Day 4 brought on another new adventure for me - scuba diving. I have done snorkeling several times on other vacations, but never scuba diving. I can't say that I was excited about this, and I was even more nervous after watching the video and going over all of the skills. It's just information overload, really. So many things to remember at the same time! Once the video was done and the on-shore skills were reviewed, we went into the shallow ocean water to test the skills. Right off the bat, it wasn't working for me. I came up several times, very frustrated. The instructor was very patient with me and she really assured me that everything would be fine. And if not, hey, I tried. After a great pep talk, I went back down and got everything figured out. Then we moved out into deeper water. I had bought a nicer underwater camera just for this trip. Even though it was only good for about 10 feet down, I decided to take it along. I figured if I got some shots, great, and if not, oh well. It was only a $60 camera and I knew I wouldn't be able to trust a waterproof case for my big camera. So this was really my only option. Once we got about 30 feet down, the LCD display started to bubble. I kept shooting anyway, just in case the pictures kept. And they did. The visibility wasn't incredible that day due to the rain we got the day before. But still, I can't complain!
The instructor leading the way for us.
Thumbs up? Maybe. There were several times I was late on pressurizing and my ears felt like they were going to explode. It was a terrible feeling, but once I remembered to do it regularly, everything seemed okay.
We also saw a barracuda hunting and kept our distance from him. I wasn't able to get a picture.
Once we got back to the boat, I was glad to be done. I am thankful for the experience, but it's just not something I would add to the top of my to-do list for other vacations.
We ventured back to West End for more exploring and ended up at a beach-front restaurant for dinner. There was a street vendor who would just not leave us alone, so we decided to just try his place to get him off of our backs. My dinner wasn't fantastic, but I was talked into trying lobster and it wasn't bad! My parents have been giving me grief for the better part of 25+ years to try lobster. They would have been proud of me for biting the bullet!
There were some teenage boys on a relentless pursuit of some ladies. They built a large bonfire on the beach and I wanted to snag a picture. Those boys - they never change!
