Today was our last day. We awoke at 5:30 a.m. to a beautiful sunrise. I had a pot of delicious Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. We killed a little time until breakfast, after which we put on swimsuits to float around in the sea.
We took the SCUBA class on Wednesday, and were rained out both Wednesday and Thursday. Diane and I had not planned to try again today, but as we were floating around the shore we spotted the other two couples from our SCUBA class waiting by the SCUBA desk. I persuaded Diane that we should go, since we don’t exactly have many options to do so in Kansas. Boy, was that the right decision.
After donning our gear, we went to the pool to practice breathing through the regulator, switching air sources and clearing masks. This part reminded me of the day that my high school anatomy and chemistry teacher, Mr. Booth, brought his SCUBA gear to the pool where our class got to try it out.
After we demonstrated competence in the pool, we waited about an hour for the boat to arrive. As if on queue, a downpour began as soon as we were boarding the boat. Our Jamaican dive masters were a little crazy, and pushed forward with the dive trip in spite of the weather.
We went about a mile away from the harbor to what they called the “No Problem Reef,” though I’m fairly confident that they made up that name.
We put on the gear and jumped in. It was terrifying. The dive was only about 45 ft., though my comfort level was exceeded at about 15. We pressed forward, however, and once we made it to the bottom and became comfortable with the environment, we had an amazing time.
The reef really is the forest on the ocean floor. We swam the sea floor next to reefs rising up anywhere from 5 to 25 feet from the seabed, each one full of what seemed like a different kind of fish.
We spent only about 30 minutes underwater, though it felt like an hour. It had stopped raining by the time we surfaced, and after a quick ride back to the harbor, we ate lunch and took a nap.
We took a few final pictures of the resort from the top floor before heading to the Eight Rivers restaurant where we had dinner reservations.
It was perhaps one of the finest dining experiences either of us had ever had, and while the service was superior and no expense was spared, I personally preferred the Asian food from the Bayside that we’d enjoyed the previous two nights. Diane had chicken and I had lobster tail, both of which were fantastic.
We went back to the room for a little packing and then went back to have a few more final drinks for our last evening out.
