Day 40 - Mutiny on the Bounty

The winter is definitely over. It's still overcast, but the air feels warm and humid. And you feel sweaty and sticky the second you get outside. Disgusting really. Thank God my apartment is on the ocean - there's always a nice breeze and I don't have to live this sauna experience all the time.

Everybody on the boat today wanted to go to the North (Barracuda, etc.), and it was planned since yesterday, but the dive shop really screwed up, and put one new person in our group who needed to be picked up all the way South of the island, so it really didn't make sense to go back to the North. Everybody was super unhappy, because for some it was last or almost last day of diving. The day was threatening to turn very sour with all this negative energy on board. But, thankfully, Javier (the dive master) saved the situation by talking the new guy into paying a cab ride back from the dive (sometimes people are not willing to do this), talking the captain into taking a long ride back to the North where we originally came from (sometimes that is impossible, as captains can be quite set in their ways, too), and reverted the boat to the North. Immediately, the energy changed from minus to a very huge plus. Addditional excitement came from the sense of comradery over doing something almost forbidden. We felt like conspirators. A team. Happy. It didn't matter that we ended up being on the boat for an hour and a half before finally jumping into the water. It was absolutely worth it!

Both dives were gorgeous. On the first one - Barracuda - the current was truly ripping. It is so exciting! At times, you get so used to it that you don't realize how fast it goes, but the second you turn to look at somebody else and see that they are virtually flying, the exhilaration doubles. Especially at the safety stop, when you look down and see schools of fish being carried rapidly in some direction. We saw swimming nurse sharks (rare during the day, as they are usually sleeping under some coral ledges), turtles, rays, and many other cool things. But the main pleasure for me was the current, the flight. On the second dive - Eagle Ray City - we saw 15 eagle rays: 9 of them together in an air force squadron, and 6 random ones very close to us. Sometimes, people spend the whole dive waiting for them to pass, in vain. But every time I go to this site, we end up with many. I've been super lucky with the eagle rays. And everything else. What a happy happy day!