Max and I chose Deep Blue Divers to dive with for our ten Cayman dives. We wanted a smaller company that took out just a handful of people at a time, as opposed to one of the larger operations with the massive boats. On a small boat, you get to know everyone you're diving with and also get more interaction with the dive masters. Deep Blue was also home to several Brits and I just can't get enough of their accents!
Our days worked like this: we would start with a 7:30AM pickup in one of the island vans (re: semi sketchy with no seat-belts):
We'd head over to the dive shop and hop in one of the two boats that we would take to two back-to-back dive sites:
On our first day, we met British Dive Master Nick. Max had been emailing with him about our dives, and we had spoken on the phone just once. He seemed a bit surprised when we met in person, then on the way back to the shop after diving that first day he spilled it: he had thought we were a couple in our 60's (yes, more than double our age). Apparently, my husband is super formal and polished in his emails, so Nick automatically expected that he was 65. He said he was shocked to find out that this "young lad" was Max, you know, the "old guy" from the emails! Max had relayed in his emails that I was a "bit nervous" about heading back in the water after more than a year, and that I was just 5'4'' and a buck ten, so Nick had envisioned me hobbling in on a cane, kind of shriveled and tiny. We so got a laugh out of all of this (it was even funnier as Nick was saying all of this in his British accent), but I think Max and I are kind of used to feeling older than we actually are (though never before anywhere close to retirement age ; )
We so enjoyed diving with Deep Blue and thought that all of their dive masters were fantastic. I especially loved bubbly Denise and her darling British accent, but my favorite was trickster Nick. In this photo, he gave me a sea cucumber to hold, then told everyone underwater that it was whale crap! I think it's great that even through my mask you can tell I know he's up to no good.
Cloudy days were still a-okay for diving. We even saw rain hitting the water's surface on one of the dives when we were down below.
This is what we look like post diving. I went with braids on this trip pretty much every time we dove. I've tried everything: buns, high ponytails, low pony tails... and no matter what, my hair is pretty much a disaster after. In Bora Bora, we dove with some French women and I was super envious because they would do nothing to their hair (literally, leave it down) and all during the dives their hair would flow perfectly around them. Then they'd get out of the water and their hair would be perfect again. Ahhh, if only I were French ; )
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