We woke up bright and early for our surprise scuba diving trip! We didn’t eat anything before getting on the boat because the package we signed up for had food included. Not having to get breakfast was great because we basically we rolled out of bed and straight onto the boat. We got really lucky with our boat trip because we had the whole boat to just our group. There was only one other person on the boat and he was a cool dude named Greg. Once the boat took off from the pier our instructor, Latisha, she sat us all down and taught us the basics of how to Scuba dive with their gear.
The first dive site we visited was an old Viking cave. We learned how to clear our respirator under water and how to clear our masks under water. After practicing we suited up in our wet suits, flippers, googles, tanks, and all the other vital items, then we jumped in.
It was my first time scuba diving, but it honestly wasn’t that hard to jump in. The gear is uncomfortable when you’re on dry land, but when I hit the water all my gear loosened and it felt way more comfortable. We waded in the water there for a few minutes until everyone jumped in. My ears took a few dives to equalize, but eventually they were close enough and I just went for it.
The ocean floor was like a whole new world. The sea bed was covered with things I had only ever seen in movies and the visibility was amazing. I saw clown fish swimming in sea anemone lion fish, scorpion fish, eels and angel fish. I saw sea slugs and coral and star fish and so much more. It was easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
Go Scuba Diving
Travel Tip #49
Nearby the Viking Cave was an artificial reef that was built to help restore the natural reef. Latisha took us over to the artificial reef and after exploring the artificial reef we headed to the real reef and swam along there for awhile too. I used my air up at a slower pace than the guys, so I got to stay down on the ocean floor with Latisha for an extra 30 minutes. While Latisha and I were under we saw a blue sting ray swimming on the reef, so we followed it a little down the bank and watched as it tried to bury itself under the sand. On our way back to the boat we swam through the artificial reef and passed over the underwater bridge again.
For lunch we had Pad Thai and pineapple on the roof of the boat. The pad thai was great, but after being in salt water for an hour the fruit was amazing. One of the guys brought a speaker up to the roof and so we all started listening to jams and jumping into the water from the second story of the boat. While we were on the top of the boat I saw a giant jelly fish in the water, so I grabbed my googles and jumped in after it. It was huge and I thought it was floating coral at first, but then I saw it’s spine and I was completely in awe. That jellyfish was probably one of the coolest things I saw on the diving trip.
Eat fruit after scuba diving, preferably pineapple
Travel Tip #50
After lunch we got all our gear back on and headed to the second dive site. This one was called Pelai wall and it was the underwater side of a cliff face. The entire underwater portion of the wall was a coral reef that went down the side of the island. The best part about this dive site was that the current around the island pulled you across the wall without any effort, so you barely had to kick at all.
My favorite thing that I saw under the water on that dive was probably the clown fish. They’re just so incredibly cute. Their faces look so mad it’s hilarious. I wished I could stay under the water for forever. It was so peaceful and I felt extremely serene in the water. After our final dive we went back up to the top of the boat and just laid around in the sun as we drove back to the pier. When we got back we followed our diving instructors recommendation and went to Papaya for lunch number two. After lunch number two at Papaya we went to the party beach played in the water there.
After relaxing on the beach we got a second wind of energy and hiked to Pee Pee Viewpoint at the top of the mountain. It was much more of a climb than we anticipated and when we got to the top we were all sweating buckets, but the view was absolutely amazing. You could see the whole island and both sides of water surrounding the island. One side of the island was dark water and one side of the island was light water. The darker side was the side with all the boats and the lighter side was the popular beaches with bars. We stayed up at the top of the mountain for awhile and I stayed at the top to watch the sunset.
Never miss a sunset
Travel Tip #51
Once the sun went down I headed back to the hostel and got dinner at a nearby spot. Once we were all rested and reset we headed to Maya beach. There were so many parties and lights on the beach that it looked spectacular. It was also low tide, so we could walk out really far into the ocean and see a bunch of boats that were washing up on the the sand bar. While we were far out on the sandbar we saw two guys streak across the beach. It was hilarious, but then we realized that the tide rose and they came back to get their clothes only to find them washed away into the tide. The guys were lucky enough to find most of their clothes floating in the water, but their panicked search for clothes was hilarious.
Understand the tides
Travel Tip #52