Okay, I didn't see this Great White Shark today, but I wanted to get your attention. Did it work?
We're staying at this amazing resort on Koh Samui. Randall got these cool villas (two! one for each of us!) because he knows the right people here in Thailand. The bedroom is inside and air conditioned, but the rest of the villa is a private garden. Yes, that means my shower is outside. I just walk out into the garden and turn it on. Don't worry: there are high walls. Our rooms are just a few steps from the pool and the white sandy beach. It's just so beautiful.
Randall and I went on our first two dives today. The boat ride was long--2 1/2 hours each way--but I love boats, so I enjoyed the whole day. We went to a place called Sail Rock, a big huge rock in the shape of a sailboat out in the middle of the ocean.
All around the rock there is coral. And FISH. So many fish!
Schools and schools of colorful fish of different sizes and shapes. Diving among them was like being in a fish tornado. I'd just hold out my arms and float and they would swim in and around my body. I kept hoping that they'd sit on my hands and shoulders, but then I remembered: fish don't "sit." They hover. So I had to be satisfied with them hovering over my hands and shoulders.
One funny thing: on the second dive, I could hear a "sssss" through the whole thing, so I knew I had a little leak and my air would go more quickly than my brother's (a point of pride for divers to have extra air at the end--since panicky divers and inexperienced divers tend to use up their air quickly). Anyway, when Randall signaled how much he had toward the end, and I signaled my air back, he looked at me quizzically and so I tried to explain. First, I used charades to try to act out "a leak." No understanding there. Then I tried to spell L E A K on my hand. He just looked at me, puzzled.
He understood the "L" though, because he made the sign for "loser" on his forehead. No, I wasn't calling me a loser. So I tried to spell out the four letters with my body. "L"--stand up strait and to the side, let my fins stick out for the bottom of the "L." Then "E"--fins out, two separate arms making the top two lines. By the time I got to "A"--arms over my head in a triangle--Randall was losing a lot of air because he was laughing so much. Then I tried the "K" and got a big ol' cramp in my right hamstring and had to grab my right fin and pull it toward me to stretch out the muscle.
I don't know what letter he thought this move was, but by then we were both laughing so hard that neither of us had much air left. Communication under water is difficult after the universal signs of "shark, eel, turtle, low air, go up" and so on.
Schools and schools of colorful fish of different sizes and shapes. Diving among them was like being in a fish tornado. I'd just hold out my arms and float and they would swim in and around my body. I kept hoping that they'd sit on my hands and shoulders, but then I remembered: fish don't "sit." They hover. So I had to be satisfied with them hovering over my hands and shoulders.
One funny thing: on the second dive, I could hear a "sssss" through the whole thing, so I knew I had a little leak and my air would go more quickly than my brother's (a point of pride for divers to have extra air at the end--since panicky divers and inexperienced divers tend to use up their air quickly). Anyway, when Randall signaled how much he had toward the end, and I signaled my air back, he looked at me quizzically and so I tried to explain. First, I used charades to try to act out "a leak." No understanding there. Then I tried to spell L E A K on my hand. He just looked at me, puzzled.
He understood the "L" though, because he made the sign for "loser" on his forehead. No, I wasn't calling me a loser. So I tried to spell out the four letters with my body. "L"--stand up strait and to the side, let my fins stick out for the bottom of the "L." Then "E"--fins out, two separate arms making the top two lines. By the time I got to "A"--arms over my head in a triangle--Randall was losing a lot of air because he was laughing so much. Then I tried the "K" and got a big ol' cramp in my right hamstring and had to grab my right fin and pull it toward me to stretch out the muscle.
I don't know what letter he thought this move was, but by then we were both laughing so hard that neither of us had much air left. Communication under water is difficult after the universal signs of "shark, eel, turtle, low air, go up" and so on.
It's hot and humid, as expected, but under the water it's perfect. Today Randall showed me his dive computer which lists the water temperature: an unbelievable 88 degrees. I can't remember ever diving when I didn't get cold at all. This is MY kind of water.
And along with all this, good Thai food. What more could I ask for? Okay, maybe a cheetah.
Okay, now I'm REALLY jealous. Sounds like paradise! Swim with a few sharks for me, k? And let me know if it's better than Bimini!
ReplyDelete