Having been to a goodbye party followed by a birthday party the night before I am quite pleased at my modest consumption of a single cocktail and self-imposed Cinderella curfew and have hit the road bright and early, iPod blaring, telling me he wanna be sedated over and over again (the violent femmes version).
Enjoying the solitude as usual.
The website claims that this is the schooner that we will be on. Reality shows us this is not the case and we end up in the teeny tiny little baby boat close to it. It is boat no. 5 in this photo and too small to spot at first glance – can you see it? Yah, takes a while.
People of the sea – always happy! Mags, our dive instructor from Toronto, and Silva, from Sri Lanka.
Banyan Tree RAK – don’t know why but I don’t find this one enticing at all…
Girls are sentimental and emotional. Places go hand-in-hand with memories. I am usually a boy about these things… but not always. This is the view looking back.
Looking forward now. True to Murphy’s law, hundreds of black birds flew by in perfect order every time we were in the water sans camera. These are the lazy white ones who were taking a rest.
Musta been a mermaid in a previous life – feel right at home in the water. Visibility was truly terrible and I was told my fins were the only thing that people were able to see and they apparently led the way for many. Good fin-karma came back to me later – as it does. The current was the worst I have experienced in all the years of diving. Still enjoyed it.
Mags doing a solo-Titanic and loving it. Solitude is way too underrated and togetherness too glamorized. (Until you get thunderstruck.)
The big yellow ball in the sky. Might not work well in Alaska but works with all its might here. The season is getting to the point where mother nature is at her best and the wind doesn’t scorch you but gives you warm cuddles instead.
I *LOVE* hotels. This one, the Acacia, is the cheapest I could find and the website said it was very quiet. Website was like the blissfully ignorant mother who gets a bit of a shock when *that* phone call comes in about her ‘angel’ son. More about that in a bit 😉
Sweet when you get all the extras in such a reasonably priced hotel: lotions, sewing kit and all their friends.
The little arrows you see all point towards the Kaaba, the direction Muslims need to be facing during prayer. Sweet detail, like having the Bible in most hotels in other countries.
I settle in and head out again to acquire rations for my night. Spinneys is down the road and this is my dinner. Love snacking on fruits and veggies – lucky me! Flashbacks are once again chasing me around like unwelcome visitors. I hide under the bed, pretend I am not home and soon they are gone. Phew!
Back in the room and in lockdown for the night.
Dessert!!
Have been given a good bit of homework. Totally exhausted and looking forward to a night of uninterrupted sleep without the cats exercising their inner-hurricanes on my bed… no such luck as all my neighbors seem to have chosen this particular night to indulge in their vices – LOUD indulgence! I give them what I personally deem to be ‘sufficient’ time then call hotel reception to complain. Party pooper for tonight.
I wake up to a beautiful day. I *do* have a view of the Persian Gulf in the distance. I ignore the free zone view that precedes it out of habit of only seeing the nice bits.
Sharon, my fellow PADI student, and I meet at the Club House and finish our homework. She is Scottish and her accent is one of my favorite ones.
Sharon, Max, Osama and David (aka our dive master). Like a congregation for the calm and the happy. My good luck.
Closer look at the boat we couldn’t go on.
Just after my first night dive – *TOTALLY* in love with the experience. Must add that I was left at the mercy of others as my torch did not work and the fin-karma came back to me as I had others lighting *my* way. When in doubt, Max’s funky swimming trunks were only a glance away and did the equivalent of what my fins did earlier on. This dive marked my 69th dive so far. I am going to think of something special for my 70th 🙂
