Happy 2k11!!!!

Me and Edward, a super tall Brit

No caption necessary, i think.

Me and Jim, my second-favorite gay guy (after Nathan, of course!)

Happy Christmas!

I spent X-mas 2K10 aboard my Fijian House Boat, Reef Endeavor. It was fun! We had Christmas carols and Secret Santa (I got a spa kit from Ala the current Seinika Spa rep on the ship), and a Christmas play, and a delicious Christmas dinner which was like the Thanksgiving dinner I didn’t have, so that was good. (It started with a Zucchini and Blue Vein soup (soooo good!) and finished with turkey, pumpkin and cranberry sauce!). I also traded dive masters: Dan for Tue and Sepa. The cruise we just started has 95 passengers aboard, and  over 75% of them are Indian Fijian, meaning they don’t even know how to swim. Which is why we had to perform a rescue mission yesterday:

A Drowning! Well, a near drowning anyways,  but is there a difference? We were coming back from a lovely dive at the Waya Sewa Pinnacle (Tue, a cert, an intro and me), when we come upon the scene: two Japanese snorkelers struggling to stay afloat, while Fijians throw things that float in their direction. We have to move slowly, because we are crossing a very shallow sandspit, and we try to figure out what is going on. We see Sepa in the water, helping a male snorkeler to get to a point where he can stand; we see some of the boys helping the woman to stay afloat and get her into the boat. I just in to help Sepa, who is by himself but he seems to have it under control. I jump in one boat, and tell the boat captain to take me to the other, where the woman has been pulled aboard. As soon as I jump aboard, I tell the captain to head slowly toward the ship. Then I check out the scene: The woman is laying on the deck of the boat, and she’s been put on oxygen,  and I talk to the passengers aboard. The intro turns out to be a nurse and the cert is a dive master: the perfect team to have in these circumstances. We arrive at the ship with the other boat not far behind (they’ve meanwhile picked up the man and Sepa). We get victims aboard Reef Endeavor and they them in the recovery position breathing oxygen and wrap them in rescue blankets. We call the helicopter to pick them up and take them to the hospital, in case they have water in their lungs. The man is vomiting blood. The woman is vomiting water. I feel like vomiting. But no, I keep cool in a crisis and help to control the situation which has now been somewhat taken over by Florian. It went on from there, a lot of waiting for the helicopter, and then getting them up and away. It turns out they’re both alright and are now in the hospital in Lautoka, but it was certainly a change from the daily routine! 

You would think that the Japanese, coming from an island country, would be better swimmers, but no.

In other news:

This is the Captain’s last cruise before he has his time off, so we’ve been hanging out. I’ll miss that guy.

In the meantime, Dan and I have a bet going that I can’t lose 5kg in a month. I’m not quite sure how we’re going to measure that, since we don’t have a scale, but I’m going to attempt it anyhow, so I’ll have to give up my new favorite hobby, Coconut husking!

Coconut Husking (A guide)

Step one: Make sure your coconut is a good one! Shake the coconut. It should be heavy but you should not be able to hear the juice sloshing around inside.

Step two: Find a machete and make ninja-type moves.

Step three: Use the machete to chop off the butt end of the coconut, being careful not to pierce the inner fruit, assuming you want to drink the juice.

Step four: open a small section of the fruit so you can get to the juice.

Step five: Drink the juice. The proper way to drink it involves spilling half of it on your shirt. I have perfected this method.

Step six: once the juice is drank, chop the coconut in half, lengthwise.

Step seven: scrape out the meat with a spoon or piece of the coconut shell.

Step eight: eat the meat! enjoy!!!

Wananavu = Wonderful

And everything is! I'm back on Reef Endeavor, my cruise ship, and I'm happy! More on that in a bit.

The weather cleared up and we were able to attend our staff christmas party last week, and it was a lot of fun. We started out with a show in the workshop, where each Site had to come up with a performance of sorts. Seeing as I was at Amunuca for the week, me and the A-team showed off our sexiness to a standing ovation!!!

Then we all traveled to Ice Bar for some dancing, where the boys all ended up watching Rugby on the big screen and there was all sorts of drama. I won't bore you with details. Then Mike, Jerry and I ended up heading back to the marina at 3 in the morning and camped out in the boat. Okay, i know it's fiji but let me tell you, at 4 in the morning, in an aluminium boat, with no blanket, it gets pretty freakin' cold! Mike and I snuggled for warmth, but to no avail. We nearly died of frostbite. We woke up in the morning and found Dean sleeping in the boat next to us, which I thought was hilarious. I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, here's the cast of characters:

Me and Dominique

Me and Dan

Maddy, Dean and Me

 

Me and Mike

Things are wonderful. I am Happy. Come visit. Stat.

Happy Christmas!

Well! This morning my alarm went off at 6am signaling that it was time for me to wake up for a fun-filled morning of fishing! I considered going back to sleep and skipping out but I dragged myself from bed and down to the dive shop. And boy am I glad I did! The morning was flat calm and within twenty minutes of dropping our lines we felt a tug on the line!! “What was it?” you may be asking yourself. It was a Sailfish! A huge one! Jumping out of the water! Wriggling for its freedom! But it managed to slip away.

A half hour later there was another pull on the line. This time it was a Dogtail Tuna. A beautiful specimen, if I do say so myself. About two feet long, really heavy! We  reeled him in and tucked him away for safe keeping, just in time to see another tug! A Giant Trevally! Pulled that guy in too. What a day!

Then, just as we were about to pack it in and call it a day, one of the lines starts spinning out of control: we’ve caught yet another! And this time we think it’s something big… I look out into the ocean and I see another fish jumping out of the water. “MARLIN!!” I shout in my excitement! After a 20 minute fight we haul him into the boat, fighting and flailing and whipping his giant sword of a snout around wildly! Another sailfish, is what it was! 7 or 8 feet long! Absolutely beautiful.

A wonderful, wild morning is what it was, and we got to shore just in time, as the rain starting pouring down only moments later. This rain is a sad signal because it means we will not be heading back to Denarau this afternoon for the Christmas party. Sigh.  But I’m hopeful. Maybe it will clear up in the next few hours and we’ll be able to set sail. Doubtful, but maybe. We’ll see….

Happy Chanukkah!

 

So I pretty much love Amunuca. I’m not sure why so many people are against it. It’s great. The people are nice, the food is decent, and get this, there’s a waterslide! It’s been slow but sales have been alright and I’m diving every day. I like the team of divers  that I have here and I have a really plush hotel room to stay in.

On Saturday evening me and the crew are heading back to Denarau in Silvertip, one of our boats (we have three) for a holiday party at the office. Every site is supposed to be putting together some sort of number to present to everyone else. So me and my team are making homemade coconut bras and dancing to I’m Too Sexy, by Right Said Fred. So good! 

I’m teaching an Advanced Adventurer course to this couple. The guy is the French version of Brain Sherwell, which makes me happy, but I cant stop staring at him and I think I’m starting to creep him out a little.

That’s about it for now. More updates soon…

Siga na Liga!

The last few days I’ve spent on the lovely Manta Ray Island in the Yasawas. I’m covering a shift for Mike, a South African guy with a great body and a weird accent. It’s been relatively slow on the island but tomorrow I’m starting an advanced adventurer course and I’ve been doing intro dives every morning. But mostly I’ve just been reading a book and hanging out with my Fijian dive team. Oh and bathing in the rinse bin...

On Wednesday night we went into the village of Soso for an evening of Cava drinking. I ended up going into someone’s house to sleep for a bit while my crew drank until 230 in the morning. (They started at 5:30pm, I can‘t go for that long!) Then we cruised under the stars back to Manta Ray which is awesome because you can see about 1,274,839,274,913,284,719 stars at night! Pretty cool. Also cool because that means there were no clouds! Hooray!

Patrick, one of the dive guys taught me how to make a bird out of a palm frond, but without his guidance I’m pretty much a hopeless case. Good thing the next few days will be full of diving and not bird making. I should stick to my day job.

I am supposed to leave Manta Ray on Sunday head to Amanuca. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the place so I’m not exactly what you would call excited. But I’m sure it will be fine! We’ll see!!!

So, I was in Ice Bar tonight and there was some guy painting tattoos on people. I got really excited and got tatted up and down my face, neck and arm! And then i was officially the belle of the ball!

 I've had some days off work to just hang out and do whatever. I'm crashing at my bosses' house. This is their backyard- no retouching involved!

Dom also had a few days off so we headed down to Natadola for some fun diving and hang-out time. I love this girl a lot!

On Monday I head out to Manta Ray Island for 6 days, followed by a stint at Amanuca. Should be an interesting ride. I just want to get back to Reef Endeavor where I belong!

More soon!

See how gracefully he husks the coconut....

You know what really makes my day?? When you rock up on Tivua Island and there’s a bajillion green coconuts just sitting there in a pile waiting for you to collect them! I could only carry six in my bucket so that was all I took. And then, coconut party at the stern!!! We busted out a machete and let the coconut husking begin! Hooray!  Some were really immature and there wasn’t much meat inside them, but there was a lot of juice and it was delicious!

We’re not really having a lot of divers lately because the weather hasn’t been wonderful, but yesterday we took one guy out for a dive on Yaqeta island and we saw a turtle and two sharks!  It was my first turtle on a dive in Fiji so I was stoked.  Good times, good times…

So assuming my bosses still like me in 4 months, I’m thinking I’m going to extend my visa until my birthday and have a super awesome Fijian birthday in june! The weather will be great, the diving will be great and the people will be great! Buy your tickets now people! Go! Go! Go!

Send me addresses and I’ll send you  postcards. LOVE!!!!

Ni Sa Bula!

Well! I’ve been here for two months and even though the weather is currently shit (read: hurricane season), I’m still loving it. I’m finishing up a dive course with this couple, Warren and Marie, from Australia and they’re awesome. A week ago I had a completely different experience, one I hope to never repeat:

I had a diver who was very much on Fiji time. He wanted to do his course, but he didn’t want to actually do anything. If I said to meet at 8, he’d show up at 8:30 and say he had to do something first before we could start.  I was stressing because I wanted to make sure we got everything done that needed to be. Then on  what was supposed to be his last dive, we knelt down in the sand at 12.6 meters and were doing skills. He was removing and replacing his mask, a skill he'd never had problems with, and he started to cough into his regulator. Then, he claims, he couldn’t clear his reg and couldn’t breathe and started to panic.  Then he tries to bolt for the surface. At 12m this is not a wise idea. I’m fighting to keep him down and get him under control, and slowly bring him to the surface. When we get there he gasps for air like he couldn’t get enough. It was petrifying for him I’m sure, but for ME, well I just kept saying to myself “I can’t believe this is happening to me, I can’t believe this is happening to me…”

He was fine and I was fine and we did another dive where he did his skills again and everything was okay and we talked at length about what he’d do in the future were this to happen again. Dear G-d, please don’t let that happen again. Marie and Warren are star pupils and I have no worries about them. But guy-from-last-week, I worry about him a little.

Back on-board the ship I’ve been having little tiffs with the Hospitality Manager. He likes to nit pick and yell at me for things, even though the things he yells about are part of my job description.  So that’s no fun.

And I think I may have had a pilondial cyst, which has ruptured and gone away but was painful and gross when I had it. I’m glad the internet exists so I can pretend like I know what things are and look them up if I don’t.

Additionally, a 70 year old guy from Fort Myers was on this past cruise and he kept hitting on my the whole time. The best was when he told me i was Drop Dead Gorgeous and gave me his phone number. His wife, who was standing right there, she loved it. Not really. But i though it was pretty amusing.

Other than that, I’m happy and buzzed on wine and heading off to bed… More updates soon!

one thousand words:

Happy November!

So the next two cruises are complete opposites. The next one: 17 passengers, the one after: 120 passengers. Whew! It’s going to be an interesting week!  Hopefully my sales will be decent on this next one. We shall see.

I’ve been taking photos with my new camera and am working on a slide show to present to pasengers as part of a Reef Talk that I give on every cruise.  I just talk to everyone about the reef, and different fish and whatnot. But now I’m trying to use my own photos. I downloaded some random photo editing program off the internet, and am now playing around with some of the images I like but are not necessarily usable for the slideshow…

Also I was supposed to have days off, but we’re short staffed so I offered to work for a while longer. Not that I mind! Now I don’t have to worry about packing, finding a place to stay, making my own food, nothing! Whew. Who thought days off would be so stressful??

Nothing much new to report. Lovin’ life. Come visit! Serious!!!!!!!!!!! xx

It's almost Halloween!!!

I always seem to be away for Halloween… I love Halloween with all my heart. Any holiday where you knock on random people’s doors and they happily give you handfuls of candy cannot be bad! Add costumes and decorations into the mix and well, it’s like Chanukkah come early! Funnily enough, Halloween was the first time I’d ever heard of Kira, as my freshman yeah of high school we were both throwing Halloween parties on the same night. All of my new friends who went to middle school with her felt obliged to go to her party, not mine, so I immediately hated her. Oh how times have changed. I love you HLM!!!!

This year I’ve scraped together a cowgirl costume, which is really just clothes I already had, plus a hat, that’s not really a cowboy hat, but close enough. I will be the only one on the ship in costume, but I don’t care! Halloween rules! (Pictures forthcoming!)

In other news, Fiji is awesome and you should all come visit. The diving is beautiful, the weather is still great, the food is delish, and the people are amazing.  Why havent you booked a ticket yet??? I think everyone should come in March and we’ll have a super awesome Fiji party! Do it! Do it! Do it!

Here’s pictures, since there are several requests for them:

A beautiful sunset, one of many…

Andrew and Kay, my bosses. (Kay is in Australia this week and she promises to bring back several bags of chocolate chips for all my cookie baking needs. Yes that’s correct, there are no chocolate chips here. Travesty.)

One of the many islands we cruise past during our 3- and 4-day trips through the Yasawa Islands of Fiji. 

ME!!!! 

Bula!!!

After a week anfd a half on the cruise ship I’m perfectly content! It’s a lot of fun, they feed me amazing food, the diving is great, the people are awesome, and I get to teach courses! It’s a bit challenging to teach on board when you want them to still feel like they’re cruising, but it’s fun! I’ve just certified three students, while juggling intro divers and certified divers in case I wasn’t busy enough. I‘m back in NadI for half a day in between.

I’m loving it, and want to stay here, but I’m sure that as soon as Fabian gets back from holiday, I’ll be back on Tivua with good ol’ RaMarama. Oh well.

Dominique gets here so soon!!!! I’m excited.

Also, I’m getting over a terrible sore throat. It was extremely painful and I am now on antibiotics to squash it. I think in the next day or so I will be 100%. Thank god, because this has sucked.

Miss everyone!

xx

Yondra! (Good Morning)!

I can’t believe it’s been three weeks already! It feels like I’ve only just arrived! I have a few days off work now and I’m spending them on Bounty island with Romano and Dan. This morning I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach, changed into my bathers and went out for a swim in the ocean (crystal clear water, of course!), had breakfast and am now relaxing in the dive shop, enjoying the sun and the cool breeze as I update!

Last week I spent five days on Bounty, covering Romano’s days off and taught my first Fijian Open Water Diver course. My student, Rhoda, was awesome in the water, which made things really easy for me. It was also a learning experience, because I now know how I want to teach courses here in the future.

Everyone I meet is wonderful, and so friendly. It really is great. So far the weather has been lovely as well, sunny and hot, with a cool breeze. But it’s getting into the wet season which means afternoon storms and the potential for cyclones. Think hurricane season at home. Hopefully at that point I’ll be stationed on Reef Endeavor…

Reef Endeavor is apparently the best place in life. It’s a cruise ship that does three and four day cruises throughout the Fijian islands. I’m going to be covering someone’s shift on there for the next little bit (potentially for the next month!), starting on Saturday. I’ll be working with Dan, and he’s filling me in about all the awesomeness I can expect. Mostly he tells me about the food and how I’ll be eating like 8 times a day. Haha. Sounds like heaven to me! I guess the clientele are mostly families and older couples. And I’ll be doing mostly Intro dives (meh) with the occasional course. I get my own room with a king size bed and my own space. Yes! Hot showers, air con, fresh towels, hooray! Who would have thought I’d get excited over fresh towels??! It’s the little things in life…

My friend Dominique (whom I met in Australia) is coming here to work and should be arriving in the next week or so. I’m sure I wont see her until my next days off, but I can’t wait. I haven’t seen her since she left Australia which was nearly two years ago. Needless to say I’m excited to see her again.

Not much more to report really, but I’m having fun. Miss you all.

Fijian Phrase of the Day:

Sototale (pronounced So-Toe-Tall-A)

See you later!

BULA from Fiji!!!

The revamped 5 year plan is now in session! And it’s great. As the new plan is to not have a plan (sorry mom and dad), things are going swimmingly (pun definitely intended)! I’m currently in NadI, Fiji, where I am working for an Australian-based company called Reef Safari as a dive instructor and Site Manager.

Most of my days follow this pattern:

1. Wake up.

2. Be at work by 8 for the morning meeting.

3. Have coffee or some sort of brekky or just nap until 10.

4. Head out on a super awesome pirate-esque ship (pictures will come soon!) called Ra Marama (which is Fijian for Old Woman).

5. Sail for an hour and a half to Tivua Island, also affectionately known as Mystery Island (the mystery is what the mystery is!).

6. Scuba dive, or relax under a palm tree until I

7. Eat Lunch

8. Repeat Step 6.

9. Sail home

10. Have drinks at Lulu’s bar and schmooze with people I do or do not know.

11. Come home.

12. Bake something in my awesome apartment complete with fully equipped kitchen (minus a toaster that is supposed to arrive any day now…)

13. Sleep.

It’s a rough life I tell ya. If your parents tell you to become a dental hygienist, please don’t listen to them. Listen to me. Fiji rules.

In addition to the general plan, today I got my hair braided and beaded and then made a basket out of palm fronds. My basket needs work. Fortunately I’ve already made plans with the captain of Ra Marama and he’s going to cut me a nice big hunk of frond to work with on the ride home. Yippee! On Friday I’m changing it up a little and staying on a small island called Bounty Island for 4 nights at which point I will have no internet. I intend to spend my free time learning to fire dance. Yes, to spin flaming sticks around my head and body. There will be some great scar stories, I’m sure! Following that I have a few days “off”” and then we’ll see what’s what.

Everyone here is amazing. They ALL remember my name (and then I feel bad because I have no idea what their names are, typical me) and shout hello to me whenever I walk by. The diving so far hasn’t been spectacular, but that doesn’t bother me, it can only get better! My bosses are amazing and hilarious and love me because I buy their affection with cookies.

The weather is sunny and hot and beautiful!

Life is beautiful. No complaints. No headaches (literally! Hooray!!)! A small sore throat but cava fixes that, right? Lovin’ it all. Siga Na Liga (No worries!)

Fijian Phrase of the Day:

Vacava na siga nicua? (pronounced Vathava na singa nee coo ah)

How was your day today?

Gainesville, again...

So here i am. in gainesville. again.

it's not that i mind gainesville so much as i mind NOT being someplace else. But i'll deal. i'm going to have to. I put my room together today, and am going to attempt getting a job this week/end. Then it will be non-stop work as I pay off my debt and start to save for the next adventure: tentatively Spain in august.

Kira wants me to come to DC and if i could find some cheap-as rent, i definitely would. But since the goal is to save money, not spend it, I can't do that. Oh well.

Additionally, I may or may not go to vegas in March. We'll see how well the cash is flowing in a few weeks to decide on that. but that would be amaaazing!

here's to the unknown!

Sale-ing takes me away....

Spring is well on its way and that means only one thing: the Highland Pines Estates Annual Garage Sale-o-Rama! Mom wanted to purge the house of unnecessary junk (which there was tons of) (is junk ever necessary??). So we pooled together our resources (me, my grandma, and my aunt) and dragged in all out on the lawn for the neighbors to purchase for mere pennies on the dollar. After 6 grueling hours of bargaining with the locals and juggling dirty coins, we still have most of the junk. but we are $400 richer! yay!

I purged myself of my shoe collection, and I feel very liberated. I now own fewer pairs of shoes than claudia, a feat I never dreamed possible. All this aside, I think I know what I need to do with my share of the money.... Bakers anyone?

More later. Time to shop!

Sigh...

I had an amazing week with Tayler, whom I heart a whole lot. I'm so glad he came, because he is exactly what I needed, when I needed it most. Not only was it a lot of fun, but it was a great ego boost, and a reminder that not every guy thinks the way dennis does, that there's still hope for me. While he may not be the one I want, he reminded me not to give up hope, which i was steadily letting go of. The last thing he said to me was to be happy, and do the things that make me happy, and to remember all the fun things that make me me, to let them shine. Forget the assholes who make me sad and who make me doubt my awesomeness. He's right, you know.

But now that he's gone and I have no distractions, I'm forced to start thinking about reality again, and sort out what the fuck is going on in my mind: Dennis, Koh Tao, Spain, travel in general, guys, work, living, I'm as clueless as ever. I really am. The new meds are working great, so that's a plus, but it still doesn't help me to figure things out. It just keeps the tears at bay.

I'm relocating to gainesville for a while. This is not the wisest of moves, but it's the one i'm going to make for the moment, because it's a hell of a lot better than being in fort myers. I'm still applying for jobs all over the world. Hopefully something will pan out, and a decision will be made for me. Right now, I just need someone else to tell me what I should be doing. I dont have the strength to do things on my own quite yet.

Tayler's Here!!!

YAYYYYYYYY!!!!

After an amazing time in DC, where I reunited with people I love, and then fell in love with new people, I am back in FM, with Tayler, who after 48 hours of travel is officially in the U.S. of A. This is the last week I have until I have to start being a "temporary grown-up" so I am making the most of it: journey to g-vegas, possible Busch Gardens adventure, and a free trip to Key West!!!! Sure to be an amazing time. I can't wait!

i can feel my willpower crumbling beneath my feet.

What do you do when you know something is bad for you, and you shouldn't allow that thing into your life, but every ounce of your body and soul is pushing you toward it anyhow? What do you do when the struggle to keep that thing out brings tears to your eyes and sweat to your brow and pain to your heart? What do you do?

Well me, I run to a new place. Later today, I go on a mini-vacay to Washington D.C. It's just what I need, exactly when I need it. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be over the hump and ready to push forward with my detox sans relapse. Then It'll be back to the grind, and back on track, whatever that is. I guess I should figure that out first.

Le sigh...

Using my hands

I wanted to make a brilliant book all about the exciting creatures you find in the waters around Koh Tao, complete with watercolor drawings and fun facts. It was going to be a present for someone who is no longer in my life, and although I know I should forget about it, I really want to continue making it. For him? For me? I dont know. But the whole idea was so exciting and really made me happy. I was compiling research for my fun facts, and bought the materials to make the actual book. It was going to be a teaching aid for the Underwater Naturalist specialty of the advanced course. And I was going to mail it around the world, and everyone would be jealous of it. And the students would love it.

I'm still going to make it, i think. although obviously not for the original recipient. I might keep the original and maybe make copies for other people i like there. That might be a good plan. It's going to be awesome, regardless. And it'll keep my hands and mind busy for a little while.

In the meantime i'm planning the next big adventure. Step 1: make money and pay off all my debt. I hate owing people money, even the credit card people. So. I'll take care of that first and foremost. and then save save save. I've got until August or so. And then on to Europe! Back on track! Wahooooo!

help!

i need some guidance. what do i do next? where do i go from here?