Today, we did the 2 tank morning dive.  We were really looking forward to these two dives.  The afternoon dive yesterday was OK, although it wasn’t much different than snorkeling the house reef (but it was A LOT more expensive).  The Maldives has some of the best SCUBA in the world, and we couldn’t wait to see some different things.  There were 6 divers on the boat, plus 2 guides (a French couple, Swiss couple, and us).

Sidebar:  One of the staff at the resort told us that they very rarely get visitors from the US.  It would be an extremely long trip to solely visit the Maldives from the US (about 2 days travel each way).  Surprisingly, everything is priced in US currency.

Anyway…… It was about a 45 minute boat ride to the dive site.  During that time, they serve you water and make sure that all the equipment is ready to go.  I don’t know what I would do if I ever had to put my BCD and regulator on my tank by myself.  It’s pretty standard operating procedure that the dive shops do that for you.  Although, this place went a step further and helped me into and out of my wetsuit!

When we got to the first site, one of the guides did the briefing.  He told us that Justin and I would be with one guide and the rest of the group would be with him.  We were told that Justin and I would jump off at a different spot than the others (unfortunately, we didn’t get to do this because the current was too strong). It seems that we are stronger/ more experienced divers than some of the others.  I suppose that I was bound to improve eventually after all the diving that we’ve been doing recently!

After the briefing, one of the guides said, “is anyone afraid of sharks?”  I had feeling this was coming….  He said “we always see some and sometimes we see many.”  Great.  Justin looked at me and smiled.  He said that I had on my “skydiving/ “I don’t want to do this” face.  I told them that I was afraid, and they assured me that they weren’t aggressive.  Whatever.  I pulled on my big girl panties and jumped into the water.

Immediately, I could tell that this dive was going to be different.  As we were descending, I could see nothing but the deep blue ocean.  Usually, You can see a reef or something immediately.  Not this time.  We eventually swam over to a wall and did a drift dive.  The current was strong.  It was so fun.  Pretty soon, we saw a group of eagle rays, followed by several sharks.  I was kinda nervous, but they really weren’t interested in us.  We also saw several turtles….one of them was HUGE.  He looked old!

Overall, it was one of my favorite dives to date (even with the sharks!).  Between dives, the staff set up some sandwiches and fruit.  They also served coffee, tea, and juice.

The second dive was a really nice, relaxing dive with some of the most beautiful coral we have seen.  I didn’t want it to end.  That was our last dive of the trip:-(

After diving, we hung out at the beach.

One more day in paradise……………

XOXO Alyce