One of the things that I love about diving is that it is a time where I am truly alone. Sure, diving is a social sport. We always go with buddies, we laugh and make jokes together on the boat. We constantly watch out for each other, to make sure we are safe and close by. That is all true, but at the same time as we are doing this, we are totally alone. This is how I feel anyway. And I like it. To be left alone in my thoughts.

Sometimes I think about a problem I’m having and sometimes I have completely random thoughts; “Where would I go if I could travel in time? The future or the past?” “What if I could create an Olympic sport out of racing underwater with no fins on?” “What do fish think about all day?”

Or, when I am diving I get Sally business head on. I try to really figure out the right direction that the business should go in. Should we get another boat? Should we do a deal with the cruise ships? I think about budgets and advertising and scheduling and emails I need to do.

Then, there are those wonderful zen moments, when I think about absolutely nothing.

What do you think about?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am also thinking of the diving (time, depth, NDL etc), what I’m looking at, the safety of everyone, how cool it would be if a giant squid appeared or something like that… but I can think about those things simultaneously as I’m thinking my more abstract or personal thoughts.

In fact, I was talking to Chris the other day about thinking in general (not just underwater but also top side), and for me, I have this running commentary that sort of goes on in my brain all the time (it would drive Chris and Stuart crazy if they could hear it ). I was under the impression that this was true for everyone, but apparently it isn’t, as Chris doesn’t think this way at all.

For example, I will see something and I will think “That’s funny, that guy over there is being really funny. I wonder if Chris will think that it is funny too. Should I tell him? He doesn’t have the same sense of humor that I do, not really, so he probably won’t think that it is funny. Yeah… I’m not going to tell him. Yeah… I probably will tell him anyway.”

Chris said that he just sees something, laughs and then tells me about it.

Anyway… enough about all that nonsense. Chris went out this morning to dive Chris’ Reef and fix the mooring. Also had a nice dive at the same time, then a drift on the back of Creole Rock. It was a Spanish boat this morning, with Carlos, Andres, Santiago and Fernando. Carlos lost his camera at Creole Rock, which I feel slightly responsible for because one of my latest posts on Facebook was “Ever lost anything underwater?” To which one reply was “My ex-husband on a drift dive. Unfortunately he turned up again :-/” which really made me laugh. Then, next thing I know, Carlos lost his camera… anyway. It is a quiet afternoon now, so I’m off to work on the website!

(Sally wrote this blog )

The thing is, I’m not really a sales person, and I don’t really know what I should sell. Things that seem like such a good idea at first just aren’t selling. For example, I sent away for 25 Octopus Diving calendars, which are filled with some of my favorite underwater photos in Saint Martin. They are really pretty and are currently for sale in the shop. I thought as it was the beginning of the year, calendars is something that people buy. I also thought they may make nice sticking stuffers for Christmas. Guess how many I have sold! Go, guess! One. I have sold one in about a month. Pathetic. I was so despondent about it that I even gave one away the other day to a really nice mum of one of our divers. A Christmas present, I said. I just felt like I needed to shift them. Perhaps they are too expensive – $15, but after printing costs and shipping, that really is only a small mark up.

I also commissioned a local artist from Saba, Jo Bean (who I talked about in on of my previous blogs), to make some Octopus Diving pendants, and purchased from here some other really beautiful necklaces. Each one is hand made and individual. I think they are so cool! What do you think?

This is just one of the pendants, but there are many. Also, she makes these adorable little turtle beads.

Chris even made me this wonderful display area for them to be mounted on. Guess how many of these I have sold. Guess. Go on… four. Well, that isn’t really true. I took one (so I kind of bought it from myself. I gave myself a price that I couldn’t resist). Here is the one that I bought.

Sorry if the photo is a little blurry, but I took the photo myself! Isa, one of our new instructors who I should really tell you all about, bought one and then I sold two the first day I put them on the shelf. But since then, no one has wanted any!

There are also dive necklaces with the dive flag which I thought would be really nice for divers to get, but I haven’t sold any of those. I gave one to Stuart, one to Isa and one to Karl (our other new instructor) but they don’t even wear them

Maybe I’m being too hard on myself.

I also had all these Octopus Diving stickers made and some magnets too. They are on the shelf right next to a little sign that says “Stickers and Magnets $3 each” but people just keep taking them thinking that they are free! Then it is embarrassing when I have to stop them.

“Ummmm, those aren’t actually free. Yeah… Ummmm…. Sorry about that… They are actually $3 each.”

I’m sure I’ve seen stickers for sale in other diving centers, and they aren’t free either!

Ok, I’ve just been skyped by my dad, so I’ve got to go. I shall ask his advice on the subject.

Oh… If you want a necklace, just ask. Or a calendar, they are going on sale for 20% off shortly!

Sally wrote this blog

Well… last year we had a small article in the magazine with a small advertisement, but this year when we contacted the editor she said if I could write a longer article she would give us a larger advertisement. So, I did. The theme of the 2012 Destination is looking at things from a new perspective. So I wrote about looking at the ocean a different way (i.e. from below )!

Here is the article. I cut it out and then scanned it. I hope it is big enough for everyone to read. You have to click on the link… Enjoy
Octopus in Destination

Sally wrote this blog

The package was about 2 feet by 1.5 feet and only a few inches thick. Very strange. It had actually arrived a couple days before, but I was out diving and Stu put it in the back room at the dive shop. When I found it I eagerly opened it and inside was a framed certificate. Intriguing…. I thought.

The first thing I noticed was the word “Excellence” and I thought to myself “that’s pretty excellent.” Upon even further inspection I read all the words.

“Certificate of Recognition for

EXCELLENCE

Awarded to

OCTOPUS DIVING

For the 2011 PADI Americas

Diver Retention Award

Given the 1st Day of November, 2011″

Took a long time for it to get to me if they awarded it on the 1st of November.

Anyway… I was extremely pleased but a little confused. What the heck is “Diver Retention”? It sounds like some kind of genetic disorder at first. Luckily it was accompanied by a letter from PADI, from no one other than the Executive of PADI Americas.

Apparently Octopus Diving was selected as one of only three diving centers nominees for the PADI Americas and PADI Canada 2011 PADI Member Recognition Awards. This means that out of all the PADI diving centers in America, Canada and the Caribbean we were selected for the particular DIVER RETENTION AWARD.

This award “Recognizes retail and resort members that have shown continuing education certification growth over the previous year, followed PADI Standards and philosophy, and implemented innovative diver retention strategies.”

Phew, still not sure what that means, but it’s freakin’ cool! My translation of this is that we not only certified divers as Open Water Divers, but those same divers came back to do their Advanced Open Water with us, or their Enriched Air Specialty Certification, or their Rescue. What it means is that our divers, Octopus Diving divers, keep coming back to us.

It is only a piece of paper, (although nicely framed), but it means a lot to us. We work so hard, we try to provide the best education for our divers as possible, and we also try to keep our relationships with our divers strong, so that they do come back and dive again with us. Plus, do you have any idea how many diving centers there are in Canada, the USA and the Caribbean? Lots. Lots and lots and lots. So for us to be in the top three (although we didn’t make the top top) is pretty great!

Anyway, big pat on the back for us, and thanks to all of you, our RETAINED DIVERS!

(Sally wrote this blog )

Saba is called the “Unspoiled Queen” of the Caribbean. This phrase isn’t just a tourist pull, it is true. With only 1,550 full time residents (there are an additional 300 medical students studying there) the island is small. It is a massive rock that juts out of the ocean and is made up of a potentially active volcano called Mount Scenery. The highest point on the island (Mt. Scenery) is 877 m (2,877 feet) and is the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. There are only two ways to get there, ferry or flight.

We opted for the ferry as it was cheaper and also more convenient. Although flying is only 10 minutes and the ferry is an hour and ten minutes, with the ferry you don’t have to arrive 2 hours early, the airport is farther away from Grand Case than the Pelican (where the ferry leaves from) and we aren’t worried about getting seasick. (They sometimes call the ferry to Saba and St. Bart’s the “Vomit Commit” due to the constant yaw of the boat in the waves.) Once you arrive at the port you jump in a taxi and they take you up, up, up. Everything is “up” there.

So, we arrived at the ferry and let me tell you (it is so odd) that even before we got on the ferry Chris started to relax. We had breakfast at a little cafe before boarding and he was already cracking jokes and embarrassing me in front of the waiter. I know that a lot of you understand this, it seems that just the thought of vacation, just the hint of it, is relaxing. That is why I sometimes get those people who are planning their vacations and they email me 50 times before they arrive, or once they get back they are sending me photos (which I love by the way) and they are commenting on FB. It is because they want to try to prolong that “vacation feeling” and I totally know how they feel.

We stayed at Scout’s Place in the village of Windwardside. It is owned by our friends Wolfgang and Barbara. They also have a diving center there, Saba Divers, but this trip was a “NO DIVING” trip. I didn’t even want the briefest of reminders of scuba diving while we were away. The room was beautiful, with the most amazing view from our room.

The first night it started to rain. Really rain. Lots of rain. Rain coming in all directions. The rain continued, and continued. You know what? We didn’t care. All the better reason to stay in bed and do nothing. To read and relax. That’s the thing about vacation, sometimes it doesn’t matter if it rains.

Around 1 PM on Saturday it cleared up and we explored the island a bit more. This is our third visit to the island. The first time was on a trip sponsored by the Saba Tourist office (in which Chris and I somehow got separated and while I was having a tour of the island in a mini bus with a bunch of ladies from various concierge desks of St. Martin, Chris was drinking Bloody Mary’s with the Saban Minister of Tourism! But that is a whole other story). The second time was for diving, so this time we decided to explore top side.

We went to the Tide Pools, which was like walking on another planet or something.

It was too rough to actually go in the pools, but it was still lots of fun. I figured out how to use the timer on my camera to get this photo of the two of us.

Probably the best thing that we did was go into Jo Bean’s Glass Studio. The name comes from the owner and artist, Jo Bean. When we first went in there were a few people mulling around the small studio, some talking to Jo. Jo had her head over an open flame (looked like a sideways Bunsen Burner to me) with a long stick of black glass. All around the studio are these wonderful glass trinkets, necklaces, key chains, hearts, mermaids, turtles. Amazing colors and textures. It made me feel like I was some kind of princess and the room was my jewelery box. A couple people left and I saw my opportunity. I was a little bashful (I’m much more outgoing in writing and underwater then I am otherwise), but I persevered.
“Hi. I’m Sally. From St. Martin. My husband and I own Octopus Diving.”
Her head turned up and she smiled at me. Jo Bean isn’t bashful at all.
“Well.” She said. “Aren’t you just exactly the people that I was looking for.” She immediately put me at ease and this started about an hour and a half of us chatting away about all sorts. When talking about her own art Jo Bean is especially animated.

“This one I love, you have to look at this one! Oh and this, I sell tons of these, aren’t they cute?”

She gave us a demonstration of how she makes some of her beads, and even let us make our own beads while we were there. Here is Chris and Jo Bean instructing Chris.

While working with the glass you get to wear these awesome glasses. Chris looked just adorable in them (I look pretty good too, don’t you think?)

It was so much fun. The best part is that I came away with some awesome necklaces, key chains, and other trinkets to sell at the dive shop. Jo Bean makes these wonderful dive necklaces and she is making custom designed, unique to us, Octopus Diving pendants and key chains. She gave me a quick sample of one and it looks great. I will post photos of it soon, and they will be for sale in the shop! I’m super excited! It was also really nice to meet Jo Bean, she’s a real character and has this quality about her that makes you both at ease and also intrigued. If you go to Saba visiting her studio is a must!
So… it was a relaxing vacation and now we are back in St. Martin hard at work. This morning there was a deep dive at La Renee and Stu had 3 open water students! My favorite part of the vacation was sitting with Chris, playing cards, reminding me of the days when we used to travel and had no responsibility, no stress, no worries, just where the next bus was taking us. We always play the same game, and it never gets old…. Here is a clip of Chris, truly relaxed in Saba.
Sorry the video is sideways, I’m new at this…


This is what we are saying, in case you can’t make out Chris’ accent.

Sally: “You’re on video.”

Chris: “That’s nice for me.”

Sally: “Do you have anything to say to all your fans out there?”

Chris: “Ride it like you stole it.”

Sally: “Are you having fun?”

Chris: “Endless.”

Sally: “You look like it.”

Chris: “That’s a nice big white swan behind us…. it’s huge.”

Sally: “I’ve seen it already, it’s fake.”

Chris: “It’s massive. It’s not fake, it’s real. It’s swimming backwards right now.”

Pan over to swan.

Chris: “It’s a real white swan. Otherwise, how would it move around the pool like that? It’s got legs, ‘in it. You just can’t see them.”

Chris takes swig of an aperitif.

Chris: “These shots are good, that’s our fifteenth.”

(Sally wrote this blog )

Sometimes I get a radio call from the house (this is really the departure site) from Stu.

“Goldilocks, Goldilocks, this is Papa Bear. Come in Goldilocks.” (This is Stu being funny on the radio. Only if he has had a sufficiently good nights sleep the night before however!

“Goldilocks here, what is it Papa Bear? Over”

“The Divers haven’t arrived yet, any sign of them at the shop? Over”

“No, nothing here yet. I’ll send them right down when they show up, over.”

“Ok, over.”

“Over, over.”

“Go away Sally, I’m trying to work. Over.”

“Ok, Over, I’ll go away, Over.”

Now we are in a situation that I hate, the divers are late. Should we wait for them? Should the boat leave? Are they even showing up? What if we wait 15 minutes and then they still don’t show up? What if we leave and then they arrive just as the boat is pulling out of mooring? How long can we wait and the other divers we have on the boat won’t be put out? After all, they got here on time.

Yikes, so many questions. The answer is: Don’t be late for the boat.

I suppose it is because we are the only, that is right… I said the only diving center that offers four dives a day, that we have a pretty tight schedule to keep to. The first boat leaves at 8 AM, gets back around 11:30, we get 20 minutes to turn over the boat for the afternoon trip, have some lunch, and then the afternoon divers should be arriving at 12:40. The boat then leaves at 1 PM and gets back at about 4:30. Sometimes we get back a little sooner, 11:15 or so, but it still isn’t a long time. We have a lot to do at lunch time! We need to get all the gear off the boat, rinse the gear, hang it up, sign log books, exchange emails with people, make sure that everyone has their belongings, then take the tanks off the boat, put fresh tanks back on the boat, clean the boat, fill the mornings empty tanks, plus Lil’ Rog needs attention! All this is hard work! Stu will vouch for this. Well, we all will vouch for this.

This means that if someone arrives late in the morning it makes it even more difficult to keep to the time schedule. Check in is at 7:40 AM, and this does seem early for vacation, but for those that want to stay out late drinking and then sleep in, we’ve got the 1PM trip (check in 12:40).

So, how long do you think that we should wait? Stu wants to get tee-shirts made that say “Octopus Diving – The boat leaves at 8 AM!” to see if it would make a difference or not. Normally we wait until 8:10 which means that the divers are officially 30 minutes late, but I still always feel bad if they show up a little later and the boat has already gone.

Then there are the people that show up super early. Are you one of those? Once I came to the dive shop at 7:25 in the morning, as usual, and there was a diver sleeping in front of the shop! I kid you not! He was laying out using his dive bag as his pillow. He was quite content actually… I don’t mind the early bird, rather early than late!

So, please, where ever you dive in the future, respect the timing. Think of it like catching a flight, except you are catching a boat, and as Stuart’s Tee-shirt says “THE BOAT LEAVES AT 8!”

(Sally wrote this blog )

Yesterday I went for a dive with Greg and Eden from Phoenix, Arizona. Greg hadn’t dived in about 5 years so he was with me for the afternoon doing a refresher dive. The wind was up, and the water was a little choppy so I was a bit worried about the clarity of the water. We went out on the boat to Creole Rock and I gave a thorough briefing on the basics of diving so that Greg was feeling comfortable on his dive.
(Are you bored yet? I know you just want to hear about the dolphins, but the anticipation of the event makes it more exciting, right?)

We got into the water and then dropped down the line for some exercises in shallow water. First with the regulator, then with the mask and then some out of air scenarios. Greg did a great job and I was thinking “has it really been 5 years for Greg?” I would like to say at this point that it is really important to do a refresher dive if you haven’t been diving in a long time.

(OK, OK, I’ll get to the dolphins soon).

We finished the exercises and then started off around Creole Rock. I showed them a little Christmas Tree worm (I love those) there were the remains of an Octopus’ dinner (but no octopus), a couple of banded cleaner shrimp and also some nice snapper fish. We were just making our way slowly around. The visibility wasn’t that great, so we could only see about 20 – 25 feet around us.

I just finished looking at a small insignificant shell that I thought might have a little hermit crab inside when I felt the need to look up. Out of the haziness in the distance these large dark shapes appeared. They were moving fast, and directly towards us. The shapes were quickly getting larger and larger and seemed to be multiplying. Then, just a millisecond later I could see five massive dolphins and one small baby surrounding us.

My first instinct was fright. I was scared. Did you know that everything looks 25% bigger underwater? These animals are HUGE! Not only are they huge but they made me feel like a clumsy toddler watching the ballerinas in Swan Lake – each graceful movement affirming the inadequacy of my equipment. I looked at Greg and Eden to make sure that they were okay and we all sort of floated there, wide eyed, in astonishment.
There was one dolphin that just kept circling us, over and over. He had quite a few scars on his dorsal fin and back where he probably got a bit too curious with a boat. But as he circled us he would follow you with his eye, and it really felt like he was trying to tell us something. Around and around and around he swam. Then he made this movement with his head, like “follow me.” And it was tempting, just to swim after them, grab hold and see what happened.

They stayed with us for about 5 minutes and then we carried on with the dive, everything paling in comparison. They joined us again about 15 minutes later further around the rock. It was a magical experience.

I couldn’t wait to get back to the boat and talk with the others about the experience. I was hoping the whole time that Stuart had seen them as well. He was on a dive with another student and left about 10 minutes before me on his dive.

I surfaced, got my reg out of my mouth and I said to Stuart “How was your dive?” I guess it was the way that I said it, or the look on my face, or perhaps because Stuart and I spend way too much time together on the boat, but he replied “You saw dolphins, didn’t you?”

I then proceeded to tell him about the whole experience. He asked me where I saw them and I said “Well, about halfway around right where those banded coral shrimp are the dolphins came over. They stayed with us for about 10 minutes and then swam away and then came back again for another 5 minutes. They were so close you could’ve touched them.” To which Stu came back with “I didn’t ask you how close they were or how long they stayed with you, just where!” He was getting a little short tempered with jealousy I think.

At any rate, it was something that I really needed. An experience that confirmed for me why I do what I do everyday. It makes all the marketing, the accounting, the bookwork, the emails, the website development, the stress, the energy, it makes it all worth it!

So… Thank you, Dolphins, I really needed that!

(Sally wrote this blog )

I intended to write a couple funny stories about how people in the past have arrived for the dive trip at 8:45 AM all ready to go and I tell them that they are an hour late. Then they argue with me that it is actually 7:45 AM and not 8:45 AM, and I have to explain that we don’t practice Day Light Savings Time. That was my intention. Except the stories were going to be witty and funny, both educational and entertaining at the same time.

However, I’m not feeling that right now. I’m not feeling witty or funny at the moment. In fact, I’m feeling really sad.

The reason that I’m feeling so sad is because a really amazing, kind, lovely woman passed away the other day. It was my grandmother who we all affectionately called “Nanna.” Some of you who have been avid blog readers of mine for the last year will remember my blog from early January 2011 about when my Nanna came to visit us in St. Martin. If you need a quick link, here it is. http://www.octopusdiving.com/2011/01/nanna-in-st-martin/ It somehow doesn’t seem possible that under a year ago she was walking down to the bottom of the garden to look out at the Caribbean Sea and now she is gone. Weren’t we just walking up Grand Case boulevard and then having a coffee in town?

She passed away on the 31st of October in England, surrounded by my mother and Uncle. She was 96.

I know a lot of you open my blog and like to escape for a bit into my world. A world of exciting scuba dives, a world where you can walk down the street at 11 AM with a beer and no one bats an eyelid. A world where the ocean is a wonderful turquoise and surprises are at every turn. So, I apologize for not providing that for you today. But right now, my world is grieving.

For those of you that were lucky enough to have met Nanna (everyone called her Nanna, even those that weren’t actually her grandchildren) you will understand our loss. I don’t think that I have fully come to term with it yet, and that is why I am on my way to England, to pay my respects and say goodbye. If that is possible, possible to say goodbye.

And I talk to people and they say things like “she had such a great life.” “She was so loved.” “She isn’t in pain anymore.” “She is in a happier place now.” And I feel angry with my selfishness that I don’t care about that. I just want her back, I don’t want to be in a world where she isn’t. It doesn’t seem possible.

So, my intention was to write about Day Light Savings, and remind everyone to change their watches and clocks when they arrive to the island next week, but the words aren’t coming out of my fingers that way. It feels disingenuous to write about something trivial when this is going on. And perhaps I shouldn’t share this online, perhaps this is too public a forum to express my sadness, but these are the words that are coming out of me right now, words that say “I’m sad and I just want a hug from my Nanna.” I’ve been meaning to write a blog since Monday, but I just kept writing something and then deleting it. I can’t seem to write anything until I write about this.

Hopefully Chris and I have created a diving center that when you visit, your know that we are real people, real people who work hard and have followed their dreams. And I’m sure that lots of you have suffered from loss and great anguish, and I know I’m not the only one. I know that life goes on, and although it feels like the world should stop turning (if just for a second) and the lights should all dim, and the birds should stop singing, and everyone should just be sad, I know that isn’t happening.

So, we go on. We haven’t stopped diving, or answering emails, or taking calls. It is still running smoothly back in St. Martin, just without me for a couple of days.

Perhaps by my writing this is feels like I am telling the world, “We lost something, we lost something really precious. Everyone, take note of that.” And it makes me feel a little better.

OK, okay, I promise to make the next blog a really super funny, entertaining one. Perhaps a good story about Stu, those are always the best. Until then, thanks for your thoughts and kind words, they mean a lot to me.

(A sad Sally wrote this blog )

We’ve been diving, of course… In fact I’ve had some great dives. I went on a discover scuba dive with Patrick from Philly and it was like he was a secret agent from PADI coming to check up on me. I say this because he was so awesome in the water. I gave him my usual briefing, but unless I am the best instructor in the world (which is possible) he was a secret instructor from PADI making sure that I am doing my job correctly. I wonder which one it is?

Sometimes my blogs actually have useful information in them (I know it is rare) and I thought I would make this a useful one as well. People are often asking me whether or not they should tip their diving instructor and boat captain. In the PADI Open Water Manual they do cover some diving etiquette, like not being late for the dive boat and how to be a good dive buddy, but there is no section on tipping.

Chris and I have worked all over the world and the tips do vary from country to country and from diving center to diving center. Some places put a little tip jar out, or a sign on the boat saying “tips are greatly appreciated.” I know what my dad would say to this, he would say “Here’s a good tip. Never pee into a strong wind!” However, as when I finally donned my cap and gown for my graduation from university this tip seemed wanting… and I think on a dive boat the instructors may feel the same.

We don’t like to put a tip jar out, or have a sign on the boat as I feel that this is a little trashy… but that’s just me.

Tipping of course, is completely optional. It depends on the experience. I am a New Yorker, and I fully endorse and support the tipping culture. When I walk into a restaurant the server is going to try and give me a great experience, so I tip well. There is nothing that bothers me more than bills that come at the end of a meal with the tip included. You should beware of this in St. Maarten, (only on the Dutch side though). Many restaurants on the Dutch side are now including a 15% tip in the bill. If you aren’t looking, (or you had too many Margarita’s), you may end up tipping twice, so please take care. I detest this. And you can refuse to pay the tip. I also know from many friends that work in the restaurant industry on the island that the servers are not getting that whole 15% tip. The owners are taking half of that for things like “breakage of restaurant materials” “staff drinks” and other obsolete fines that they are making up. Unfortunately a lot of the restaurant staff in St. Maarten are working illegally, so there isn’t much they can do about it. The best thing is to tip in cash, directly to the server.

However, what about the diving industry? Tipping servers in a restaurant is normal, should you tip your dive guide? Again, I would say that it is totally up to you. Our staff is so great that they do get tips quite a bit, and it is normally about 10% of the cost of the diving, or $10 for a two tank dive. However, some people tip more and some less and some not at all. We do seem to get a lot of alcohol as thanks for our services. Not sure why, perhaps because when people are leaving they decide to drop off any extra wine or beer to the dive shop. Also, I should add that we don’t provide a great service to get tips, we provide a great service because we love what we do. And I’ve never heard anyone curse any divers that didn’t tip, it’s just a nice added bonus when they do.

We had a really nice tip from one of our favorite divers (Tony Darst) when he left us a gift certificate to a restaurant in Grand Case, Le Ti Provencial. That was really nice. Also had a really nice tip from some snorkelers the other day who brought me two bags of Jolly Ranchers. The one’s that Lisa Wightman bought for me are almost gone…! But for Chris and I, a great review on Tripadvisor.com or just a nice email is enough.

So, there are some little tips about tipping in the diving industry.

(Sally wrote this blog )

Now I find that we are back in St. Martin and the season has begun and it is time for me to once again waste your precious time with my nonsense and ramblings.

We officially reopened for business on the 1st of October but didn’t actually take divers our until Monday the 3rd of October. There were lots of shenanigans getting the boats ready. Originally we had someone on island that was supposed to do a lot of work to both Octopussy and Arvor while we were away. Just fixing up the gel coat and also anti-fouling the boats. But alas, when we arrived the first day back (the 24th of September) none of the work had been done. This meant that the extra week that we were going to have in St. Martin (relaxing on the beach, having a beer at 1 in the afternoon, and slowly getting back into the island life… it takes a while!) didn’t exist. We went from no stress to total stress. So that week we spent getting everything ready in time to have the boats back in the water and ready to go.

Plus, Stuart cunningly arranged his flight so that he would arrive the night before we opened on the 1st of October, meaning that he wasn’t around to help us with the boats. (This was not an unplanned travel itinerary, trust me. Entering his 3rd season with us, Stu knows the deal. )

Finally everything was all set with just some minor hiccups for the 1st. We spent this day cleaning the boats and the departure sight and generally getting to know the new staff. “New staff?” You say, I think I even heard your ears prick up just then. “Oooooh, tell us about the new staff.” Well, I won’t say too much about the new staff because I don’t have any real dirt on them yet, but when I do, I will let you know.

Just briefly… (YES, it is possible for me to be brief!) there is Chris from England. This is confusing I know. This isn’t my Chris, the tall guy that I am shackled to for the rest of my life, it is another Chris. His full name is Chris Blackwell and we really need to come up with a nickname for him or something. I suggested “Blacky”, being short for Blackwell. However, Stu and Chris (my Chris, not “Blacky”) think that might be inappropriate to yell out as we live on a Caribbean Island. I think it’s fine! Anyway… We are currently flirting with the name “C.B.” but we will have to see what sticks. Really we need Chris (“Blacky” Chris not my Chris) to do something embarrassing so that we can paint him with this label for the rest of his time in the Caribbean with us. I’m just terrible, I know. Stu reminds me all the time.

(I guess it isn’t possible for me to be brief!)

Alright, let’s go with CB for now, it’s easier to type. CB is from England and was working in the BVI’s with his girlfriend Jude. CB and Jude are both instructors and boat captains and now they are part of the Octopus Diving Team. Jude is from Scotland and they arrived on island with Coco, which is their lil’ island dog rescued from the BVI’s.

We also have Abbey from England that is starting her Divemaster Internship with us. More on them in another blog… I promise.

You may be asking what happened to Stefan, Michelle and Mike. Well, Stefan has bought himself a 47 foot yacht and is going to sail all around the Caribbean. He is still in St. Martin and is awaiting crew. Not sure where this crew is coming from, but Stef has a plan. If you would like to sail around the Caribbean with Stef, then just email me and I can tell him. It is preferable if you have some sailing experience please because Stef doesn’t have any and we are a little worried about him. The other day when we saw him he said “Check out my new boat. It is 45 foot from the back to the front and then another 2 foot on that thingy that sticks out the front of the boat.” We were in awe at his nautical vocabulary. Bless Stefan though, we wish him well in his adventure and also we wish that an experienced sailor will read this blog and go with Stefan!

Michelle is off to Grand Cayman to do underwater photography and topside photography. She leaves at the end of the month. Although I already miss her and all the fun we had on the boat together, we are happy that she is following her dream and traveling on. But oh, how I will miss her pretty eyes underwater!!! The way she flutters her eye lashes puts her clasped hands under her chin. We will all have to go to Grand Cayman to see her! Here is a photo of us on our last dive together.

Mike is returning back to London for a bit and then we aren’t sure what he is up to after that. Perhaps over to Grand Cayman to see Michelle, or back to South Africa, I’m not sure he knows exactly what he is going to do, but whatever it is, I know it’s going to be great.

So… back to getting ready for the season. We decided on the Sunday afternoon, (that would be the 2nd of October), that we would go for a fun dive! Yippee! One whole month out of the water and we were finally going diving again! This is what it’s all about, isn’t it? I decided to take my camera so I could get some shots of the new staff underwater, plus I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

The conditions were great and as we were all getting onto the boat a 4 foot Devil Ray was swimming around. In only 3 feet of water you could see it really clearly. It was beautiful. What a great start to the season! I tried to grab my camera and jump in to get a shot of it, but every time I got close enough she would swim in the other direction. So… I went onto the beach and would run ahead of it and then jump in the water. At which point she would turn and go in the other direction! This repeated itself a couple of times at which point my much paler and fatter body (after 3 weeks of eating amazing food in NY) told me to get back on the boat!

We went out to the dive site and I’m trying to be all cool in front of the new staff. You know, start off the season showing my excellent skills as first mate of Octopussy! We pull up to Turtle Reef and I grab the hook. I am explaining how I hook my leg on the pole so I don’t fall in the water, and I hold the end of the line from the boat in place with my other leg. I reach out, hook the buoy and attempt to pull it in. “Stu, I’ve got it!” I yell to captain Stu. “Stu, hold it there!” I repeat to Stu. “Stu, it’s gone under the boat, back it up!” I add. “Stu, it’s gone, I can’t hold it!”

Yeah, we were totally impressing the new guys!

Second attempt. I reach out and hook the mooring buoy, I pull in the line and as I do some water flicks up and splashed against my face. I don’t think much of it at the time (you see there is no way I am messing up our second attempt at getting the mooring buoy!!) and tie the boat up.

Then Stuart gives us his Turtle Reef briefing (which I have heard a million times and could probably repeat verbatim) for the new staff. I stop listening and I notice my face stings a little bit. Then it feels like I have something in my eye. I rub it a bit, but that doesn’t help. I squint my eye and try to itch my eye without touching my face. This means I am making the most ridiculous face you’ve ever seen! I ask Chris to look in my eye, but he doesn’t see anything.

Time to dive. My eye is still bothering me, but I think perhaps it will go away underwater. Diving makes everything better, right? I drop down. I can’t itch my eye now as I am wearing a mask, but it starts to sting and water. I wait for everyone else and find that after just two minutes I have to take my mask off my face to get rid of all of the lovely mucous that was rapidly accumulating at the bottom of my mask. And this isn’t easy when you are holding a large camera I might add. My eye is really hurting at this point. I see Chris and motion to him “something wrong, my eye.” He gives my hand a little squeeze and we keep diving. I snap a couple of photos of CB, Jude, Abbey, Chris and Stu.





You can see that Abbey is already racking up some beer fines with Stuart in this photo!

After 10 minutes my eye is getting worse, I can’t think of diving at all, let alone taking photos. My eye is seriously burning. I grab Chris, close my eyes and let him drag me around a bit. I am constantly taking my mask off and blowing my nose. Finally I hand Stu my camera so I can be free of it for a moment. He snaps this photo of me! Probably the best photo of the dive.

You can see my eye doesn’t look right.

Then I call it. That’s it. Dive done, I need to get up. I am so congested that every foot difference in depth is giving me a serious squeeze. I signal to Chris and Stu that I’m going back to the boat. Then, as I head back over the reef I see this amazing hawksbill. He looks at me and says “Please take my photo, Sally. If you take my photo it will be the most amazing photograph you’ve ever taken. Ignore your eye. Look how pretty I am.” So, of course, I photo the turtle.

I am half blind at this point and sort of swimming in circles around the Turtle not being able to see if my camera is even in focus. After a few more minutes the Turtle start swimming away and says to me “Follow me, follow me across the reef where we will encounter something else that will make for the most spectacular photograph.” I start to follow the turtle, and then I think “Damn Temptress, my eye hurts!”

I go back to the boat, flush my eye with fresh water. I notice my upper lip and cheek are stinging badly, and I think there must have been some kind of jellyfish tentacle or hydroid on the line. I say to myself “Is it even possible to get stung on your eyeball?”

I have the answer for you. The answer is YES, yes it is possible, and it YES, it freakin’ sucks!

It takes a lot for me to abort a dive, especially after one month out of the water. But I tell you, a jellyfish sting to the eyeball, that does it.

Much to my dads dismay I did not visit a doctor, or go to the hospital. I toughed it out with some eye wash, a little whiskey, red wine and a hot compress. I wasn’t feeling better until about 24 hours later. Not a good start to the season!

OK, with just about 2000 words I think I’m blogged out.

(Sally wrote this blog, and she isn’t blind in one eye, in case you were worried )