An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
An early up for us since Milton, after a quick stop at the buffet of plenty, had to get over to the dive shop for his 1-hour lesson. The only difficult part was how cold the pool was. After finishing a short classroom briefing and some in-water practice, he was able to meet up with Wendy for her breakfast, since the weather was too choppy to go to the outer reef and so we wouldn’t leave for 45 minutes. The boat with Milton, Dimitri (the other beginner diver, who’s from Russia and speaks english not good), Dave and Michelle (a nice Australian couple), and a large group of Japanese tourists then set off for the fringe reef off Hook Island.
We did a one-hour dive around the reef and saw a nice variety of colorful aquatic life, including many large, flat batfish. Wow is this scuba thing cool! Don’t know why I never did it sooner, other than there just wasn’t much opportunity while growing up in Arizona. Takes a little getting used to, and I felt like I was using up my air way too quickly, but it turned out I was actually right on target. Getting fully certified is high on the priority list for June!
We had a very nice buffet lunch and sat around relaxing and admiring the beautiful tropical island and blue seas. Then an afternoon hour-long dive along the coral wall of the island. Nothing too far out of the ordinary (other than being able to breathe underwater) but some large sea cucumbers and a 6-foot green spotted moray eel. We then sped back to Hayman, stopping to see some eagles in their nest atop some large rocks off of Hook Island (their nest was absolutely enormous and looked like it was constructed out of tree branches instead of twigs).
Then a session on the exercise bike (not a great one; still have never used one as neat as the virtual reality one in the Alvear) to tune up for Moab, followed by a massage session with Giselle. It was an all-shiatsu session and was remarkably intense; therapeutic, too, I guess. Thus adequately drained, it was back to the room to pack up on our final night of international travel (for now).
Meanwhile, at 10am, Wendy went on the 90 minute Garden tour, where she learned all about the incredible - and difficult - work, planning and money that goes into maintaining these lush and lavish grounds. Then a brief rest stop back at our isolated room, and an early afternoon trip out to the Reef Dancer. Unfortunately, the speed boat ride to get out there was during a short but heavy tropical downpour. Once there, the sun reappeared and everyone enjoyed up close and personal glass-bottom views of the whole range of local sea creatures, including the myriad different corals, and a 4-foot Maori Ress (so called because their faces resemble the war paint used by the Maoris) named Barry (on their reef, Milton’s boat had seen a similar fish whom the crew had named Fat Albert). Then several of the party jumped in and did some snorkling. It was then back on the speed boat, though this time in the sunlight, followed by some reading in the room and then taking Milton’s place on Giselle’s (the birthday girl) massage table.
Wendy then got back to the room just as The Simpsons was starting, so we watched what turned out to be a particularly good one (Lisa’s supposed genetic predisposition for dumbness). It was then room service dinner, which was basically the same as last night (the asian stir-fried vegetables) except with some good goat-cheese bruschetta instead of their tepid soup. We then finished packing for tomorrow’s full-day-and-overnight flight (though we land in LA 4 hours before we take off in Sydney) and cried; well, not really, (we’re ready to come home) but it is a bit sad to be finished with this round.