WK 17: Still Having Fun

The sand soothes my sore feet like a pillow with every step. Blisters cease to burn. Scrapes and sores fade from perception. There are cuts and tears everywhere, but the pain subsides with each step along the moonlit oceanfront. I run.

Half asleep, half awake I run the length of Beau Vallon Beach at dark-thirty in the morning. Toes and heels sink deeply as they attempt to leave a trail but waves curl up around my heels, covering any trace of my passing like a blanket. Only the moon knows my path but she too is fading fast as dawn approaches.

In a few hours, I'll be back on this very beach, my footprints lost among hundreds in the sand. I'll be running about, kitting up customers for their daily dives as the morning light wakes up Beau Vallon Beach. Clamoring about with client's kits, I'll make sure everything is settled and sorted for the daily dives. It will be an orderly chaos as dive sites are confirmed, kits are loaded, and spare tanks checked. Though the morning run along the beach will have focused my thoughts and muscles for the day and I'll be ready for whatever the ocean decides to toss my way.

*****

Despite my forever raw blisters from poor fitting fins, this past week was pretty spectacular. I've successfully passed my Divemaster Exams Part 1 & 2, allowing me to focus on the last few skills for certification. In the water, I enjoyed a deep dive at Aldabaran Wreck and had an incredible fun dive at L'ilot where I had one of my best dives to date!

Having completed my Divemaster Exam was like having rays of sunshine pierce through a rain cloud above me. A flurry of positivity swelled up inside me as I reviewed my answers. With the written exam out of the way I spent the rest of the week focused on and in the water, one fin kick closer to Divemaster certification.

On Sunday, I dove at Aldabaran Wreck with Sylvain, the Blue Sea Divers' owner, and Simon, fellow Divemaster intern. Diving with Sylvain was (and always is) entertaining. He is much more experienced, knowing each dive site's secrets. Sylvain showed Simon and I a few swim-throughs and places to venture into like the ship's navigation room and main staircase. Being smaller than my fellow divers, I was able to surprise Sylvain by looping about the staircase, swimming out of the darkness through a different door than he expected. It was a lot of fun to maneuver through the ship's watery passageways at 40 meters below sea level. Whenever we've gone to Aldabaran it's always been a good dive, and Sunday was no exception.


I surprised myself and Simon at L'ilot the other day. The two of us had a fun dive and I've never had such luck spotting ever! From furry nudibranchs to scorpionfish and even a reef octopus, I could not stop finding creatures. Discovering the first reef octopus would have been the highlight of my week had it not been for the second octopus I spotted later as it swam gracefully from its hiding place in a rock crevice. Simon and I spent a good deal of time watching it change colors, camouflaging itself with the surroundings as we drew closer. When we surfaced after 50 minutes, we found ourselves only halfway around the island, having spent so much time having fun!

It's a bit crazy to think there's just a little over a month left before I return to the states. In the meantime, I'll just keep swimming, filling my days with dives and memories to last more than a few lifetimes.