and then the earth moved

Took a couple of hours off from answering emails and preparing for the workshop tomorrow - so I could go snorkelling. met a nice Kiwi called Mike and his Scots wife (who never told mer her name) who have been here for 15 years. They run Big Blue Scuba.

We went out into the bay to a place called Pango Cove - 6 people were diving - 3 first timers - and I was the only one snorkelling - so I had my own guide - Max. (are all dive masters called Max?) Young bloke, asked me all about my work and was interested to hear about the problem of lack of skills training in his own country. I told him how lucky he is to have a job where he gets training for an international qualification (PADI)

I've just learned - from their website - that you can do PADI qualification by elearning - yay! I've always struggled with learning to dive because I tend to do resort diving with John when we are on holiday - and the lessons are just too short for someone as thick as me! John gets it all first go but I really struggle with calcualating 'bottom times' and working out whether the air in my lungs in expanding or contracting! And if I don't get this stuff right I'm going to DIE! I've always said that the PADI manual is one of the best examples of distance learning I've ever seen - I expect their elearning is pretty good too!

That's why I stick to snorkelling most of the time - still get the views but I don't have to worry about too much about the physics. Except there was a scale 4.5 earth quake while I was in the water this afternoon!!! That was rather different.

Anyway, I saw loads of beautiful coral and tonnes of fishies - parrot fish, angel fish, bright, bright blue starfish as big as a dinner plate and so many more that I have never learned the names of. I try to memorise what they look like so I can check their names when I get back - but never quite manage it. I need to get some underwarter identification cards.

Snorkeling in Vanuatu? - one for the bucket list!