We flew out of St. Louis early yesterday morning for our dive vacation in the Bahamas. We are diving with 23 others out of Riding Rock Resort on San Salvador. San Salvador is reported to be the island where Columbus first landed in America.
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| From San Salvador |
Our adventure began when we reached Nassau about noon. We were supposed to meet a guide and board small plane for the hop to San Salvador. We checked through customs, retrieved our dive bag and headed for the charter. Our guide was waiting for us. We sailed through check-in and even had time for a hamburger.
Then the wait began. First, we were said to have missed our 1:30 flight. I looked at my watch. It was 1:45. Hummm. No problem mon! There is a 4:30 flight.
4:30 arrived and went…no flight. At 5:00 we learned the plane had arrived and was refueling. It held 19, so who wanted to go on the first flight? A second plane was right behind the first, so only a short delay was expected. Dwain selected the 19 and we prepared to go.
5:30 – we’ll be boarding in 5 minutes.
5:45 --- just a few more minutes…they had to match luggage to passengers.
6:00 – we’re off!! We rounded the corner and saw a VERY SMALL 19 seat plane. We crowded in and roared down the runway. Everyone felt like they needed to raise our feet in unison so we could lift off! Finally we were airborne.
An hour later we landed on San Salvador. We taxied to the terminal, safe and happy to be on the ground. We unloaded and waited for our luggage. 12, 13, 14, 15…..where’s my luggage? Back in Nassau.
No problem mon…it will be on the next flight.
We checked in, found our room, had a cup of rum punch at the reception and sat down to dinner. Suz had grouper, I had steak. We were just getting our food when the remaining 6 arrived…without our luggage. A small cardboard box was all the luggage that had arrived with the others! Eight of the 21 divers and two non-divers were without luggage.
Suz and I had made a good decision…we kept our carry on with us for the hop to San Salvador. We had our clothes and Suz’s dive gear.
Lynn, our dive master, said not to worry. She had enough equipment that we could all dive.
We were up early on Sunday July 4. A quick breakfast and we were off to the boat. It took about an hour to sort through all the rental equipment and get us outfitted. I guessed on about 12 lbs of weight as I would dive in swimsuit and t-shirt…no wet suit. Suz had her own equipment so she was set.
We hit the water and sank to the bottom. I was about right going down. We headed along the reef, and turned around when I had about 1500 lbs left (half tank). Dwain saw us, and switched with Mary and headed back with me. We arrived back at the boat without a hitch.
We saw several parrot fish, black beauty angelfish and a lot of black durgeon.
Second dive was not as successful. We swam along the reef to a gap then headed back. I was low on air (less than 1500) so headed back. You use less air at a shallower depth so we accessed to 30 feet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t control my buoyancy. I didn’t have enough weight or couldn’t get all the air out of my BC, so I struggled to say down for my safety stop. Heavy breathing didn’t help either. But we made it back to the boat safely.
Our luggage arrived as we finished lunch. We swapped equipment and cruised out for our afternoon dive. I guessed on 16 lbs weights for my equipment with the wet suit. We jumped into the water and tried to descend. I was a little light, so had problems going down. I had to stop and clear my ears a couple of extra times. On previous dives we had swam out with the reef to our left and back with it on our right. Our dive master took us around a hump and headed out. When I got down to 1500 lbs, I didn’t have a clue where I was. I ascended to 35-40 feet and hovered waiting for the dive master to turn around. Suz came up to me pointing at her ear. I finally got the dive masters attention and we headed back.
We learned that Suz had gone over a ridge and tried to equalize as she headed back down. She heard a “pop” and felt cold water in her ear when she tried to equalize.
We guessed she had did something to her ear drum and later confirmed it as we filled her ear with water and it bubbled when she held her nose and blew.
Oh well, no pain, but she is done for the week. Now she has a chance to enjoy the beach!
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