A Week of Firsts

This past week in Curacao was full of firsts* for me. I've only recently become certified as an open water diver, having completed my course and check out dives in early April. Heading down to Curacao, I had logged 12 dives, 5 of those coming after certification. At the end of this trip, I now have 27 logged dives!

Our group stayed at the Kura Hulanda Lodge Resort. The resort is located on the Northwest side of Curacao and is pretty secluded. We were about a 10-15 minute walk from a few local restaurants and about a 25 minute drive from a grocery store. The resort, however, was really pretty with lots of flowers and vegetation. We all ended up being upgraded to ocean view suites, which was especially nice.

Our trip included 6 days of two tank boat diving. All our dives were with Ocean Encounters West, and the two guides which led our dives were great. We were all up early for breakfast and then at the boat by 8:00 a.m. Typically, we were in the water by 9:00 or 9:30 and headed back to the dock by early afternoon. The package also included all the offshore diving we wanted (so long as we were safely within the dive tables) at the house reef, Alice in Wonderland. We were able to dive at some really pretty reefs: Rediho, Playa Jeremi, Playa Hulu, Watamula (so beautiful!), Mushroom Forest, Alice in Wonderland, Paradise Reef, Hell's Corner, Santa Cruz, Portomari, Seldom Reef, and Elvin's Plane Wreck.

Our first day, we dove at Rediho and Playa Jeremi. Rediho was my first ocean dive! It was amazing to finally descend down into the sea and marvel at the reef and its inhabitants. I had a list of 9 sea creatures I wanted to see, and none of them were on this dive. I saw my first moray eel at Playa Jeremi and was able to tick off one of the creatures on my list. I was able to mark off a total of 4 from the list throughout the week.

We saw a lot of marine life on the dives. Of the many things we saw, some of the standouts for me were: spotted moray eel, coronet fish, angelfish, a baby spotted drum, a sea cucumber, christmas tree worms, green moray and one that I have decided was a golden tail moray, a scorpion fish, lionfish, parrotfish, porcupine fish, sea turtles (3!), sea urchins, really big lobsters, southern stingray, yellow snapper, tarpons (which were the largest of the fish we saw), and flounder. I had no clue that flounder changed colors. They were beautiful!

One of the dives we did was a deep dive so that I could check that off my specialty dives. My instructor wrote down four math problems for me which I would attempt to solve at depth. We hoped to get down to 125 feet without any problems. As it turns out, I made it to a depth of 122 feet and got 3/4 questions right (It's important to note, that being at a depth of 122 feet is like being under the influence of nearly 4 martinis, so getting a math problem wrong isn't that uncommon!).

In addition to the deep dive, we also did one night dive. Diving in the ocean at night is completely different than diving during the day. Everything takes on a different character when all you have is a dive light, and the lights of the rest of your group. It's also when all the creepy crawlies come out!

I have five sea creatures left on my list, although I'm sure more will be added as I delve more into diving. Currently, an octopus, dolphin (during a dive), seahorse, marlin, and a shark are waiting to be seen!

Scuba diving is something I have always had an interest in, and it's something that I never really thought that I would be able to do. I've always loved to swim and be in the water, I just never really knew people who dove regularly. I am so happy that I took on this sport and this adventure! I cannot wait to go on more dive trips!

Next up will be to finish my specialty courses and check out dives and to log the remaining 23 needed to complete my Master Diver Certification. Once completed, I will be specialized (hopefully) in Cavern, Nitrox, Deep Diving, Search and Rescue, and Navigation.

More adventures await . . .

* For the record, I will not be buying a round of drinks due to this blog post. You know who you are!