“I’m honored just to be nominated” is such an overused phrase. But when said, it is meant wholeheartedly! At least, I assume so! Perhaps some people are upset when they don’t win, but for me, the fact that something I did deserves a nod is worth a bit of celebration.…
Update July 2020
Well, I feel a bit like a giant walking bruise, which is rather to be expected, given that I technically crashed a motorbike a couple days ago. The true soreness actually comes a couple days after a wreck, and I certainly haven’t been lying around in the days since my…
I suspect that today was so horrible in order to underscore how wonderful yesterday was. At least, that’s the idea I’m going to go with, since any other would make me just cringe about the suckiness that ended up being my day today. I’d planned to get up early-ish in…
Whew! I did it! I am now a certified PADI Rescue Diver, so yay me! I made it through both my “hell dive” and my “hell day” without (terrible) incident! The nice thing about the rescue class is that it gave me some exposure to lots of the things that I’ll…
I’m so glad I finished my first day of my rescue dive course. I’m worried about the next two days, however. There are two main things that worry me. There is a dive called the “hell dive” which is supposed to happen tomorrow. It’ll probably be on the second dive. …
(WARNING: Written while grumpy! May contain some cursing and general huffiness…) Today was the first day of my Rescue Diver course, a class which is a prerequisite for the Dive Master course. I am in El Nido, a town on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. I’ve heard the diving…
My first few days in Santorini have been great so far. Shortly after I arrived at my hostel (where the guy who works at the front desk is actually named Adonis!), I walked down the beachfront about a quarter kilometer to the nearest dive shop. It was open, and the girl…
I have to leave the Maldives today. I am very torn about it. I had a wonderful time here. I enjoyed the restful time I had, and loved the scuba diving. I liked the people I met and the experiences I had while I was here. I’ll be really sad to…
Today I went for another dive. It was a bit further out, to Angothi Thila, a reef known for having sharks and a lot of marine life, and it’s supposed to be worth it. It was. I had decided to rent an underwater camera they have available. It takes underwater…
Wow, those boat dives this morning were phenomenal, to say the least! I literally saw half of the cast of Finding Nemo down there! (Sharkbait, wooh ha ha!) I saw a couple of turtles and a couple of sharks. Also, the coral was incredible. I wanted to float down there forever. We took…
I just went scuba diving! For the first time in 20 years (okay 19, but who’s counting?) and I am so glad! I have heard wonderful things about the diving in Maldives. In addition to the fact that there is an abundance of sea life – fish, coral, invertebrates, sharks,…
So I’m finding that a week on a restful island paradise is just what I was looking for! This place fits the bill. The view out my bungalow is constantly changing and continuously spectacular, rain or shine. The island is small, and you can walk across it in about 15…
Yesterday I got a final dose of Nizam’s before leaving Kolkata. First, I met up with Neel. He and his driver picked me up near my apartment, which was awesome because it worked out timing-wise and it was really hot and saved me from catching a bus and then the subway. Unfortunately, we had…
