So, both of our kids and their families are spending the week with us here in Eleuthera. In addition to great beach & ocean fun, they also have a nice pool here at the marina/villas.
Last fall, Tre (13) & Xander (12) both were certified as SCUBA divers in anticipation of our family trip. To help ease any of their OR their parent's anxiety, we had the local dive shop give them a short dive refresher course. We thought it best to avoid unnecessary panic attacks when our shark friends came to visit. - - and visit, they did!! (more on that later)
Chad, the dive master really did an outstanding job with them and took them to a nearby beach to review all of their skills, both before diving and while diving. This beach had a nice 40 foot deep hole just off the beach that they were able to dive into.
Everyone agreed this was a terrific way to prepare for the main event. The refresher course was on Monday. Our deep sea dive was on Thursday.
The dive boat preparing to head out
Our boat captain Donald and his granddaughter assistant
Notice the "super predators" just hanging around, waiting . . .
At this point, we had just begun our descent and a "friend" came to visit.
Daughter Jen was hanging around too, maybe 10 feet down, waiting on everyone to get in the water.
These sharks were magnificent creatures and actually quite docile.
Sizes ranged from a few feet to maybe 10 feet or so.
Just curious about who was invading their space.
After hanging out for a little bit, chatting up the locals, we headed to some amazing coral formations with some breathtaking swim-throughs. Some were hollow with lots of windows to let the light in that were really a treat to swim inside! Some of the access holes were a little tight but, fortunately, no one got stuck.
Occasionally, the sharks followed us in. I guess they liked the beauty, too - - or just wanted to see if anyone got stuck so they could get a free lunch!
This beautiful skate was trying to blend in with the rocks.
Tre, Jim 2, Hannah, Jen, Xander, Erick, Jim Sr.
This turned out to be an outstanding series of dives. We were down twice, each time at a different location. It was sooooo beautiful.
Our family was flying back to the US on Staniel Air. Unfortunately, their planes aren't very large so the tropical storm that was in the Gulf of Mexico and traveling to and through Florida had a major impact on our week.
Thursday, they called and said they would need to pick us up on Friday instead of Saturday so we quickly rescheduled COVID testing. Friday morning, they couldn't get out of Fort Lauderdale due to the weather so they said Saturday was back on. Saturday morning, they called and said Fort Lauderdale was still closed due to the storm so they would have to reschedule for Sunday morning - - Argghhh.
We kept scheduling, canceling and then rescheduling taxis, COVID tests, and villa rentals. What a mess. We still don't know when the family will be able to return to the US so we'll let you know when we know.
In the meantime, this really has been a beautiful place to be!
