Snorkeling

     27-11-13

Bula!

     The place we are staying is very interesting. The power is turned off during the day, except a few hours in the morning, and a few hours around dinner. I'm hoping it stays on for at least a good chunk of the night so that we can run the ceiling fan, as there is no air conditioning. Meals are provided for us; breakfast between 8 and 9, lunch between 1 and 2, and dinner between 7 and 8. There is no other option for food so we brought some snacks, but I'm not worried about it. Most importantly, the shower and toilet work just fine (although there is a strange lack of hooks to hang anything, including our towels. It's a bit puzzling). Overall, I'm pretty happy to be here so far.

     It's our first day at the Yasawa Islands. When we arrived we were given our room, a cute "bure" (roll the r and pronounce it like you would in Spanish) that we have all to ourselves. It's not the nicest quality, but the lunch they fed us was good and the views are amazing. After lunch we got roped into snorkeling. I say it like that because I've never had a successful snorkeling trip. There was the time I tried it at Disney, with my family, in the shark pool / giant coral reef pool. My mask filled with water and the salt water burned my eyes. I also managed to tip my head too far back, or too far to the side, to look at something... either way, I was quickly blinded and choking and I couldn't turn around. I also wasn't supposed to kick or use my arms much (everyone was warned not to because of the sharks), nor could we stand (delicate coral). So I ended up gently propelling myself forward with my hands at my side like disabled fins, uselessly trying to propel but doing no good, with my head craned up so I could see where I was going and not run into things. I didn't see any fish. But I was proud of myself for making it to the other end of that long, curvy pool without any incidents. 

    There were a few other times I tried snorkeling, all of them ended with a mouthful of salt water and burning eyes. I figured I'm just too used to swimming in water without the snorkel to get the hang of breathing with my face down. I'm also way too fidgety and curious to keep my face looking down and not sideways or ahead of me too far. 

   Until today. Today we tried it. We had crappy equipment, and I'm pretty sure that everything was used and hadn't been cleaned. In fact, I could see teeth marks on the snorkel, and upon looking down the pipe part I discovered a whole lot of mold. My expression must have shown my germaphobic horror because the guy behind the counter brought me a brand new snorkel and I hadn't said anything yet. Poor Luke, on the other hand, got stuck with a child's snorkel. But him being awesome like he is, he made it work anyways. That part didn't surprise me at all. What did surprise me is that in spite of apparently very poor quality equipment, I successfully snorkeled! I had to use my hands to hold my mask in place, and it still didn't make a very good seal, but at least I got the hang of breathing through a tube with my face fully submerged. So very strange at first, but by the end of the hour I felt strangely naked without that tube, and especially inadequate without flippers anymore. I'd say that's the first time I've ever felt like I have small feet. 

   I took my waterproof camera along and got a lot of pictures, and I passed it off to Luke who probably took even cooler pictures because he knows how to swim way under water. He probably got a lot closer. On the other hand, I'm not sure he knows how to use the zoom.  Anyhow, I hope to post plenty of pictures soon, and a short video I took a few days ago of the 360' view from where we car camped on the mainland. 

   Currently we have no wifi, so I'll have to post this later. It is also currently pouring down rain, but it's wonderful. I really enjoy watching the wind run across the water, hearing the wind in the trees, and having rain drum on the roof. There's even some nice thunder out over the ocean. Plus, it's a refreshing break from the heat.

-Carolyn