Entries about snorkeling

15 January 2010- St Thomas

I had the BOSS (Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter) tour today.

My head in the BOSS. I think it looks like a tiny face with Mickey Mouse ears

I want to see whether I can operate the camera to get good snorkeling photos. We were to meet on the pier at 9:15, so after breakfast I put on my bathing suit and gathered my stuff together. I asked about a beach towel and the front desk said they would be delivered to our rooms. I asked again the next day and got the same response. So when I got back to the room after breakfast and there was no towel I asked the room steward and he said they would be at the gangway. Got down to the gangway and they said they would be in my room.

So I used the phone there and called Bob and asked him to bring me one. Which he did. He said he had to go up to the pool to get one.

The people running the tour took my ticket and told me to walk to the stern of the ship and wait for the dive boat. But apparently the dive boat was not allowed to go in at the stern because there were divers down there, so we had to walk all the way back to the bow.

They made us take off our shoes and get on barefoot. There were about 30 of us. They gave us the safety lecture and then the boat went out to the St. Thomas Buck Island and picked up a mooring. There was a lighthouse on the island, and I took photos with my film camera,

Buck Island Light

but they can't develop it on the boat. Don't know where I will get it developed as Filmworks no longer does film.

They gave us wrist bands. I was in the green group. We were also organized by whether there were three of us, two or one. I was a solo person. Each group was to have half an hour on the scooter and then could snorkel or the rest of the time. They fed the fish cat food off the stern to make them come up to the boat.

Fish being fed catfood off the stern - St. Thomas

I put on my dive skin, got a pair of fins, put on my mask and jumped in with my new camera. I found that it was pretty easy to use and I got about 18 pretty good photos.

Snorkelers

Snorkeling in the rain

Snorkelers and fish

Just about the time for my scooter ride, the camera was out of memory, so I will have to buy a card for it. I erased a couple of pictures, handed in my fins and mask, and the guy on the boat gave me my glasses, and I went out and got onto the scooter.

One of the ladies in the first group was claustrophobic and spend all her time on the surface. It was strange to be submerged (to get your head into the bubble) and not have anything in your mouth to breathe with. They told us that it would be easy to operate the scooter, and that we should not have to press really hard on the accelerator button. I didn't find it easy to steer and I couldn't keep up with the others no matter how hard I pressed on the accelerator button with my thumb. I have a big purple bruise on my thumb (which they warned us about not pushing so hard)

Purple bruise on my thumb

One of the divers with us got behind me and pushed on my helmet so I could keep up with the others.

Then I gave the diver my camera and he took two photos,

Me on the BOSS scooter

and we went back to the boat. I said that I'd had trouble keeping up to Jim (the Captain) and he said it was because of my size. I said that I wasn't heavy in the water. He said it was weight but width. I said "Thanks".

He said he had the same problem and wait until I got to his age. I said I thought I was already past his age. He said he was 56. I said I was 72. He said "No Way". I guess that is a compliment.

It rained on the way out and on the way back and basically everything I had was wet.. Apparently the day was a bust for the people who did the St. Thomas tours especially the beach tours. I was really tired when we got back to the dock - they let us off on the pier. I couldn't find where I put my money to tip them, and I felt bad about that. I crawled back to the ship and when I put my cane through the magnetometer they grabbed it off the belt and put it through again. Why I don't know. They asked me if I wanted a wheelchair, and I said yes. So they wheeled me up to the room. I don't know if I was supposed to tip the lady or not.

I rinsed out my suit and skin and hung them up along with my skirt and T-shirt (which was wet), and rinsed off my mask. Then I put the camera in to soak in fresh water in the sink to get all the salt and sand off.

I had given Bob an assignment - to go out to Red Hook and look for the Independence - a boat made by CSY - the same company as ours. Bob took a taxi out to Red Hook and looked for Independence (which is a boat that does snorkeling tours), but she wasn't in her slip. He took a photo of a pilot house on a mooring but couldn't read the name. (Green stripe which I think a lot of the pilot houses have)

CSY Pilothouse at Red Hook

Can't quite read the name

We went up to lunch about 1300.

Looking out the window to the dock from the buffet - St. Thomas

My back hurt so I told Bob to go get lunch and I would rest at the table. He came back with a

Tuna salad sandwich

which he said he had trouble getting. I then went and got a little Shepard's pie (which the crust was tough and I don't understand that) and

BBQ meat loaf

plus some salad

From the salad bar

Then Bob got some ice cream, and I went to get my dessert and got blueberry (which was grainy), and pina colada which was good. They do not clear the tables in the buffet in a timely manner.

Then I downloaded photos and charged the underwater camera up. There was one photo that I deleted because it was out of focus, but I ended up with 17 pretty good ones. I saw brain coral, fire coral, some sponges and a lot of little fish (sergeant majors etc)

Snorkeling

Coral

Baracuda about 10 feet down

Two kinds of Sea urchins

Sea Cucumber and coral

Parrot fish on left

I went down to get the sale on computer minutes, and because I had logged off with four minutes left, I had to use them up. First I did a Google search on what flag Celebrity sails under and apparently it is a Greek company chartered out of Malta (according to wikipedia). I logged off after 4 minutes, but I had to log back on again because I still had 4 seconds left!! After that I could get the next package, and that includes 20 extra minutes.

The boat left St. T at 6 p.m. even though the trip to St X is only 42 miles. I don't know what they are going to be doing as they certainly didn't need that much time. We went and sat in the lounge and listened to the band (the guitar player appeared to be faking it) and watched couples dancing while we waited for the dining room to be open for dinner.

Sitting in the lounge and Dining room opened

I had

Chicken curry salad

cream of broccoli soup and

BBQ short ribs

Bob had his two shrimp cocktails, black cherry soup and his usual salmon. We both had ice cream for dessert.

Bob and me in the elevator after dinner

Floor

There were no mild activity tours for our next stop - St. Croix, and the tickets said that there would be a 10 minute walk to the tour buses. A 10 minute walk for most people is probably half an hour for me and I was not looking forward to it. Since we have to be out on the pier at 8:30 tomorrow, I tried the automatic wake-up call again for 0645.