First I would like to apologize for the messed up order of the last posts photographs. Something has been going on with the wifi on the ship and I was doing good to even get photos posted. It is one of the reasons I put 6 days worth of travel into one post. I just couldn’t get anything to load. Hopefully the next few days will be better.
Today was a round of golf. I enjoyed the company, and the game. Not the course.
But I go too fast. We all met at 8:45 and took a long walk down the pier to get to the busses that would take us to the Royal St. Kitts golf course. I was looking forward to this since I saw it as George and I had played the same course on the simulator. The photos I saw online were beautiful. It is a lush, vibrant green course along the seaside. The highlight of it is 2 holes that are right alongside the ocean. If you hook, your ball is gone! This is my kind of fun. Living on the edge. Well-the golf edge that is.
We got into the van to head to the golf course, and started on our way. I guess the ride was about 15 minutes or so. It took a bit longer as there was a truck blocking one lane of traffic so everyone had to needle through. No big deal.
Along the ride the driver pointed out some of the tourist attractions-the government buildings, the local schools, that sort of thing. The best attractions of course were the hardware store, the DIY shop, and the gas station. Speaking of, don’t complain about the prices at the pumps in the US. Here it is over $7.75 a gallon.
We got to the course, went into the clubhouse and purchased gloves and a ball marker. We also paid $100 to rent two sets of clubs. I didn’t read the fine print so I was a bit put out. But I was there so pay we did. It was my mistake anyway. BUT the cost of the excursion I thought was excessive for what it was. But more on that later.
We went out to the Royal St. Kitts Golf Course and played 18 holes. There was a short testing of the putting range and off we went. Let me start by saying we were with another couple and really enjoyed their company. George hasn’t played in over 3 months, and for me it was well over a year with the museum build and all. At the end of the day, we didn’t do too shabby. He was 110 and I was 114. All things considered it was a good score.
We had to purchase some balls so we got 10 used ones because if the simulator was anything to go by, we were going to loose all 10 on the last 3 holes.
This was one of those places that helps you appreciate what you already have. Boca Grove Golf and Country Club is miles above what we played on here. There were dirt patches all over, fairly hard packed bunkers, weeds…I commented that I didn’t see any greens keepers-at home you see them on every hole. I could go on about the condition of the course, but I’ll stop.
The signage was a bigger issue. The card told us one thing, the actual course was another. The signs indicating the next hole were all sun faded so we ended up in a wrong place once or twice. I did like the direction signs that were painted on the cart path-which by the way was very well maintained except in one spot where we could see the residue of what looked to be a river that had gone through. Probably from one of the hurricanes.
The 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th holes did not disappoint. They were exactly what I remembered. 14 was hitting downhill so the drives seemed to go farther, 15 was shooting uphill on a par 3-it was a real mental game. 16 and 17 were along the ocean front and true to form, George lost a ball. I made short girly hits and kept mine but the fear of losing one was so powerful I might as well have and I’d have still scored the same for the hole.
When we returned to the club house, I wanted to get a beer but the driver showed up and back to the ship it was. Oh well. I didn’t really need one.
We returned to the ship and ordered room service. George had a club sandwich and I had a croque monsieur. We still had a few of the local beers from the stop before in the fridge. For future reference, pass on the croque monsieur. It was so soggy it was deemed inedible. Oh well, I had some fries and called it a day. Dinner was in 3 hours so I wouldn’t starve. In fact, I don’t think that is at all possible on a cruise ship.
We had dinner and slept early as we had to be downstairs at 8:00 to clear customs for the next days diving.
Thursday March 10th saw us joining a ships excursion for diving. We walked what seemed like miles to get to the van that would take us to the dive site. Nope. No van. We just walked right onto the boat! That was different from the tour description-a good different.
We jumped on the boat and the people there told us to get our tanks set up and walked away. Two minutes later they asked for the waivers to be filled out then told us to go to the back of the boat. Tanks were still not set up. Eventually we got to the dive site and I asked our guide to set up my tank. Yes, I know how, no I can’t buckle the BCD around the tank. The integrated weights are also very hard for me to manipulate. I will be changing those out when we return to Boca.
They set us up, and we divided into groups of 8. Off we went. I just stepped off the boat like an old pro. It was much much easier than I thought it would be when I first started this hobby. The first thing we did was go down below the surface to make sure we had enough weights, George and I took a while to do it. We go down slowly. Later I was told the dive master was irritated by our lack of speed. Good thing I didn’t know this before. I might have been irritated on the dive.
The visibility was not good. There was a lot of mirky stuff floating around in the water. There was lots of silt and plant bits and other stuff floating around. It was made worse by one gentleman diving with us who seemed to like to kick up the sand with his flippers. It was surreal to look around and see shadows of other divers rather than the divers themselves.
The first dive was up and down a reef. Again, Meh is the word that comes to mind. But having said that, we saw some very vibrant purple coral and a few new fish. The fish that enthralled me most were the tiny tiny ones. Some of them were no bigger than an inch long. This particular dive was only 43 minutes long. There were only 4 of us that finished it. The other 4 in our group went back to the boat before we did.
When we got back on the boat, we dried off as best we could and George stripped down while the rest of our group changed tanks for a second dive. While doing this, I commented to one of our fellow passengers that I much prefer private trips to the bigger group ones. She agreed.
23 minutes later we took our second dive! You read that right. We reckoned it must be ok as we weren’t going as deep this time around. The second dive was a wreck dive. This was enjoyable, but there was no in and out. It was more of an over and around. The boat captain told us that it was a smuggling vessel that had been left to sink. It was later towed to the current location but was blown on to the shore by a hurricane. That was some strong hurricane! Later it was blown back off shore and broken into 3 parts by yet another hurricane. Nature has taken over and there is much new coral growth and loads of fish in the area. Videos of the dive can be seen on my YouTube channel.
This dive was much colder than the first. I also didn’t care as much for it as the dive master was just doing a job. He took us down, around and up. Yes, it was still 45 minutes, but there was no opportunity to just hover and photograph the fish or plants. Add to that over 20 people in the boat, and i really had no idea where our dive master was for most of the dive. Thankfully my buddy stayed with me the entire time. We had another couple from the ship with us and they held hands the entire dive. It was so sweet to watch. All in all, I wouldn't do it again. Another lesson learned.
When I got back on the boat, I showed George the videos I took. They actually were very good. I was surprised. He told me the story of the young captain. It was very sweet. They had a good time chatting while I was diving. He also ate all the cookies I brought along. Thank goodness he doesn’t like biscotti. He left those for me.
I dried off and changed into dry clothes. It is just too much to stay in the wet ones for me. After returning to the dock, I went to the dive shop and purchased a thicker top for the second dives that I will be doing and a waterproof card case to hold our credit cards and ID. Each dive I learn a little bit more that I should be doing. Maybe by the time I’m in my 80’s I’ll have it all down. Until then, I do the best I can and try to enjoy myself.
Tomorrow I have booked a private dive for George and I. We were supposed to be in Punta Cana and I had that dive booked and paid for. Thankfully the shop understands the changes in itinerary and sent back the payment. We are being diverted because of a rogue wave. Or at least that is what someone told me. George’s phone had a tsunami alert that came in while he was under water. Mine didn’t, but perhaps I’ve shut something off that he left on. Either way, one port has been changed for another.
We are now anchoring near Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic. There is a place there called the wall which is supposed to be simply amazing! I’m hoping to be able to do 2 dives tomorrow and test out this second shirt theory.
We tendered today and I went down to the destinations desk at 10:30 to see which tender I needed to be on. The girl at the desk told me to head straight to insignia lounge and get my tickets. So I did. After this, I ran to the room got George dressed, grabbed some gear and headed down to wait. at 12 noon we finally made it to the shore. 1/2 late to start our dive, but the guide and I were texting so all was ok.
He pulled up alongside the dock and we jumped in and took off. Along the way we passed a boat full of people from the ship doing some snorkeling. I was later told by many on that trip that it wasn't worth the price. We headed out further around the island before laying anchor. There were 4 men on the boat and George and I. What service. They all had a role to play and were very helpful in getting us ready. After we were kitted up, we jumped in the water and started off.
We did our dive. It was the best I've been to yet. Everyone talked about how wonderful Bonaire was. It has nothing on this place. When we left the boat, we were in an area that had a sandy bottom with a few patches of coral and plants. I wasn't concerned though as we quickly made our way over to the wall.
This site is exactly as it is named. It is a wall of coral that goes down to an impressive 148 feet. We only went to a depth of 88 feet. That was fine with me. The things we saw were amazing.
First, the corals and plant life were many I hadn't seen before. There was such an abundance of life that I have never seen before. It simply amazes me.
My favorite of course are still the lion fish. I saw one in a book when I was a child and have been enthralled ever since. I know they are invasive and are hurting the reefs and local fish population. I've also been told they are delicious-i've not tried them. Our guide showed me about 20 of them on our dive and said he was going back down later to get some for dinner.
After around 45 minutes we ended our first dive. Even the decompression stop was impressive. When we got back in the boat, we were given some fresh cut pineapple! That was wonderful George had his cookies and we slowly made our way to a place called the aquarium. I had to put on the jacket I just bought and was glad I did.
I had not one, but two dive masters with me. One stayed near me and the other went around hunting for things for me to look at. I was enthralled as always. This time we saw more sting rays, a couple of schools of fish and quite a few lion fish. There were also lobster and a few giant crabs.
Very different for me was what I call a sea spider. I'm not sure of the proper name for it, but that's what it reminded me of.
The dive master handed me a sand dollar that was the size of a bread plate. I put it in my BCD pocket so I could keep it. I forgot it was in there with the weights and the next day when I was cleaning the equipment I found smashed sand dollar.
I asked to go back up again after about 40 minutes. I was just too cold even with the second layer. The water by the way was 80 degrees. it's amazing how the body can drop the core temperature so quickly.
When we surfaced, I was handed a towel by my lover and I stripped of the wet suit. The crew gave me some more pineapple, I had a biscotti that we brought along, and then I was handed a Cuba Libre. So much better than Rum Punch. Along the way I paid the remainder of the total cost and tipped the men who helped us. We took a slow ride back to the dock while I finished my drink and changed into dry clothes.
This was such an amazing day I went to the destinations desk and handed over the business card. This is a tour company that knows how to give good service. I sincerely hope Oceania will use them for future trips.
12 March, We are now in Santo Domingo (which I will write about later). I managed to load a few videos of our latest dives to YouTube. They can be found here. I'm not a professional, so there may be some jerking and fuzziness.
Until next time, Happy Puzzling and Smooth Seas.
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