St. Thomas - 5th Port

St. Thomas we were scheduled to go scuba diving at Coki beach with Discover Dive. I was so nervous, and Brad was so excited. You see, Brad is a certified underwater diver, so this wasn't his first rodeo with the equipment. It has been awhile since he has dove at all, but he has never dove in the ocean. We had about a twenty minute briefing, then a little PADI scuba quiz, then time to put all the gear on. I was so happy with our group. Everyone in it had dove in the past, I was the only first time diver. Because of this, the guide was more comfortable taking us out longer, and to deeper depths. It was so much fun, and probably the most memorable and best memory I will have of our honeymoon. It was amazing to be underwater, viewing the fish, and sea creatures. We saw a huge 100 + lbs cubera snapper. It was awesome! Our guide had a little noise maker that anytime there was something for us to see, he would sound the noise so we would look. What was really disappointing is the underwater camera we took with us was supposed to be rated for up to 32 feet. It quit working around about 15. We were underwater for about 45 minutes, and dove to 40 feet. We were told initially that we should only expect 30 feet for a half an hour dive. So we definitely got more than anticipated and planned, and our guide credited that towards the group we had. We had no issues whatsoever during our dive. 

When we first got in the water, just off the beach, we walked right in, put on our fins, and dunked underwater. While we were within about 5 feet, our guide went over some skills to make sure we would know how to retriever our airline if it popped out. When going over skills, I was so nervous, I had to keep looking at Brad to reassure myself I was doing okay. The skill that made me most nervous was retrieving my air line, and remembering the button on the front to blow the air out. When my turn to do this skill, I forgot to inhale before removing my line, when I found it, put it back in, I then had no more air in my lungs to manually blow the water out of the line. I looked at the instructor showing him that I wasn't sure what to do next, and it became painful because I had no air. He squeezed his noise maker, and pointed to the button on the front of the line, showing me a pushing motion. I reached up, pushed the button, and blew the water out of my line and quickly went back to normal breathing. The only reason I had forgotten how to pass this skill was because I was so nervous. Brad said he saw me struggle, and became worried, and almost just grabbed me and pushed me to the surface. I wasn't freaking out though, I knew the instructor would help me once he saw I wasn't sure what to do next. That was the only point of concern, other then that, being under the water, in the Caribbean amongst all the coral and sea life, was a dream.

Hopefully the few photos we did get closer to the surface (15-5 ft deep) will turn out and I can later post those. But for now, my memory will just have to serve me well.

The view from Coki Beach. That dome is Coral World. We would visit there when we went on our Sea Lion swim on our next trip to St. Thomas later in the cruise.

View of the bay area we were in for our beach dive

On our drive back I made it a point to take a picture of the cemetery. This is the first time I have ever seen an above ground cemetery.

Better view of the cemetery

When we arrived back to the port, we walked through the terminal and went to get back on the ship. I had mentioned to Brad the last time I was in St. Thomas with my parents 3 years ago, we saw a lot of iguanas (wild) on the rocks in the afternoon. We looked for them upon our return that afternoon and sure enough, there were a ton of them on the rocks soaking up the sun in the port. Some people were feeding them flower petals and bread. But they wouldn't come too close to anyone. Brad and I just sat there, very still and very calm, and as we stood, with some who were passing by watching us, we noticed a couple iguanas come up on the pavement to check us out.

Brad standing still as they get closer and closer

As I took pictures of this iguana, the one by Brad's foot went up and nibbled on him.

When I looked up to see what the commotion was all about, I saw Brad laughing! I asked what happened and someone mentioned, "YOU MISSED IT! When you turned away, it nibbled on his toe!" Of course I missed it! I only turned away for a second.

Action shot as he readied himself to scurry away!