none of the guppies got lost, which isn’t bad with 8 of em. And I’m proud, today as soon as we got in 2 shipmates saw a shark, and instead of screaming they bolted after the damn thing. I had to call them back since one of the girls had a slow descent and 2 of them were booking it under water to get photos, but at least they’re gung ho about diving.
It’s kinda crazy/scary to think that this session is already halfway done, and that I’ll be home in 11 days and not in the BVI anymore. It’s pretty awesome this session though, I like the staff I’m working with and they make it pretty easy living on the boat. Thom and Ana were shipmates together here, 10 years ago, so they’ve got it down pat and could probably sail with their eyes closed. That and it’s the first session where I haven’t been the person to wake up early each morning to get breakfast started/finished, Ana is on every meal, plus she’s kinda… OCD in a way that I don’t want to interfere with it, and she always tells me to go back to sleep when I try to help. So nice to come back from diving and have lunch already done, I’m getting spoiled but I’m ok with it. That and the shipmates are good, and while they do goof around they often do clean up and get the job done, with minimal utensils dropped into the water for me to retrieve.
So yeah, it’s been really good this session. The diving is awesome, I’ve seen turtles, tarpon, cool fishies, nifty jellyfish (which I usually play with and toss around so the mates aren’t wimpy about them), and generally lots of cool stuff to see and sandy patches where we bounce around and play. That and my shipmates picked up some dance moves from Gordo, which I’ve incorporated with some scuba signals (half tank, low on air, out of air, share air, plus skills like regulator retrieval and the CESA) that we generally do underwater to sorta goof around. Laughed so hard when at the little beach dance I saw shipmates actually using the moves, go me! That and on the boat it’s fun too, the mates love getting soaked on big sailing days and we had the saltine challenge yesterday which was amazingness. Seeing 12 and 13 year olds trying to eat 6 saltines in a minute ( I managed 5 first session when we competed), was funny in itself, seeing the tiniest shipmates ever cram all of them into their mouths at once and the determined eager look in their eyes as they tried to chew and breathe while blowing saltine crumbs all over their companions and the boat was awesome. I still can’t look at one shipmate without giggling and remembering how she looked like on of my old hampsters trying to hoard as much food as he could in his cheeks before the supply was taken away. Good times.
So yeah, it’s been fun, hopefully another update before I depart for the summer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anywho, at Road Town now, crazy rafting for the night since I guess we might get a lil inclement weather. more worried about there being a dock in between all of the boats and easy access for shipmates to go on the quest for action. and no I didn't think of that myself... ah well.
On the plus side, hit up Roti Palace and wasn't tailed by any shipmates, and got my last fill of coconut ice cream before session ends and packing up begins. May update once the uber guppies are gone, but I'll be home purty soon!