Divealicious.

As we left off.....

We hopped our flight to The Andamans and arrived in Port Blair to the island life..... we had to walk across the runway to the arrivals terminal! After which we got on the ferry to take us to Havelock. We arrived on Havelock and at Island Vinnie's to our little hut and Dive India. We arranged to start our Advanced Diving course the following day.

We were up far too early but excited and ready to dive again after not doing so for the last 5 months since Honduras. The network of islands that is the Andamans is extensive, with the best dive sites scattered between them. This meant that we had a looooooooong boat ride. We spent the 1hr45m getting to know our fellow divers, and fortunately, this time, we were blessed with some good ones! Kate and Alec, a married young couple from NYC are traveling for 4mths, specifically for diving, and both had a decent number of dives (in fact Alec has been doing it for 20+ years with +500 dives!). We got along straight away. Also, Rahul, an Indian who is doing his doctorate in Marine Biology and lived in New Zealand, was our other underwater companion. We were glad with our group and still very excited to dive.

We spent the 1st 2 days getting our certification, including a wreck dive, fish ID, deep dive, underwater navigation and a night dive. These were extremely fun and were made all the better by the world class surroundings that we had. The diving was amazing! Our last 2 days were fun dives, 2 a day. The 1st day was sketchy, with very strong currents, but the 2nd, and last, day was amazing. We left on an amazing note! (note from jen- the night dive was a bit scary, as i somehow ate part of my regulator and had to use my alternate. the wreck dive was cool, but we didnt get to penetrate. overall, we swam with 4 octopi, a grey reef tip shark, some crocodile fish, and tons more amazing fish. so much fun).

We had a great time there, both diving and hanging out with Alec and Kate, we were definitely sad to leave, but knew that we would be back and that we were off to SE Asia for even more amazing diving. We left saddened but ready for the next leg!

After having to waste 36 hot, sweaty and dirty hours in Chennai, we boarded our flight to Singapore. We arrived there for the 1st of many stop overs, extremely weary and not that excited about 10 hour is the "Budget Terminal"! However, it turned out to be OK and we made it to Jakarta safely, if in need for a shower! When we arrived we were determined to make it straight to Bali, with 45 mins till the flight departed, we left the terminal we arrived in and made it to the desk just in with just 10 mins to spare!

On arrival in Bali we headed for our hotel and then out to eat, it was late though and our choice limited. We stopped in for a beer and western food at a guide book recommendation. It was here, observing the crowds and wandering tourists, that we realised we were not in our element. It was perfect for young travelers, spring breakers and general partiers (Frat boy central!). Which is fine by us, but we were not in the position to meet anyone and ready to simply relax.

The following morning we went to the internet cafe and cashed in some travel miles.... 2 nights at The Bali Hyatt! Unbelievable! Luxury that we desperately need and are appreciating on another level after India! This is or 2nd and supposed to be our last night but we are going to use the remaining miles to stay another as it is just so good!

With that note, a clean body and mind, I sign off with the anticipation of more luxury and even some diving tomorrow!

Love to all!!

p.s. We also received some bad news today, the US government has requested our presence for an interview on the 13th of May to finalise green card proceedings. We are hoping to get the date changed as 2 $1200 flights would not do our budget any good. Please keep your fingers crossed for us as we need all the help we can get!! Have we not proved ourselves a legitimate couple yet? Conquering India together should be proof enough of our stability. Anyone want to send the USCIS a link to the blog!?