As usual I got up around 5:30 a.m. When I opened the curtains to our room there was just a spectacular sunrise. Took my breath away and just sat on the couch outside for a minute and enjoyed it's beauty. It was already about 78 degrees. The temperature is around 75-85 day and night, doesn't really dip in the evening.
I got us organized for our day since we were going to do a dive agin in the morning. I also was able to upload more photos on our blogs, which takes a long time because of the slow internet here in the Seychelles. I woke Sam and we made our way over to breakfast. The buffet was just amazing, so not happy that I am gaining weight!! I am pretty confident it will come off in Tanzania ;) They had everything from a traditional Japanese breakfast which has fish and rice to an American breakfast that has everything from waffles to pancakes to the European meats and cheeses. Testing their abilities I saw they had a crepe griddle. So, I asked for a fruit and chocolate crepe- viola! It was brought to our table and was very tasty.
Following breakfast Ona from Whitetip Diving grabbed us. He is a Frenchman that came to the Islands and met his Italian wife and have been here now for nearly 18 years. They run a great business and each day they were taking out with two other dive masters over 50 people a day.Since we had done a dive yesterday they already had our info, our weight belts set and our suits and fins, etc were ready to go for us. We were with a different dive master today and felt much more comfortable in the water and heading out. When we got out to Booby Island, yes I think it does look like a booby and I didn't see any booby birds ;) Sam was so pumped and had his GoPro all charged and ready to go. We rolled back off the boat into crystal clear turquoise water. As I started to descend my left ear began throbbing and wouldn't clear. The master tried to help me. I think that I got a bit of an ear ache yesterday and in the morning I had felt a bit congested. I hadn't had this happen to me, but after over 5 minutes trying to descent and not being able to get further than 5 feet of water they went ahead. I essentially snorkeled around with the tank and the water was so incredibly clear I could see nearly everything they were seeing 40 feet below. When we dropped in we were immediately surrounded by 100s maybe thousands of fish swimming in a school. As I got closer to the island it was more shallow and I could see many different kinds of fish, including a few smaller rays. Then I saw right next to the group below a huge spotted ray, one I had never seen before it was like a floppy spotted crepe with a long tail. It was so beautiful to see and sat and watched it from above for a while.
I wanted to make sure I didn't get too far from the boat and especially if he needed to respond to any emergency of the divers, since there were a couple very nervous divers. I hung out and talked to the captain of the boat for a while. Learned what life was like on the island, he had been born and raised in the Seychelles. He said that 85% of the islanders have jobs. They speak Creole and French and English. He said the other 15% basically do drugs...like anywhere in the world. Heroin he said had become big and you could spot those doing Heroin by they get incredibly skinny and sickly looking and are responsible for the crime on the island- trying to get money for drugs and can't hold down a job. He has been working with the dive group for a while now. I had taken all my gear off and could see fish coming right up to the surface so I jumped back in with just my snorkel and cruised around for a little while longer by myself. It was wild, when I had been taken by the current a ways away as I was swimming back to the boat I was literally in a huge school of fish, wish I had had a camera! Felt like I was in Nemo traveling with the currents. I kept feeling like from the dark portions that didn't have the fish a shark was going to pop out, got a bit nervous ;) When I stroked the fish would just go around my arm and we all were basically swimming together- it was so beautiful and wild.
Sam came up all smiles. He loves to dive and he said it was so cool and freaked him out when he looked up and the huge ray I saw was right above his head. He said he was so started he forgot to get a picture of it. He loved seeing that and saw a moray eel, and several octopuses and lots of cool big and small fish and stars. He just loves it and is so comfortable in the water. He loves the feeling of just floating totally relaxed. So Sam- loves being chill.
Back at the hotel we just decided to enjoy our room and deck and small plunge pool. We hung out there for few hours and had lunch and Sam got caught up on some of his school work and blog items. I took a nap in the sun and we both enjoyed plunging into the cool pool as we got hot. Around 3 I headed to the beach to rent a bike. I wanted to go explore the one last beach that we hadn't been to on the island. Sam was going to stay behind and was having a big home school lesson with April back at home via the internet. He was making up for some classes we had missed because we have hardly had any internet for 2 weeks.Right before I left Sam caught a beautiful orange bird that flew into our room. He has become the animal lover on this trip..."No Sam we can't bring this bird home with us."
It was great to be on a mountain bike. I cruised out of the hotel and went by some spectacular small beaches which have these incredible huge smooth granite rocks that just are so scenic. I haven't really seen anything like it anywhere else, maybe almost like the huge free standing rocks of Easter Island.
Oh my heavens, after I broke away from the beach the road turned so so steep- like top of Mt Washington steep. There is no way I could ride it. I walked up the huge hill and then there was another hill- these were like the one's our rental car couldn't make it up the other day ;) At the very top it was a steep descent, no bends in the road right down to the beach. Wow, the beach was spectacular. Wide and a beautiful bay with perfectly clear water and the most people I had seen on the island in one place. It is clearly the nicest big beach on the island. I parked my bike under a coconut tree and found a tree to hang my backpack and plunged in. I swam around with my snorkel and found a couple smaller sand colored rays. Other than that there weren't many fish but just crystal clear water and white white sand. It was so beautiful. It had a little break too, will have to bring Sam around tomorrow in the car so he can body surf. Loved it. I went and got a pedicure and manicure after. I was so in need of.
While getting my treatments I had a chance to talk for a while with the Philippino woman that was working on me. I asked to hear her story and how did she get to the Seychelles. She had such an interesting story which again reminded me of how ridiculously lucky I was that I didn't have to leave my family to work on an island that is so remote you can't get home but once a year. That for 8 years she has had to leave her family to support them and see's them once a year for a month. She has 3 children and the youngest was only 4 when she left. It was so difficult to get a work visa. The first time she got one she had to pay a fortune and got taken advantage of and a whole group of Phillipinos were promised jobs and accommodations in China and after paying a lot of money and buying a plane ticket it was a scam. They got to China and had no jobs and couldn't afford to get back. She got back and then a little later someone told her about a job in the Seychelles, but this time they were paying for tickets and accommodations and there was a job. There was no out of pocket cost for her and she took it. It hasn't been possible to get her husband a job here too and so they have been separated for 8 years. What people do to support their families and give their children an education is moving and makes me again appreciate and should make my children appreciate all that they are given. She said she switched to Raffles so that she could have a chance to get back to Manila to work and be by her family, since they have one I believe over there. She was so nice, we talked as mothers too. I really enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth. I am going to get Elizabeth's email and when I am in Manila if at the Marriott there they have an opening for an esthetician and give them her contact info.
When I got back Sam was still on his computer Skyping with April working on another math lesson. She is so patient and good and clear with Sam. I am so grateful. I had to teach a percentage of increase lesson the other day to Sam and it made me appreciate April! It is so funny to talk to someone while you are in such a foreign place. Sam took his computer and stepped out onto the deck and showed her the sunset over the beach from our room. There she is in Utah on a cool morning with a totally different landscape. Technology is amazing!
That evening Sam and I both got dressed up for dinner and had a tasty BBQ. It is so fun to be with Sam and just talk with him like any other friend over dinner each night. He loves to talk about motorcycles and can't wait to go riding with his dad when he gets home. I am so grateful for this experience.
I got us organized for our day since we were going to do a dive agin in the morning. I also was able to upload more photos on our blogs, which takes a long time because of the slow internet here in the Seychelles. I woke Sam and we made our way over to breakfast. The buffet was just amazing, so not happy that I am gaining weight!! I am pretty confident it will come off in Tanzania ;) They had everything from a traditional Japanese breakfast which has fish and rice to an American breakfast that has everything from waffles to pancakes to the European meats and cheeses. Testing their abilities I saw they had a crepe griddle. So, I asked for a fruit and chocolate crepe- viola! It was brought to our table and was very tasty.
Following breakfast Ona from Whitetip Diving grabbed us. He is a Frenchman that came to the Islands and met his Italian wife and have been here now for nearly 18 years. They run a great business and each day they were taking out with two other dive masters over 50 people a day.Since we had done a dive yesterday they already had our info, our weight belts set and our suits and fins, etc were ready to go for us. We were with a different dive master today and felt much more comfortable in the water and heading out. When we got out to Booby Island, yes I think it does look like a booby and I didn't see any booby birds ;) Sam was so pumped and had his GoPro all charged and ready to go. We rolled back off the boat into crystal clear turquoise water. As I started to descend my left ear began throbbing and wouldn't clear. The master tried to help me. I think that I got a bit of an ear ache yesterday and in the morning I had felt a bit congested. I hadn't had this happen to me, but after over 5 minutes trying to descent and not being able to get further than 5 feet of water they went ahead. I essentially snorkeled around with the tank and the water was so incredibly clear I could see nearly everything they were seeing 40 feet below. When we dropped in we were immediately surrounded by 100s maybe thousands of fish swimming in a school. As I got closer to the island it was more shallow and I could see many different kinds of fish, including a few smaller rays. Then I saw right next to the group below a huge spotted ray, one I had never seen before it was like a floppy spotted crepe with a long tail. It was so beautiful to see and sat and watched it from above for a while.
I wanted to make sure I didn't get too far from the boat and especially if he needed to respond to any emergency of the divers, since there were a couple very nervous divers. I hung out and talked to the captain of the boat for a while. Learned what life was like on the island, he had been born and raised in the Seychelles. He said that 85% of the islanders have jobs. They speak Creole and French and English. He said the other 15% basically do drugs...like anywhere in the world. Heroin he said had become big and you could spot those doing Heroin by they get incredibly skinny and sickly looking and are responsible for the crime on the island- trying to get money for drugs and can't hold down a job. He has been working with the dive group for a while now. I had taken all my gear off and could see fish coming right up to the surface so I jumped back in with just my snorkel and cruised around for a little while longer by myself. It was wild, when I had been taken by the current a ways away as I was swimming back to the boat I was literally in a huge school of fish, wish I had had a camera! Felt like I was in Nemo traveling with the currents. I kept feeling like from the dark portions that didn't have the fish a shark was going to pop out, got a bit nervous ;) When I stroked the fish would just go around my arm and we all were basically swimming together- it was so beautiful and wild.
Sam came up all smiles. He loves to dive and he said it was so cool and freaked him out when he looked up and the huge ray I saw was right above his head. He said he was so started he forgot to get a picture of it. He loved seeing that and saw a moray eel, and several octopuses and lots of cool big and small fish and stars. He just loves it and is so comfortable in the water. He loves the feeling of just floating totally relaxed. So Sam- loves being chill.
Back at the hotel we just decided to enjoy our room and deck and small plunge pool. We hung out there for few hours and had lunch and Sam got caught up on some of his school work and blog items. I took a nap in the sun and we both enjoyed plunging into the cool pool as we got hot. Around 3 I headed to the beach to rent a bike. I wanted to go explore the one last beach that we hadn't been to on the island. Sam was going to stay behind and was having a big home school lesson with April back at home via the internet. He was making up for some classes we had missed because we have hardly had any internet for 2 weeks.Right before I left Sam caught a beautiful orange bird that flew into our room. He has become the animal lover on this trip..."No Sam we can't bring this bird home with us."
It was great to be on a mountain bike. I cruised out of the hotel and went by some spectacular small beaches which have these incredible huge smooth granite rocks that just are so scenic. I haven't really seen anything like it anywhere else, maybe almost like the huge free standing rocks of Easter Island.
Oh my heavens, after I broke away from the beach the road turned so so steep- like top of Mt Washington steep. There is no way I could ride it. I walked up the huge hill and then there was another hill- these were like the one's our rental car couldn't make it up the other day ;) At the very top it was a steep descent, no bends in the road right down to the beach. Wow, the beach was spectacular. Wide and a beautiful bay with perfectly clear water and the most people I had seen on the island in one place. It is clearly the nicest big beach on the island. I parked my bike under a coconut tree and found a tree to hang my backpack and plunged in. I swam around with my snorkel and found a couple smaller sand colored rays. Other than that there weren't many fish but just crystal clear water and white white sand. It was so beautiful. It had a little break too, will have to bring Sam around tomorrow in the car so he can body surf. Loved it. I went and got a pedicure and manicure after. I was so in need of.
While getting my treatments I had a chance to talk for a while with the Philippino woman that was working on me. I asked to hear her story and how did she get to the Seychelles. She had such an interesting story which again reminded me of how ridiculously lucky I was that I didn't have to leave my family to work on an island that is so remote you can't get home but once a year. That for 8 years she has had to leave her family to support them and see's them once a year for a month. She has 3 children and the youngest was only 4 when she left. It was so difficult to get a work visa. The first time she got one she had to pay a fortune and got taken advantage of and a whole group of Phillipinos were promised jobs and accommodations in China and after paying a lot of money and buying a plane ticket it was a scam. They got to China and had no jobs and couldn't afford to get back. She got back and then a little later someone told her about a job in the Seychelles, but this time they were paying for tickets and accommodations and there was a job. There was no out of pocket cost for her and she took it. It hasn't been possible to get her husband a job here too and so they have been separated for 8 years. What people do to support their families and give their children an education is moving and makes me again appreciate and should make my children appreciate all that they are given. She said she switched to Raffles so that she could have a chance to get back to Manila to work and be by her family, since they have one I believe over there. She was so nice, we talked as mothers too. I really enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth. I am going to get Elizabeth's email and when I am in Manila if at the Marriott there they have an opening for an esthetician and give them her contact info.
When I got back Sam was still on his computer Skyping with April working on another math lesson. She is so patient and good and clear with Sam. I am so grateful. I had to teach a percentage of increase lesson the other day to Sam and it made me appreciate April! It is so funny to talk to someone while you are in such a foreign place. Sam took his computer and stepped out onto the deck and showed her the sunset over the beach from our room. There she is in Utah on a cool morning with a totally different landscape. Technology is amazing!
That evening Sam and I both got dressed up for dinner and had a tasty BBQ. It is so fun to be with Sam and just talk with him like any other friend over dinner each night. He loves to talk about motorcycles and can't wait to go riding with his dad when he gets home. I am so grateful for this experience.
Anse Lazio- spectacular
Love this little beach I came across on my bike
Me and my handsome date, Sam
Excited to see the Black Parrot tomorrow in the Vallee de Mai
The Coco De Mer nut we hope to see tomorrow?
On our first dive we went to Ave Maria, today we went to Booby Island
Look who flew into our room to say hello. Sam would have loved to bring this one home
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