This cruise has felt different in that we don't arrive to some ports until mid-day. It is kind of nice as you don't feel like you have to get up early and hustle off the boat. Today, we did not arrive to Grand Turks until 12 noon. It was nice as we slept in and just had a lazy morning. I went to breakfast fairly early while Denise had a bit more beauty sleep than normal. I did go up top to see how windy and rough the seas were. But they were not bad, unlike the night before. The sea was crazy rough last night. Anyway, at some point, I met Kami and Dale up in the Buffet. Kami wanted to go to the gym so I said I'd come up and help Dale get around. It was funny in that Dale wanted more sugar in his oatmeal. Kami, being the health conscience person that she is, kind of poo-poo'd the idea. But nonetheless, she went and got a bit of brown sugar in it. I watched Dale swirl it around, taste it and kind of make a face. Soon after Kami departed to go work out. Knowing Dale's condition and figuring what the heck, I said, 'Dale do you need more sugar?'. He smiled and said 'Yes''. So off I went to the coffee station to pick up some packets of sugar. It only took one more small packet to meet the sugar need. Dale was happy.
After just doodling around until we arrived, Jeff and I gathered our stuff to go scuba diving. I don't know why, I was a bit more anxious about this dive. I guess I was worried that Jeff would not have a good time as he told me how hard it was for him to get in and out of the boat the last time he dove years ago. Well, my fears were not needed. All went really well. The excursion was sold out. I think it was about the only excursion that was not cancelled. A lot of the snorkeling and other water excursions got cancelled. Who knows why. Anyway, there were 16 divers on our boat. Pretty crowded. Once we had our paperwork filled out, we got on the boat and went down the beach to a shack where they had all their gear. I was hoping for a BCD that would internally hold the weights. But no, I got a weight belt. The darn things won't stay on me! Whatever, I had to make it work. Once we had all our gear, we got back on the boat and headed down the shoe line for about 10 to 15 minutes. Once at the spot, we started to hook our gear up. This is the first time I had to do it...and I totally blew it. I had my regulator backwards. I asked for help and the guy just laughed and turned it around and then it all sealed up great. I got into my new shorty wet suit, which felt great, got all the gear on and then waited to get in. Naturally, Jeff and I were the last to get off the boat. Once in the water, we did a weight buoyancy check. I seemed fine. But naturally my weights were sliding down my behind headed towards the ocean floor if I did not grab them. I called the Dive Master over once he was in and had him really tighten them up. I have to do that in the water. I gave them a good pull, locked it down and all was good. Down we went. I went down pretty good. Jeff took a bit, but got down fairly good too. We dove along a wall that had a 7000' drop in some places. It was fun going in and out of crevices looking at plants and some sea life...but not much. We were down about 30 to 40 minutes. On this dive, I took my GoPro and took some video and pictures. But I find that so distracting.
We surfaced and then both of us were able to get in the boat quite easily. That was a good thing for two heavy weights. Up top, we got out of our gear and prepared the next tank to go down with us and our gear. Because the tank that they gave to me had only 2800 PSI, he had to fetch a couple of tanks from shore for both Jeff and I as Jeff's new tank had zero air in it. Anyway, the Dive Master hooked it all up again once we had the new tanks and away we went. Sitting on the boat seemed like an eternity, especially when you need to use the bathroom so darn bad! It hit me pretty fast after getting on the boat...and what do you do? Boy, getting back into the water never felt so darn good....sorry new wetsuit.
For the 2nd dive, I did not take my GoPro and I added more weights...3 lbs. I think that put me up to 19 pounds. I did this because on the first dive, I tried to stop my ascent at the 15' safety stop and I couldn't. I just kept going up. I tried to go back down...I could not. Fortunately, the last part of dive I was above the shelf and fairly shallow. So all was good. As for not taking the GoPro...that was a mistake. The marine life on this dive was much more prominent and pretty. I could have gotten some really nice photos. Oh well, live and learn. Again, we were along side the wall. This one had fewer crevices...but it was prettier.
Both dives were great...as they always are. We were back on the boat by 5:15 PM. Back on board time was 5:30 PM. That was the closest I've ever been. Anyway, we quickly showered and headed to dinner (at 6 PM). Denise will have to add her comments here about her day with her family. They had a great day on the beautiful beaches here in Grand Turk. She will have to describe the tumble Julee took into the ocean while looking for sea shells. She has it on video too.
Dale was too tired and weak to go off the ship today. I think the past two days got to him. So he had a restful day on board all day.
At night, most of us went to the main show called 'Flick'. They did a great job with lighting, magic, dancing and singing. I really enjoyed this one. After dinner, Denise and I went to the piano bar to watch and listen. The crowd on this boat was much bigger and rowdier than the last boat. And they wanted to be raunchy even though it was not 10 PM yet. After about 30 minutes or so, we left and headed back to our stateroom to go to bed. We watched a TV show on my IPad and then both of us were lights out quickly.
Tomorrow...our last and it is a sea day. I'm ready to be home but not go back to the snow and cold. That sounds horrible to me. :-)
Pictures:
Mike, Denise and Julee having fun off the boat on the beach....
The scuba dive adventure. Look closel, you'll see a great white shark....(Jeff).
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