Balancing to Bouyancy

So getting into the Goa Resort to do a dive is quite a task. But the resort is stunning with manicured lawns and a sunken pool bar that has a waterfall..very nice! I am not staying here. I am staying at Pete's Hideaway. I think it is called this because it does not want to be seen by the high end Marriot people haha. Its just hidden in a little hole across the street.

What it does have is very hospitable people that went through a list of city options for food, travel and sight seeing which included them photocopying a map for me..very sweet people. I was told to say the word and Grandma would be happy to cook me supper..and I think she seriously means her Grandma!

Sheets are clean, the fan works and the showers are hot. The only cockroaches have been the two that I imported from Mandrem in my luggage..nasty little buggers. So I am content where I am at!

I am tucked in this little place because I headed out in the dawn to check out the dive situation in the Arabian Sea. As promised visibility was 2 metres which is not the greatest for a diver. But the water was warm. And there was still much to see..you just had to be very close up to see it!

The pictures are of Vikar and the boat guys. The one of me shows what 2 hour long dives does to a person: wipes you out and also gives you a nice little mask indentation.

So although part of the dive was like being in a Saskatchewan blizzard ( because of the plankton), there was some neat things to see: groupers, barracudas, moray eels, nudi branch, parrot fishies, huge angel fishies and a ship wreck...okay Suzy's wreck was there for a long time but it was like being in "Finding Nemo" and ducking through little holes peeking at the schools of fish and picking up little shell snails that crawl across your hands. I love being underwater. The second dive was not as interesting as the first, however there were a tonne of sea cucumbers. You can pick them up and play with them, but you have to be careful not squeeze tight otherwise they will throw-up their insides(all of their organs!) and literally explode in your hand..I have never done this... quite honestly because I know that if they go into defensive mode it will take them months to generate all of their organs back..which means that they don't eat and it is quite traumatic for them.

The dive masters were funny and tried to joke with two people doing intro dives about sharks..unfortunately they didn't find them very funny. The reality is that the only sharks to be seen are nurse sharks and they are pretty harmless.

The last thing that made me laugh was the description of the parrot fish..it eats coral and poops it into sand. I was told today that a large parrot fish will actually poop out a truck load of sand in one year...all my time on the beach and I never realized I was lying in coral poop, it is still making me giggle. it reminds me of the termite mounds in Australia made 100% out of snot...its the things you never think about that really get to you.

Checking out Boloma for tomorrow night..not sure I want to stay in the city much longer.

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