Scuba Day!

Wow, what a day.  This morning we went to Scuba on the coast of West Caicos.  It was a beautiful day and the boat ride out to our destination was about an hour long.  I'm surprised I didn't get sea sick.  Usually I take dramamine, but I forgot to do it this time.  Knock on wood I didn't hurl off the side :)


Here are some photos of the trip out there:

Wouldn't it be nice to have a catamaran on this coast?

 Nelson is excited to dive

 I'm excited that I'm not seasick

 Nelson checking his BCD

 So pretty!

Watch out, don't get wet!

 The safety girl inside me knows where the life preservers are, You never know!

Our French Captain, I think his name was Franc, but for some reason I wanted to call him Jacques

 Getting the low down from the Master Diver

 I'm ready to do this, let's see some sharks!

Nelson scubaing away!

On the first dive we saw a turtle, but we have no pics, sorry dudes, but here are some crappy underwater photos from our first dive

 You can't see any red colors underwater.  You really need some sort of flash or light source.

At least we have some memory from below.

Now, for the second dive, I decided just to snorkel right off the boat and Nelson stuck with his group to go to the drop off wall that separates the shallow water into the deep blue ocean.  Since he was having problems with the camera during the first dive, I decided to take it with me just in case. 

I am so glad I did! I was about to get back onto the boat bc I was getting chilly and out in front of me I saw two large creatures swim towards me.  At first, my heart stopped, thinking that they were sharks.  I was all by myself snorkeling so I didn't know what to do if sharks really came towards me.  Even though they are safe reef sharks, they still look like sharks! Luckily, they weren't sharks and they were 2 beautiful, graceful dolphins.  Honestly I said out loud in my snorkel, "Those are dolphins!" I quickly turned on the camera and shot video as fast as I could.  They swam right below me, and they felt so close! It was truly an amazing, memorable moment.  True beauty in their natural environment!  After they passed, the first thought that came through my mind was that I hope Nelson and the other divers saw them as well.

I got back to the boat and showed the captain my video and he was amazed too! It was truly something that not everyone experiences! Nelson got back and he saw nothing, so I felt kinda bad that I told him I saw dolphins.  He said "Na Uh" He didn't believe me until I showed him the video.  In case you didn't see it on facebook, here's the video...

We got back to our hotel around 4ish and we were pooped.  We took a nap and met up with Matt and Katie for dinner at a nearby hotel. They were holding a "Caribbean Night" and it's a buffet on the beach during the sunset hour.  

 A pretty set up!

 The chef's getting the food ready

 The after dinner bonfire area

 Ready for a nice dinner

 Matt and Katie arriving to Caribbean night!

 Black beans and rice

 Citrusey type pasta salad

Coleslaw

Very nice chefs

After dinner, the kids at the dinner were given marshmallows to roast over the bonfire. They were very cute.

It was another great night and we were happy to spend it with another couple.  We all decided to leave when the kids started to get on the microphone that the dj had.  

We are planning on relaxing in the AM on the beach and then have another snorkel excursion tomorrow in the afternoon.