Hubby, you lost your tank

  Oranjestad, Aruba
Wednesday, August 8, 2007

We have to get up at 07h30. I do expect some sympathy from you!

Getting ready

We barely arrive late at the boat:

Mermaid divers

We dive with Mermaid Divers:

Happy to be afloat

8 Divers, 1 dive master and 1 captain. We are happy to jump of a boat again: 2423: do not look at my fever blisters!!!




The dives are surprising. Different form B and C. Carlos is the first to take us down, he is one of the owners. I like the guy. We only stay for 38 minutes, which is not long. It is my dive 150 with dive computer: 117 hours of diving, deepest 43,3 meters, this one it is 26 degrees: COLD!!!!! Everybody but us wear wet suits (some of them doubles).

The landscape is not like anything we saw before: almost no sand is seen because of the huge amount of corals. There is a big wreck down there. The visibility is worse than any of dives since the tour. Carlos explains why afterwards: we swam through clouds and clouds of fish eggs. Millions! Fascinating but reduces the visibility.

Second dive the dive master and the captain swap.

When we are just down, I see Hubby struggling. He lost his tank! Like an experienced rescue diver I rescue him. Men do have a big advantage: their muscles. I have to CLIMB on his back and use all my body weight to push the tank back into the BCD. But, I manage, watched by the dive master: hmmm.

Luckily for us: Dido does not surface when those nice beginners get low on air: he sends them up and we continue till 54 minutes: that is the business! He reminds me of you, Norbert, but a local version! A crazy, skinny, muscled, sporty guy in his second youth.

When we are back at the shore, we go with Carlos to the office to pay. When we are with locals, we take the occasion to ask questions. Yes, he is born and raised in Aruba. They spoke Papiamento at home. The first language at school is Dutch: no choice. Second Spanish. Now the third is Papiamento. It used to be more like a dialect, now it is an official language with a dictionary and grammar.

Papiamento, or Papiamentu, is the primary language spoken on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao.

Papiamento is a creole language whose lexicon is drawn firstly from Portuguese and Spanish (about 60%) and from Dutch (about 25%). The remainder (15%) comes from West African languages, Arawak, and other languages.

Bon bini! = Welcome! You see this everywhere on the islands. Surprisingly enough, I understand a lot of it. Carlos denies there is French in it. That would have been my guess.
Proudly he gives us a tour of his dive shop and - school. Ouch: diving is not a cheap hobby.

He takes us back and drops us off at the supermarket, where we need mostly fluids. Hey, it is thirsty weather!

We walk home, rinse all our gear, I make brunch and now my Tomcat is a Tomcat. He looks so much like a little boy!

Diving is booked for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We HOPE to have a car for the coming 3 days.

And afterwards, afterwards: it is time to come back home.