Scuba Day 2: SCUBA SICKNESS

The second day of the SCUBA course consists of two open water dives. We got all of the skills out of the way on dive one so that dive two could be fun.

That being said, what do you think is wrong with the following picture?

• Our Boat: Our boat was a little wooden thing with an engine probably equivalent to what would power an ordinary lawn mower back home. It was also leaking pretty badly - so much so that we had one local with us whose sole purpose was to bail out the boat as we went along in the rain
• Equipment: Apparently, everyone in Nungwi decided to dive yesterday which meant my wet suit was too big for me and my flippers looked like they were purchased at K-Mart some 20 years ago. Moreover, for some reason I was the only person (out of 20) not wearing two wet suits (if you're laughing I should just add that one local was wearing 3!!!). As I learned in Day 1, a wet suit that is two big is not going to keep you very warm.
• Bad Weather: Zanzibar is not tropical island. Zanzibar is not a tropical island. Zanzibar is not a tropical island. Sure, it tries to be in brochures to lure tourists here following the Kili climb, but I'm pretty sure I wrote about how it has been cold and rainy from about 10 to 2 here every day (ok, I know it's winter - but still!). You would think the dive company would plan around this... but then you would also think it shouldn't take 45 min to scramble an egg when you're the only person in the restaurant.
• Bad weather (e.g. Rain and high winds) + Small boat + Being freezing in poorly fitting wetsuit = Severe sea sickness. All my worrying about altitude sickness - and reading Dan's blog on sea sickness in South Africa - I still didn't take any motion sickness drugs. (In fairness to me, this was my third day out on these boats with no issue, but I still should have taken the precaution.)

I survived the two hour boat ride to the first dive site and my stomach settled a little under the water. However, after dive one, we had an hour and a half surface interval where our tiny wooden boat (with the bailer working overtime in the rain) got tossed around. Generally I was ok if the engine was on and we were moving, but we were just anchored and bobbing. Seriously - to the point where if you weren't holding on a big wave could (and did) knock you off your feet (Sam and Jared if you're reading and think I'm exaggerating it was MUCH worse than when we were out for snorkeling - same location). If I'm generous with time estimates, I made it 15 minutes before I started puking

An hour after the sea sickness started it was still going on as I was suiting up for the second dive. New Found Talent Number 1, I can put on a wet suit and dive equipment while sick in a rocking boat. Since I was so eager to get under water, I took an extra weight and sunk like a rock about 60 feet without equalizing properly which gave me the worst ear ache all last night... but that's another story. I was underwater again and we were swimming with the current. I was cold in my oversized wetsuit, but my tummy was happier and I was happy because I saw a massive sea turtle, some huge lobsters, tons of eels, octopus, and of course thousands of fish. The relief lasted for exactly 47 minutes (I know because had to record my bottom time in my dive log)

We surfaced again back in the stormy seas (just me and Conway) and our boat was a mere speck in the distance. Guess that current was stronger than he thought. I'm not sure how much of the 30+ minutes we bobbed around in the freezing cold water was the boat trying to locate us or the boat trying to maneuver it's little lawn mower motor against the current to come pick us up. Probably more the latter. While we waited and tried hopelessly to swim a little to keep warm, I discovered New Found Talent Number 2: The ability to vomit and swim at the same time.

FINALLY the boat picked us up. While this helped warm my core temperature a little my stomach was still rebelling. Over an hour into our journey home, where with forward movement I was feeling slightly better, we had to stop at another resort about two miles from our final destination to drop off some tanks. This meant anchoring the boat and bobbing again while the guys tried to maneuver the tanks off in the rocky water. I decided instead to leverage New
Found Talent Number 2 and abandoned ship. I swam to shore and then proceeded to run the 2 miles back to the resort where we started. (It was necessary to run since the tide was coming in quickly and I never would have made it around the rocks if I tried to walk) I managed to beat the boat and save a little face (at least that's what I told myself) since no one could believe I ran back so quickly after throwing up the better part of the afternoon.

I did not make it out last night - although I did manage to keep down some crackers... and still somehow loose my shoes again. By this point, I've been here longer than 95% of the tourists and I definitely know more locals - so I have just decided that part of completing the transition to beach bum means to stop wearing shoes all together since either drunk or sober, I seem to keep leaving them places.