Cee’s FF Challenge: As wet as it gets

Hubby loves to scuba dive, and Belize has the second largest Barrier Reef in the world, after Australia. Today was the first day since we arrived that the weather was suitable for going out, so I thought I’d tag along for the ride. This is the boat I thought we were going on. I knew that I would be sitting waiting for about forty minutes whilst the dive was in progress. The boat hubby pointed out to me yesterday, looked really civilised and quite comfy, so I packed my kindle, a magazine, and my iPhone in my beach bag, and off we went to the dive office to sign in.

As it turned out, we weren’t going on the nice, comfy, big boat, but on the little one. Now this was a ‘different kettle of fish’ altogether, and something I hadn’t even considered.

The first thing I was asked was, “Do you get sea-sick?” “Well no, I’ve never been sea-sick,” I replied. One of the divers, a young girl, looked at me somewhat sceptically, and I could tell she was thinking “Ha, you’ve never been out through the waves in a boat like this before.” She made hectic undulating hand motions to show me what I was in for, and I almost lost my nerve and chickened out. However, I’m not one to show cowardice in the face of adversity, so I did a bit of positive thinking and told myself that NO WAY was I going to be sick in front of half a dozen strangers, and I stepped into the boat. I was surprised to note that I wasn’t made to wear a life jacket, as even when I did a bit of relatively safe kayaking in Thailand, I was made to wear one.

As we set off, the skipper warned me that I was in for a wet ride, and that it was also going to rain, a lot. The sky did look rather ominous, and that big black cloud promised lots of water. Well it was too late for regrets, so I settled back to enjoy the ride.

It turned out to be the ‘ride of my life’, as going out through the reef to the open sea, we hit wave after wave, at great speed, sending masses of sea spray cascading into the boat. All thoughts of decorum were thrown out of the window, or would have been if there were any windows. I’ve never entered a ‘Wet T-shirt’ competition, but I would have been an excellent contestant. My clothes were drenched and sticking to my body, and my hair was plastered to my head, whilst the salt water was running down my sunglasses. My scary river boat cruise of two days ago, seemed very tame in comparison to this wild and frenzied dash through the waves. At last we reached our destination, marked by a single white buoy, and the divers backward-somersaulted out of the boat, and disappeared from view.

Just the skipper and I were left on board, bobbing up and down in the crazy waves, occasionally getting showered by heavy rains. Funnily enough, and I would never in my wildest dreams have believed it possible, I was having such a great time. We chatted about family, jobs, and life in Belize, and the time just flew by. Soon it was time for the novice diver to be picked up, and I retrieved my iPhone from the safety of my bag, to take a few shots.

I took the chance when the rain stopped, to have my photo taken with ‘Jack Sparrow’. 🙂 I could tell that he liked being called that, and we were in the Caribbean, after all. 🙂

After another twenty minutes, hubby, the girl, and Patrick the dive master, popped their heads out of the water, and it was time to head back again

Do you see my ‘Mean Season’ hat I’m wearing in the photo? Well just after we took off again, the wind whipped it right off my head, and there it was, way back, riding the waves, but all was not lost; Captain Jack, gallantly turned the boat around and rescued it for me. I was so relieved and grateful. I’ve had that hat for about ten years. It’s been all over the world with me, through many adventures, and I would so hate to lose it.

After a snack and a short break, they all went back out for a second dive, but I headed for the shower, and to wash the salt water out of my clothes. I may go along for the ride again, if hubby decides to go diving tomorrow. I didn’t feel in the least bit sea-sick……….must be my sailor’s genes, after all, my dad was in the Royal Navy during the 2nd World War. 🙂

To see more entries for Cee’s challenge, just click here.