Two and a half months.... where has the time gone? It has struck me quite hard this weekend that time is flying right along. It seems I have been conditioned by living in Kosrae not to do everything all at once for fear of running out of island activities. There is far more to do here on an island booming with tourism, and with many more activities happening all around (heck, I can leave my house and even exercise on Sundays!). No stores are open on Sundays, however restaurants, gas stations, and gyms are - so it's a nice middle ground. I'm quite in favour of a day of forced relaxation, so I am not about to complain about not being able to buy groceries one day of the week. At this stage, I feel very well acquainted with the island, although there are some things I am still hanging on to doing, so as not to have a "been there, done that" attitude too soon. I am ashamed to say it took me nearly 10 weeks to do it, however thrilled to announce I finally got my gills wet today. I did a two tank, north wall reef dive this morning, and did everything short of coming up hooting and hollering "OH YEAH, THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE ALIVE!!!".
Our first dive spot was at an area of reef named "Lemon Drop"! I had no idea until I got there, but definitely felt it was meant to be once our Captain announced the name. The weather was perfect, the sea was still, and I was very thankful for this day. Between dives, as the months pass, I find myself overwhelmed with mild anxiety about the logistics of things - all of the safety protocols I should remember, but fear I've forgotten with the pre-dive jitters. However, today it really was "just like riding a bike". I had a great dive; feeling very zen and blissful, particularly on my first tank. On our second descent, I had a few pesky mask issues which always throws me for a loop, since vision is the only sense you have left 100 feet below sea level. But, a few minutes of bother, and all was well in my private little ocean world. The diving here is nothing to shake a stick at, even given I am a spoiled diver who has only dove in the clearest of waters. The reef is very diverse, decorated with stunning lavender sea fans, black coral, intriguing anemone, comfy looking sponges, and octocorals. I saw more fish today than I ever have on a dive, who munched away happily, oblivious to us divers. It seems like willing myself sea turtles is still lacking in strength, as none were spotted today - which is particularly devastating, since the masters I went out with today saw a green over 5 feet yesterday who was tagged, and likely escaped the turtle farm during Hurricane Michelle in 2001. I have seen the pictures, and would never believe someone telling me about a green this big was sober if I hadn't seen photographic evidence. He truly is bigger than the dive master, and is just beautiful. I'll be working on willing him to me for my next few dives, I'm sure. While my favourite half-shelled heroes were not to be found today, I did feel like I was dancing with eagle rays as two we spotted were happy to glide around along with us before descending into the deep blue 600 foot drop off we were hovering about. I love how graceful and radiant eagle rays are and the moment could easily have been depicted in a planet earth shot. Ahhhhh, this is the life.
All of this happy animal loving mush has come at precisely the right time as I dealt with my first episode of vehicular reptile-slaughter this week. Those on facebook have already heard about it, as this one would obviously throw me for a loop. The iguanas here aren't the brightest creatures around, and it seems a new catch phrase of "like a lizard in headlights" could be coined. The little young greenies whip across the road pretty quickly typically, all fours scrambling about awkwardly... but, the big, fat, lazy old-man iguanas (and, boy are they big) just lie on the hot pavement and look at your car as if to say "What the problem, Mon?". I will spare you the details, but there are lots of squashed iguanas on the roads here, and I'm still not used to dealing with it. I have gotten out of my car 3 times to shoo them across the road, much to the chagrin of cars behind me who would happily squash my scaly friends without batting an eyelash. Sometimes yelling out the window at them, or beeping is enough to get them moving and shaking, but the odd fatso just won't move until you make him. Back to this week, I was devastated and cried for most of my journey to work after noticing a young little greenie (and by little, I mean about 2.5 feet with tail) directly in line with my driver side tire in just enough time for me to feel him squash under my car, and look back to see him belly up, all fours sticking in the air in my rearview mirror. Devastating, I tell you. I felt guilty for days, and still squint my eyes as I drive past his road smoosh. A few days later, on a quieter side street, I paused my car to watch a beautiful white crane slowly meander across the road. He stopped and looked at me for a while, and I like to think he was saying "It's okay, Lil' Greenie's in a better place, and he forgives you". I attribute all of this deep felt connection to animals with being an only child, but that's a story for another time.
(photo: Rum Point, July 2011)
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