Swimming with Sea Turtles

Nov 24, 2007

This Saturday I went diving in the oceans around Ras Al Khaimah for the third time. (the second time didn't really count much because it was from the beach, even if I did get to hold a Sea Cucumber... yeah!) I was prepared for the issues I had faced the previous time, wearing a motion sickness patch and taking a nodiz pill just as I got on the ship. It is a beautiful ship and I really wanted to enjoy this trip. We arrived at 8am and were right on time, the rest of the divers arriving at the same time. This time we were with a group of Arabian sport fishermen and divers. One of them was a member of the coast guard. I think he was just checking out the ship.
Anyway,
We headed out to sea. We were going to dive first, me and my dive buddy, at the site of a deep wreck (lowest point is 25 meters, but we were only planning on 18 meters at the deepest). I was worried. Today is the day of my final exam. 50 questions on a topic that includes mathematical equations relating to nitrogen times and maximum depths. I spent most of that early trip reciting things in my mind, glancing over my book now and again to make sure I understood aspects. I even made up funky acronyms to help me remember which things come when. Not that you really want to hear about me studying while riding on a yacht out in the ocean.
Sooner than I expected we arrived, and I hadn't gotten sick. Not even a little queezy. I was doing beautifully.
Our dive instructor dove in to tie the yacht up to the buoy marker for the dive and as I watched she swam. First she swam out to the buoy and yelled back " the current is really strong". The captain turned to me and my buddy and said "I sure hope you two are strong swimmers". !!!!! Well I know I am, but my buddy is a little less sure of herself, so I just smiled and turned back to watch the instructor. She dove down to the chain... and missed. She did it again... and missed again. The current was so strong that my instructor could not tie off the lead rope. So they hauled her back to the ship and we canceled the dive.
When a dive instructor says no, you can bet that I agree completely!!!
So we turned the ship to head to an alternate dive site (one I had never seen or heard of) and off we sail. Brunch is served. I had salmon with poached eggs on a bed of fresh baked bread and a side of fresh fruit. Yeah baby! I ate every bite, with great joy. Delicious.
We arrive at the site, again sooner than I expected. We prepare our equipment and choose to get into our gear in the water. It just looked like more fun to me. We slide into the water, it is so nice against the hot black wet suit. I place the regulator in my mouth, slowly let the air out of my BCD jacket and sink under the waves. At first I couldn't get down. Then I realized that I was not breathing deep enough, so I let out all of the air in my lungs and took slow, long, measured breathes, exhaling completely and remembering to equalize my ears at every meter. I sank into the water and down, down down to the bottom. And there in front of me lay the remains of a sunken ship, shattered by age and wear into scattered pieces across the sea floor. And there is the hull, a hulking dark shape in the distance. Slowly we begin to glide across the ocean floor towards the dark shapes. Then, it comes into view. A living breathing thing. A mass of metal overcome by coral anemone and giant sea urchins. At each breath it seems to take, a curtain of fish shower across like a living waterfall, multicolored, multi-shaped, yet uniformly moving making the this skeletal remain one of the most beautiful and vibrant I have ever witnessed in my life. And as we swim around this beautiful living reef, I spot something more exciting to me than anything else can be. A sea turtle. A beautiful sea turtle, his shell caked with barnacles, his head stretched out among the fish, his flippers moving him forward in a steady beat. He was gorgious, one of the truly great thrills of my life. We followed him around for a time and then we swam back to the wreck. We spent about 50 minutes swimming around and around that wreck, finding fish, playing with everything we saw.
Too soon for me, we returned to the ship (I was at the point of air when the instructor had said we would need to return, so I suppose we had to)and it was time for us to take our final exam.
It didn't take me very long... For some reason I take to this like a fish to water.... I passed.
While we took our exams the other divers went for their turn under the water. Then the others came up and we headed back for the docks. As we sailed back it was time for dinner. I had the doris fish with a creamy gorgonzola sauce and boiled vegetables. It was amazing. I had such a good time. Took a few photos, got back to the dock, and headed home.

I will post the photos soon, even though there are not many of them. But, it will be a few weeks before the underwater photos and video are developed.... Yeah, you didn't think I would forget to take pictures did you! I love sea turtles.

Hope you are having as good a time as I am!

Seasick 2

Nov 17, 2007

Again, warning this contains graphic descriptions of my rather unfortunate scuba experiences.

The dive master asked if I would like to climb into the water. Apparently getting into the water can sometimes relieve the feelings of seasickness. I was up for anything at that point. My stomach felt like it couldn't take any more. So, I took of my outer clothes and walked to the dive platform. I jumped into the water. Just me, my swimsuit, and the ocean. For a short time I started to feel better. Then I realized that all that vomiting had left me as weak as a day old kitten.
The seasickness was gone, but I wasn't sure I could continue to swim against the current to stay near the boat. It was a fair current. Actually, it probably wasn't that strong at all but with as bad as I was feeling it felt like the current was ready to pull me away. I stayed in the water for 20-30 minutes using my feet to hold on to the dive buoy. Thank goodness for my monkey like toes.

I climbed out of the water and back onto the boat, ready to watch the video. I knew the sickness was going to come back, but I sat below deck and watched the whole video, nursing an ice cold glass of water and taking small measured bites of bread.

Then the yacht moved to the shallows so that we could try to practice the skills that we had learned. Before getting out the gear, we went through the usual gear lecture and a review of all the things we needed to do during this dive. Then we geared up. I have to be honest, seasickness is the one time that I tend to run hot.

Usually I run cold. You can ask my friends. When they are hot I am comfortable, and when I am cold they are comfortable. But not when I am suffering from motion sickness. Then I run hot. Really hot. So trying to put on a wet suit and wait for my turn to get in the water was torture. I felt like I was totally on fire.

I did the giants stride and got into the water. What a relief it was. But I was still feeling poorly. They signaled us to use the line to go down. So we slowly worked our way down the line. I had to stop part way because my buddy was having mask issues. That was fine with me, I prefer to equalize for a while anyway. I like my ears and the way they work. I don't want them to get hurt, so taking my time was just fine.

Then we sank to the bottom. We were suppose to do our skills, but the bottom was completely covered in spiny black sea urchins. No place for us to try our thing. Not unless we wanted to be stuck. So instead of the skills practice, we ended up doing a short exploring swim. I realized that I was much better at scuba when I did it last time. Of course, I was also doing Tai Chi at the time and my breathing was in much better control.

Anyway, it was a lovely swim. The brain coral and the little fish were wonderful. I really enjoyed myself. Finally relaxing and having some serious fun. I loved it.

One of the divers started having bouyancy problems, so we had to cut it a little short.
The ascent was fine, the swimming was fine, but when I got to the top of the water it hit me like a ton of bricks. I carefully filled my bcd with air so that I would float, then took my regulator out of my mouth and puked as hard as I could. I quickly placed it back in my mouth and took a long breath. Then I pulled it out again and puked hard. I could feel that there was nothing left and the dive master told me to go ahead and puke into the regulator, just leave it in my mouth. So I put the regulator back in my mouth and had the dry heaves at the top of the water. It was quite a horrible experience.

I swam over to the dive bouy line off the back of the boat and as the others were getting out of their gear I lay floating on my back holding on to the line and trying to stay centered. I took off my weight belt and handed it up. Then I took of my fins, carefully one at a time. Then I took off my BCD and tank. Of course, through it all I still had the regulator in my mouth. I kept it in my mouth until I handed up the BCD. Then I climbed slowly and carefully out, shaking the whole time. When I got to the platform, I sat down on it. I was just so uncomfortable and shaky. It was really hard to climb into the hold to take a shower. The water felt good, but being inside when ill is so much worse than being on deck.

I got dressed and went back on deck. We had our after dive debriefing and made our plans for the following day. Then we went to have dinner. I sat down at the table and a beautiful plate of soup, this lovely lentil and vegetable soup, was placed in front of me. I took one look and knew it would never get passed my lips. SO I apologized and told them I could not eat it. They brought out the second course, the salad. I nibbled lettuce, took a taste of tomato, and ate two pieces of cucumber before my stomach said it was bordering on unhappy. So I sipped ice cold water. Then came the final course, a delightful little fish with this beautiful side of vegetables. It was absolutely gorgeous. I wish I could have tried it. The dive master asked if I was going to be able to eat it. I told him no and he asked if he could have it. I said "please, nothing would make me happier". So he did.

And I know it was good.

They cleared off the table and I spent the ride back with my head on my hand slightly tipped to the right side staring hard at the horizon. As we headed back to the shore I laid my head down on my arms, still staring at the horizon line. And I fell asleep. It was a lovely ride in. I woke up about 15-20 minutes later and we were almost to the dock. We tied up and disembarked.

It was a lovely trip.

I highly recommend Arabian Diver in Ras Al Khaimah for diving training classes.... and taking your motion sickness medication BEFORE you go!

And that is what my first day of diving was like.


The second day was much better, I had fun and no real problems. I am back into scuba and loving every minute of it... just not the before and after...

Seasick

Nov 17, 2007

Before I write this blog, I wish to post fair warning to those who wish to read it. The title is not the slightest bit off from what I will discuss here today. I suffer from acute positional motion sickness, and when I get an attack it is more than colorful to describe. As such, if you have a weak stomach or are feeling the slightest bit queasy, please do NOT read my blog.
thank you.


On November 16th I got up at 6:30 in the morning in absolute excitement. My first day back in scuba diving. I caught a ride with my friend (my scuba buddy) and we drove out to the marina, to the yacht.
It is a great yacht. A beautiful sailboat with a diving platform off the back. We climbed aboard. Met the captain and the dive instructor, as well as the dive master and numerous other divers who were going with us. Most of those divers were going down to a wreck to explore, or finishing their training, or just out having fun. There was even a couple that were celebrating their anniversary and out for a ride on a yacht for the day. It was lovely.

As soon as I stepped on deck I had a feeling of regret. I had forgotten to bring any medication and stupid me, I didn't think to ask. But for the first 2 hours I was fine. felt a little queasy when they turned on the diesel engines to motor us out of the harbor, but all in all fine.

Then we were asked to go below to watch the introductory video. I sat down below deck as the video started. The dive master turned and asked if we had any questions. I promptly asked him where I would be permitted to be ill. He gestured above deck and said, over the side please. I climbed the stairs, sat down next to the railing, looked out over the sea, and hurled.

Then I felt better for about 5 minutes. Then it came rushing back and I was clutching the rail for dear life, certain that I was experiencing a similar affair as one my mother had once described to me involving a whiskey I know I will never even try. I puked so hard I could feel my anus trying to leap out of my mouth. I don't remember puking that hard before. I was very relieved that I didn't shit my pants.

Then I was unsteady, shaky, and felt like I couldn't even lift my arms. This feeling remained for quite a while. At that point, brunch was served on the yacht. It was quality service, a lovely omelette with peppers, a side of fruit and a glass of fruit juice. Since my friend is Turkish, she was served bread. Glorious bread.

I was feeling a little better and wanted to do anything to help, so I had a little of the omelette, I tried some oranges and a little apple, and ate some of the bread. about 10 minutes later, I lost that too. But it wasn't as bad as the first go.

The dive master asked if I wanted to go into the water.

Too be continued...

Writer’s group

Nov 9, 2007

Today was the first day of writer's group. We met in a sunny room with the crisp smell of omelettes and bagels, tea and coffee, and a hint of something sweet. We had a brief warm up, which made me particularly nervous because I have never been a part of a writer's group before and had no idea what expectations I might have of the group, or theirs of me.
It was lovely. I had no problem expectorating words in a semblance of meaning and then reading it to the others present. I expected that my words would be pedantic and trite, but they weren't. I was able to read without feeling too much of the usual panic. I was able to share with a sense of pride.

And I was able to listen to and accept the gently provided criticism that was offered, without feeling threatened or worried that my overly sensitive ego would be crushed.

I did just fine.

Yeah, my work isn't perfect. The typos alone can be annoying... the misspelled or miswritten words and the paragraphing and organization issues... not to mention my overwhelming need to embrace the passive voice. but I am happy.

....

Following the writing group I was riding in the car down the road and came to a hobbled camel who was crossing the road. I got a great shot of his rump as we moved past
from the passenger window. I didn't zoom in, he really is that close but he was moving away so I wasn't that nervous. The kids loved it.

And I spent the afternoon watching my husband in the rowing competition on the waters of a small ocean inlet. His team lost by 20 seconds, but they did have 2 fewer men than the other team (and most of the team is women too). You can see the photos in the album. I couldn't seem to stop snapping photos of the rowing team.

October Box

Nov 7, 2007

Written as a challenge by my writing group, here is my latest piece... In honor of national novel writing month (November), here is....

October Box

a fiction piece by Crissy

 This piece has been temporarily removed for editing.  I am submitting it to a competition.  I will let you know how it goes.