Location: Pearns, Antigua
Today was finally the day we set sail out of English harbor for the first time and hit the water after a nice breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolats. It was a real mood lightener (if that’s a word) to get out of the harbor and out to sea as it made the journey and adventure we are about to experience all the more real. While sailing, we saw hundreds of flying fish shoot out of the water, shimmering against the sun-reflecting waves. Then those needing to get qualified for their open water PADI sat in the galley studying away while those who already qualified, including me, got to soak up the rays and chill listening to an envious class below :). After the first set of videos and learning was done, it was time for a quick lunch after arriving at Pinching Bay near Five islands. Then the unqualified group got to jump off the boat for the first time and swam around while the qualified group prepared to have a ‘refresher’ dive, which went anything but what the name suggests. 8 of us got ready to get in with our gear, and 5 of us didn’t even manage to make it under. Carnage. Clara lost her mask when jumping off the boat into the water (luckily, we had a spare), and some of us didn’t manage to deflate our BCDs to get under. I got a few mouthfuls of seawater from my regulator during our equipment check at the surface, to which Allie then checked and so suffered the same fate I did. Luckily, my alternate was working fine, and I was ready to go. Those who did manage to make it under Miles, Ben, and Fargo found that the visibility was about as good as being in a huge sandstorm, so they couldn’t see each other or anything well enough to perform their skills. Before those of us at the surface made additional attempts to descend, they came up to tell us that the visibility wasn’t clear blue as the water at the surface suggested. A few minutes later, the dive was aborted as we’d all rather dive with good visibility to see all of the cool animals the Caribbean has to offer. We all took ourselves out of the water sheepishly after looking like the pros all day.
Having finished our “dive,” all the crew took their first ‘ocean shower’ which can be basically boiled down to jumping in the sea, getting out and washing with soap before jumping in again, and lastly, getting a freshwater hose spray for a few seconds and drying off. This was a new and fun experience, and I’m sure we are ALL looking forward to our next one. After another PADI informational video, the unqualified took the plunge to be qualified while others played board games or chilled. By then, it was time for dinner, which was a delicious poke bowl, and after finishing dinner, I wrote this – Enjoy the photos, particularly the blurry one of me, Miles Charlie, and William playing poker lol.