The Treasures of the Oceans + a Few Hiccups :-)

Today was our first day of diving, and what a day it was! We started out at the dive shop, got all of our stuff together, headed out to the pier, and got on our way to dive Shark Point. Sea Bees (our dive shop) has an amazing fleet of dive boats, undoubtedly the most luxurious dive boats we’ve ever been on, so breakfast was served and we started our hour and a half journey out to the dive site. Along the way we were briefed on the dive site, and got to enjoy the lovely scenery of Phuket and the surrounding islands… Phi Phi Island, and a ton of smaller ones dotting the ocean, all uninhabited and mountains that just fall into the ocean. Our dive master, Pete (a lovely British young man), also pointed out which island The Beach with Leo was filmed on – yes! I love that movie and we were just talking about that yesterday… so cool!

When we arrived to Shark Point, we got geared up and stepped (one large stride) into the water off the boat. The water was a little rough, but once we got down it was only a slight current as we were sheltered by the rocks… I knew immediately it was going to be one of the most gorgeous dives I’ve ever been on. As soon as we got down (about 60 feet max depth) it was clear that there was so much beautiful wildlife – colors so vivid, all kinds of fish everywhere, and just so much for the eyes to take in. We were down about 45 minutes and saw a couple of eels, lionfish, puffers, shrimp, a beautiful and pretty large cuttlefish (I spotted it – it was amazing and a great find if I do say so myself as they are master camouflage artists), beautiful clownfish (just like Nemo!) and many more great fish. What was most impressive though was how huge the soft corals and anemones were… I’m talking bean bag chair-sized anemones flowing in the current, huge fans as large as a large kitchen table, I mean just HUGE and all different colors and sizes… just BEAUTIFUL, I can’t even describe.

At the end of the dive we came out from behind our shelter and the current was unbelievably strong. We had to do our safety stop (when you go a certain depth you have to level out 15 feet below the surface for a few minutes to avoid getting the bends) and it became quite an exercise to stay stationary to avoid drifting too far from where the boat would be to pick us and for a few moments caused some “underwater drama” but all was fine… only drama because obviously communicating under water is very difficult, and nothing more than that, so don’t picture any unnecessary drowning panics or anything, haha…

Then we came up for an hour and a half surface interval, which was perfect for a great Thai lunch and trucking along and enjoying the turquoise blue waters and scenery… then we got to Koh Doc Mai, or Flower Island, and time to go in again!

This was a wall dive where we got to a max depth of 75 feet, and it was dark down there! We dove and saw a couple of shallow caves, more eels and tons of fish schooling, some great Crown of Thorns (these were beautiful bright purple but they are coral eaters so you usually don’t want to see TOO many), some baby eels (they were so cute, one baby was biting Pete’s pointer stick which made me laugh underwater, haha)!

When we finished this dive it was time to head in, so more chatting and mingling with the other dive groups, snacking on some fresh fruit, and appreciating life in general! Curt took some amazing pictures with his new camera and housing, so I can’t wait to get those uploaded…

When we got back we hung out at the dive shop and shared Curt’s pictures, then headed back to the hotel to log our dives by the pool. Along the way I noticed that one of my diamond earring backs got lost – what?! My earring was still in, thank goodness, and since I didn’t have anything really to put it in, I decided to leave it in and take it out as soon as we got back to the hotel… BIG MISTAKE. I realized after showering it was GONE… dread fills me… Curt got those for me when I got back from Italy and I’ve always worn them so I start scouring the floor, called Curt to start looking, so we spend the next 30 minutes retracing steps with me sulking and feeling like an idiot (with Curt being so sweet and not agreeing), and then giving up.

I walked into our bungalow, and literally said to Curt: “I push it (my luck), but God sometimes comes through for me on things like this” (meaning not always, and I guess not this time, but it was ok). Then I laid down on the bed, defeated, Curt went in to take his shower, and as we were still talking he was still shining the light. He walked back out, our conversation never skipping a beat, and since I was mid-sentence about how stupid I felt, he came in and took my hand. He slipped something in it, I opened it and there it was… I was dumbstruck! My first thought was that he’d had it the whole time, but turns out he just happened to shine the flashlight just right on the bathroom floor (which I’d already scoured on my hands and knees – they’re all small rocks) and saw it sparkle. It was amazing… like God heard me! Talk about a needle in a haystack moment – only God can do that! He never ceases to amaze me, and impress me with His love for me, even regarding things so small.

Another highlight in the day… right outside of our bungalow walking in, I saw the tiniest hummingbird I’ve ever seen. It was literally smaller than some bees – smaller than an inch and beautiful markings. I’m going to see if I can look it up and see if it’s the smallest species but it was so exciting!

Also had a great Thai dinner that was beyond spicy – mouth on fire – and now we’re resting up as diving makes me oh so sleepy and we have three more days of diving Thailand to go!

What a day – a few crazy hiccups and yet still AWESOME!

And UPDATE: Curt heard back from our dive shop in Vietnam and they said they weren't hit at all, SO things are looking up for the rest of our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam... whew!