Travel With Betsy

And, other things…….

I just finished my first “real” snorkeling experience. I’m happy to say that I was able to breathe through the tube while swimming, stay afloat and swim along without a mishap. I was even warm enough, usually a problem for me. I owe it all to the fine folks at SilverSea, who provided me a very fine wetsuit, my new zip-up “rash guard”, and a little instruction.  Equipped with these necessities, I can say that I enjoyed every minute of the experience. Maybe I can be a “water baby” after all. We’ll see!

I am also happy to report that my iPhone, that was protected by the “Life-proof” case and the pouch with the lanyard, did not take on water, and that my phone is still functional. It’s a miracle! The good news is that I could have take pictures underwater. The bad news is that I didn’t actually take any.   I realized too late….actually, when I was in the water all geared up and ready to go….that I could get to the screen where one enters the password, but I couldn’t see it well enough to actually put the password in. My sign in screen is white letters on a black background. Between my eye issues and the darkness in the water, it just looked black to me. My random pressing on the screen was not effective. Sigh……..Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

In between fun activities here on SilverSea, I am going to work on a fix. There has to be one. I’ll figure it out, and tomorrow, I might actually be able to show you some pictures of the amazing life that happens under the water,

But, for now, I’m going to go back a few days and fill you in on how I got to the fantastic snorkeling extravaganza!

We boarded the ship on Sunday and had a good part of the day to organize our clothes, get any missing snorkel gear and get to know the ship a little bit so that we would know where things are and how to get to them. Our collection of the snorkeling gear was highly organized which was not my experience in my last attempt at this. The nice staff on board SilverSea called us by floor and we picked up a wet suit, if we wanted one, fins, masks, and snorkels. I also opted to get a “floatee” that would help me to stay up on the top of the water. We all got a bag for our equipment, filled them with our gear and hung them on a hanger with the wet suit. Each day before the activity, we collect our “stuff” and get on the Zodiac and each day at the end, we leave our wet gear there for drying. It makes my organized, systematic mind feel very happy.

On our orientation day, the first day on board, we also had ample opportunity to meet some of the other 75 passengers that would be our companions for the next week as we motor along. In the evening before dinner, we all met together as a group to get a lay of the land on how the activities would run for the next week. We would have a meeting such as this one each evening before dinner to go over the next day’s schedule and the timing of activities so that we could decide what things we wanted to participate in.

For each activity or for transport to the activity, we would be paired with 14 other passengers on the small rubber “Zodiac” boats. Together, we would sit on the rubber sides of the boat, bounce along in the waves and explore the Galapagos by land and by sea.   Each of the small boats would be assigned a guide who was filled with interesting information about the Galapagos and the things we would see.

My favorite guide, so far, is Enrike (I’m not sure how to spell his name, so you can use your own imagination on the pronunciation) and here’s why. Yesterday, (our second day) was supposed to be our first snorkeling experience. We were going to snorkel off the beach. Lee and I thought this was so that people could get used to the snorkel gear and practice a little bit. It would be great for those of us who had never snorkeled before…(much to my surprise there were more than just me) ….great practice in a safe setting.

However, there were a lot of waves and the water was too murky to be able to see much near the beach, so the SilverSea crew decided that deep-water snorkeling would be a better experience. Those that weren’t comfortable could go to the beach. Hmm…..what does deep-water mean? So, I asked around and learned that we would be in deep water….still floating on the top….but, we wouldn’t be able to stand up. Hmm……..

After some deliberation with myself, I decided that I would try it. Why not, I’m here to see things, I have a wet suit that would provide some buoyancy and I had a “floatee” thing that was supposed to keep me up. When I told Lee that I was going to try this she suggested that it might not be the best idea because of the rough seas.   So, I sought out the advice of Enrike. He agreed with Lee. He said that my first snorkeling experience needed to be a good one. Otherwise, I wouldn’t want to do it again. The waters today were too rough today for beginners to have a really good experience. So, he suggested that I go to the beach and practice using the snorkel gear so that I would be ready for the next day, which would be calmer. OK.

This is where I met up with Drew and David, who turned out to be our neighbors on the ship. They were sick and unable to do the snorkeling. So, they were going to the beach as well. I looked at them and said,

“I’m with you today.”

They were fine with that….and so it began.

We boarded the Zodiac and off we went with the other people who had never snorkeled before. I was surprised at how many there were. In fact, there were so many of us that Enrike gave us all a lesson, which is not really part of his job. This is part of where I think SilverSea excels. The customer services is exceptional all around, but especially on things like this. He took the initiative to see a need and fill it. What more could one want!

When we got to the beach, I pulled on my wet suit and went out with the others to learn how to do this. After a few minutes, we were all swimming along on the surface of the water. No problem. After I felt I had sufficient practice, I went back to shore to share my story of success with Drew and David. David started to look at my chest. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t really care.

Finally, he said to me, “Turn around.” So, I did. He said, “Did you know that you have your wetsuit on inside out?”

What?! How is that possible?! But, he was right. The words across my chest were backwards and the zipper of the wet suit was on the inside instead of the outside. You would think I would have noticed that the zipper was in the wrong place at least….but, no! This threw me into one of those nonstop laughing fits that I occasionally write about in my blog stories….can’t talk, can’t breathe, can’t stop laughing. We all had a good chuckle….more than a chuckle… about that one.

I was so glad that I waited to do the snorkeling until the 2^nd day. The training on the gear and the wetsuit were instrumental in my snorkeling success. I’ll tell you all about it on the next post…..just beautiful!

When I get back to California, I am thinking about opening a snorkel shop. I can do instruction on the basics….and training on the fine art of donning a wet suit!

Until next time, I’m happily floating along in the Galapagos….on the zodiac, in my wet suit and “floatee”, or on the ship.

It’s all good!

This entry was posted on February 23, 2016 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Group Travel, South America, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.