Tag Archives: diving

Memoir/Writing, Miles/Travels

Italy Week 1

Italy.  What an incredible country.  Anita and I arrived to Milan at 8am and immediately took a train to Naples and then Pompeii.  After a two-hour flight delay and a one-hour train delay to Napoli (Naples), we caught the wrong train to the ghetto, had some friendly Italians redirect us, landed in Pompeii late, took a ride with an unofficial taxi driver and landed peacefully in our beds at Eco B&B.  Thanks to the help of Anamarie, the hostess there, we were able to navigate more successfully the next day.  We visited the ancient petrified city of Pompeii, preserved in ash and now uncovered by archeologists, we could walk the streets and view the recreated bodies of the people who were surprised by the volcano.  We didn’t know, but the next day the workers went on strike and the entire city was closed.  We also asked several people where we could buy tickets for the Pink Floyd concert.  We thought a cover band was doing a tribute.  Turns out there was no concert at all, only a museum with pictures and videos of a concert Pink Floyd did at the ancient coliseum in 1971.  Oops.  Cool museum.

From Pompeii we explored Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.  Driving down the crazy roads of the coast, we stopped to try out some Italian diving.  Anita had never been, so she did one snorkel and one exploratory dive.  I went on two dives, swimming with schools of barracudas and diving into a cave.  The cave dive was interesting as my dive instructor and I turned off our flashlights because no light reached the cave.  When I flicked mine back on, he was right in front of me.  Whoa Italian!  Once we finished our dives, we ventured to Positano to eat some lunch and take in the scenery.

The next day, we explored the church and tower close to us in Pompeii and then took a train to Roma (Rome).  Rome was HOT! Think 40C = 104F, lots of concrete, an AirBnB with no air conditioning or fan.  We were irritable to say the least and ended up fighting for part of a day – we’ve been friends for 15 years.  We did start our Rome adventure with a night tour of the Coliseum, walking in the depths where the gladiators and animals were kept.  We met up with some friends of friends afterward for some Italian cuisine and interesting conversation on fashion with our new friend, or was it Jack Nicholson? Of course, we toured the Vatican and many many relics.  We also saw the Capuchin Crypt, a series of chapels decorated with the bones of 3,700 Capuchin monks – as a reminder of how fleeting this life is.  Later in the day, we toured Rome on bikes to see a few different perspectives of the city.  I love riding bikes.  We decided to take the bus back to our Trastaverre neighborhood for dinner.  A sweet highlight of the trip came when we asked a non-English-speaking Italian lady which bus to take, she rode on the bus with us to show us.  Despite the heat, crazy lines of people, and higher prices, we really enjoyed Rome.  Maybe it was because we stayed next to a place that had amazing DAIRY-FREE gelato (for my anti-lactose bowels). Either way, Rome was an experience.

After Rome, we took a train to Cinque Terre, the five towns – five towns close together that you can hike in between that are right on the coast and beautiful.  We stayed in Vernazza at a great little AirBnB that was across the street from a breakfast place that had a sign that said, “We do not serve eggs.  Don’t ask. This is Italy.  We have excellent food.  Eat it.”  The food was good.  We hiked to Monterosso after breakfast, milled around, meandered through a cemetery of mausoleums (next to a church that was a part of the Capuchin Monks), and then got lost finding the train only to end up in a beautiful winery and vineyard.  It was a great find and enjoyable tasting and setting.  Our time was short in Cinque Terre before we rode the train to spend our second week in Italy in the Italian Alps.

Is there a life lesson in this? Always.  So much beauty surrounds us no matter where we are, if we only look, we will see that there is hope. In friends fighting, we find resolution and deeper relationships, in unpredictable travel, patience, in unexpected kindness, grace.

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Memories in Belize: Week 1

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I just finished a two-week trip in Belize.  My boyfriend, Justin, and I chose to go to Ambergris Caye for the first week of our trip and then decide from there what would happen next.  We found a great little place on Airbnb away from the large tourist resorts in a private home.  Diana welcomed us to our private room and told us about herself and a bit about the island.  She was a generous hostess and great resource by directing us to her favorite shops, restaurants, and activities.  On the day of my arrival, Justin arranged a SCUBA and snorkel discovery trip.  So, I had my first SCUBA experience and then my first snorkel experience swimming with sting rays and nurse sharks.  It was awesome.  So, I decided to get my open water diving certification.  I had no idea that Belize was so known for its diving.  Most of our adventures required only ten to twenty minute boat rides to reach pristine reefs and dive sites. What a truly incredible experience.  On my second dive, I saw reef sharks; on my third dive I saw turtles.  Dive four was a night dive; dive five was a cave dive to 85 feet.  And then we ventured to do the Great Blue Hole.

The Great Blue Hole is a large sinkhole in the middle of the ocean about 45 miles from Belize.  We had a small group on a large boat equipped with tasty snacks and cool drinks for the two hour ride.  As we approached the dive site, I could see the reason for the name – a ring of light-colored, sandy reef and turquoise waters perfectly encircled a vast dark blue disc of inky water.  The boat anchored, we put on our gear, and jumped into the water.  The man floating next to me said he had waited to do the Great Blue Hole his entire life.  He said he knew he was finally ready and that this would be his 50th dive.  Then, he asked me how many dives I had under my belt.  Five, I said.  His eyes grew wide with horror as he asked me if I was concerned about the depth.  I didn’t even know I was supposed to be concerned.  So on my sixth dive, I dropped to 130 feet below the water’s surface, a depth at which narcosis is possible. We dropped so quickly I didn’t realize we had reached 130 feet until my dive master warned me to stop descending.  For the most part, all I could see around me was blue – and my fellow divers.  Then, I turned and saw the amazing rock formations.  We swam through stalagmites and stalactites six feet in diameter that had formed when the cave was empty of water – just a void in the ocean that later filled with water and, apparently was the playground for a group of 5 reef sharks we saw swimming in the distance.  Because of the depth, our time at 130 feet was very short, and soon we swam back to the boat to do two more dives that day.

The next dive took place in the Aquarium – an area swarming with uncountable fish and marine life.  Our dive master led the way carrying a spear this time.  About halfway through the dive, he propelled the spear forward and killed a lion fish.  The lion fish has no natural predators and is slowly overtaking the reefs of Belize; so, anyone can kill them at any time.  With the lion fish on his spear, the dive master began pulling at the fins and making the dead fish bleed.  Then, he waited, and soon a reef shark swam toward him and ate the lion fish right off his spear.

After witnessing this amalgamation animal and man, we surfaced, swam to the boat, and drove to a tiny Island called Half-moon Caye.  The island is the breeding place for the Red-footed Booby Bird, which is protected.  We took our lunch of stewed chicken and rice off the boat and sat on the dock hovering above turquoise water that teamed with fish.  When we dropped rice into the water, the fish would swarm and eat it, a delightful bit of entertainment.  When we finished we walked onto the white sands of the island and followed the trail to the lookout point for the Booby nesting look-out point.  We walked under the tree canopy of palms laden with coconuts while large iguanas stared at us skeptically.

When our time on Half-moon Caye finished, we headed back to Ambergris Caye, where our time was also coming to a close.  We enjoyed the rum, the Belikin beer, the lobster tail burrito (with a side of lobster), the beach, sun, sand, and water.  Then we hopped on a shuttle to enter the jungle at an eco-resort known as Pook’s Hill Lodge.  More on this in Belize #2.