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So here we are, back to the cold, back to life, back to reality. But what of our final couple of days in the sunny Caribbean, I hear you ask.
Our final two dives were Eagle Ray Rock and Sunset Reef on Friday 7 December. We were a little naughty at Eagle Ray Rock, trying to notch up 40m on our computers. However, the incessant banging on her cylinder by Celeste, our guide, finally put a stop at around the 35m mark. Despite our trying very hard to ignore her... she just wouldn't go away!! Once again, it was a very pretty reef dive, but nothing of particular note.
Sunset Reef consisted of the wreck of the LCM Nicholson, a medium-sized landing craft, scuttled in 60 feet of water. The reef was loaded with friendly fish but lacked the stunning beauty of the Doc Paulson. We managed to spot a half-buried stingray taking a snooze. Those eyes really are quite menacing in a kind of robotic sort of way.
A short swim took us to Amphitrite, who has been overseeing Sunset Reef for seven years and modelled on Carmen, tail aside, as you can see from the photographs. She was purchased from Simon Morris, a famed sculptor from Canada, to ease the pressure off the resorts famous and delicate reef. Amphitrite is somewhere between 9 feet and 16 feet tall depending upon what you read or with whom you speak. She is a favourite for photo enthusiasts as she is the only creature that stays still long enough for armatures like us!!
Due to our naughty sojourn down to the depths on our previous dive and a short surface interval of around 45 mins, poor old Belinda (and we can say old with confidence now), found herself very close to deco time and so swam around above the rest of us for the majority of the dive. It was a great shame this occurred on our final jaunt into the water, especially as we had plenty of air remaining in our cylinders.
That afternoon we went to hell and back. 'Oh no, what happened?' we hear you gasp. We literally went to Hell, which is a little village north of George Town. It's hot, it's damn hot, it's as hot as hell in Hell. There are a few little shops, all displaying lovely pictures of our wonderful royal family. We shared a jelly coconut, which, sadly, contained no rum. We located a couple of caches and then strolled back along the beach. As this was our final evening, we decided to partake of a couple of cocktails along the way. Divers Down was particularly tasty.
After B's penultimate bottle of champagne, we dined at the Sunshine Grill, for old time's sake. We thought it only right that we imbibe the signature cocktail, the Painkiller, in a keepsake souvenir enamel mug. I think we can safely say that any pain either of us may have been feeling at any point during the week was now well and truly numbed!
Our final day… As you would expect, this arrived far too quickly for our liking, but we wanted a full one so packed our day sacks, went out to cache and visit the botanical gardens. We are sure you can imagine just how beautiful the gardens are, if not, think back to your visit to the tropical house at Kew Gardens and you'll get the picture, alternatively wait for us to upload the photographs on Facebook.
What a humbling experience it was in the gardens, which is home to the blue iguana. This is now a critically endangered species, which is only found in the gardens, and we saw two of them. In fact, one of them chased Belinda as it was after her halfway through a banana at the time.
Probably one of the most memorable experiences of this week was just how friendly and user friendly everyone and everything is. We took a bus to the botanical gardens and asked the driver about the return journey. He instructed to ask the gardens reception to telephone through when we were ready to be collected and a bus would come to pick us up. This bus drove right up to the door to collect us. Can you imagine this happening in the UK? The driver would most likely grunt and suggest you got hold of a timetable or something equally as helpful.
Overall, it was the most amazing trip. Neither of us killed the other, we're still bestest buddies, but how can you not be when you're surrounded by beauty, wonderful people, fantastic service, yummy cocktails and food to die for.
One love!!
- comments
the oldies Once again what can we say.WOW!!! Just would love to go there some time but we fear the journey time would kill us off, on the other hand you just never know1!!!!