09/04/11 Settling in to Cap Ternay

Hey All,

Vero here is taking advantage of this lazy, rainy Sunday morning after spending Saturday morning in Victoria shopping and catching up with family and friends on the internet. Beau Vallon was our destination for a sunny Saturday afternoon enjoying the beautiful beach and the night life, while others ventured further afield to the South.

So far this past week we have all been diving at least once a day, completed our Emergency First Responder training (Hi my name is Vero, I am your First Aid Responder. Can I help you?), have endured 2 coral workshops and accomplished 2 coral spots. Everyone is starting to recognize the coral species we have learnt and coral Pictionary is becoming a breeze.

Congrats to everyone who finished their Advanced Open Water with Emily, concluding the week with a deep dive. We had the opportunity to see the effects of pressure on an egg yoke and on a plastic Coke bottle. We saw the result of the sea water filtering out red light at depth and made our costumes look drab.

Wildlife spotting so far includes sharks (I haven’t seen one personally but I so want to!), eagle rays, hawksbill turtles, green turtles, spiny lobsters, nudibranchs, moray eels, tons of neat looking fish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars and some amazing coral (What we are here for). There are bats that fly around base like seagulls in day or night stealing our fruit to sustain their furious reproductive activities. There are no monkeys here since the spiders ate them all. That is how big they are. We’ve also seen a couple of praying mantis, very large caterpillars and geckos are everywhere croaking away. We also have two of farmer Phillipe’s cows that like to come visit almost daily to graze on our grass, for extra fitness we have to chase them away.

The skies are now starting to clear up so I am off to work on my tan with the majority, as the others help gather some coconuts to make some delicious granola for breakfast tomorrow with most people getting a little tired of porridge. Hopefully it stays nice so the rest of the day can be spent on the beach enjoying the beautiful views, the warm water, and maybe sneak in some snorkeling at the reef too.

Cheers from Paradise,

Vero

P.S.

Hello all Adam, Simon's and Amelia’s blog spot just reporting in for some added humor

We made it through week one with many sweet memories namely bounty’s, mars bars, toblerone and Friday BBQ. For some reason first aid training, coral workshops, diving, cooking, ground maintenance, revising and other chores have stopped people getting there fantastic tans as yet.

Our hard work has paid off handsomely with gold stars from our mentor the wonderful Grace, with the imminent completion of a devilishly striking herb garden… although we have not planted anything yet…

We survived our trip to the south on Saturday with the highlight being allowed to join a dead cat and accompanying flies for an hour at a bus stop. Even more so we were able to spend this time watching the sunset. The 30 minute walk to the base from the end of line bus stop with only moon light for assistance was akin to a slasher movie opening sequence.

Returning to our crème de la crème air conditioned, mixed dormitories with plush 4 poster beds, deep pile carpets and en suite bathrooms we enjoyed a cold tub on the roof terrace. The fruit bats kept us topped up with Champagne and canapés to ensure our stay is as relaxed as possible.

Joke of the week:

A man walks into a bar with a piece of tarmac, he orders 2 pints, one for himself and one for the road.

09/04/11 Settling in to Cap Ternay