Today was scuba day for me! I woke up early to head to the beach where the boat was set to pick me up for the dive. I signed the waiver and was fitted for my BCD, then they said the boat was waiting for me so I had to hustle on the sand which was harder than it looks! I was the first stop so I met the crew whose names were JP, Sarah, and Tash. They were wonderful! The next stop was the Westin where we picked up 4 more divers. They were all very experienced with hundreds of dives all around the world, it was a little intimidating but they were super nice!
When we arrived at the dive site JP gave the briefing. It was off the West Wall and the dive was called Wall Street. We went to 100 feet, it was about 45 minutes of guided dive followed by about 15 minutes of buddy dive. There was a swim-through and JP had said during the briefing that once we were through the swim-through there would be a little surprise, and that he was sure it was still there because he had seen it recently. My thought was, how could he possibly know that something in the ocean would still be there? It turned out that on the other side of the swim-through was the shipwrecked USS Kittiwake! It was a real treat because it is one of the most renowned dive site on the island. This dive was extra neat because it was at the edge of the island so I could look to one side and see land then look to the other and see open water.
Back on board, we had some orange slices and made our way to the next site. After decompressing a bit, Tash gave the briefing and we headed down! This dive was a ledge dive called the Lone Star because it was across from a bar called Lone Star. It was to about 55-60 feet and it was the same format of 45 minutes guided and 15 buddy exploring. I liked the ledges a lot because swimming under them, the fish orient themselves to the ledge rather than the ocean floor so it looks like they are swimming upside down. On this dive I saw two lionfish, which I read were invasive here but the dive master didn’t kill them like they did when I dove in Cozumel. I also saw a sea turtle! It looked like a juvenile or adolescent and it was very beautiful. There were all kinds of other cool fish as well. I always forget how much I love diving until I’m doing it again. It’s so fun to be weightless and it’s like swimming through an aquarium, plus no one can talk to you! It’s important to be conscientious of safety but even so it’s one of the most relaxing activities ever.
Back on the boat I said farewell to my new diver friends and the crew then went up to the room to find Katie and Allyssa. Our room was beautiful but another guest at the hotel was flying a drone and stopping and staring at us on the balcony so we requested a different room. The hotel staff was wonderful as always and upgraded us to a room on the 8th floor which had an even better view (I didn’t realize that was possible). We packed our bags and they said the bellhop would move them for us.
Once we were re-packed we headed into Georgetown for lunch and shopping. The place we originally wanted to eat was closed. Unprepared for this, we went into an ice cream shop to ask about places to go for lunch. They pointed us to a Burger King around the corner which was really not what we were going for. We wandered a little more ourselves and happened upon a place called Sharkeez that overlooked the water. I had wings with their special dry rub and house honey barbecue sauce, they were delicious! I also had a strawberry daiquiri and a green tea shot which were lovely.
After Sharkeez we hit the shops. I got some gifts for friends and family plus a Christmas ornament and magnet for myself. Katie and Allyssa got some nice things too, however unfortunately a shop we had walked by earlier that was supposed to close at 5pm was already closed when we returned a little before 4pm! It was a bummer because Allyssa had seen something she really wanted in there and thought we would be able to circle back. Following this unfortunate discovery we checked the Google machine and it said that Sandbar was open. We stopped in and met a bartender (and liquor salesman maybe?) named Matt who was from Canada. We liked Matt except for he had a really cool button-down shirt with dinosaurs on it and we asked him where he got it and all he would say was that it was some Asian company who reached out to him. Did not love that he gatekept his cool shirt. We took another green tea shot for the road and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
Getting ready is always an event so we took our time. Girlie get ready time is one of my favorite parts of going out.
Once we were ready we headed down to the beachfront restaurant at the hotel called Coccoloba. Katie and Allyssa thought the water tasted salty so they got a bottle of still water instead, however I liked the tap water so I stuck with that and drank Katie’s too. They took Allyssa’s because she was the one who had ordered the bottled water.
I had a seared tuna that I wasn’t in love with but the churros were really delicious. Allyssa was obsessed with the chicken tinga tacos so she had that again and Katie had braised beef tostadas. The true highlight was an orange cat named Garfield who works at the restaurant and came by to greet us. He didn’t stay long because he was clearly very busy. 10/10 service, would tip 20% in Churu.
After dinner we walked on the beach to a bar called Bonny Moon that was supposed to have a DJ until 10 pm, however when we showed up at 9 pm there was no DJ and they were closing in half an hour. Katie ordered a local mango beer which none of us liked.
Since Bonny Moon was not the vibe we headed across the street to Pom-Pom at Indigo hotel. The lady at the hotel was uncool and we didn’t stay long.
We walked back to the hotel, got un-ready, and went to bed tired but excited about a beach day tomorrow.
Allison Around the World 