Updates on Sara's life

Ryan and I got back from Miami yesterday. We left on Sunday, but our plane from Minneapolis was delayed 2 hours because of the weather in Newark, NJ, where we were going to land. This caused us to miss our connecting flight in Newark, so we got to spend the night in the airport. That was a fun experience. We were able to get on a plane on Monday morning and be in Miami by 10:00 am. On Monday we went to the SCUBA dive shop that we were going to get certified through. We got fitted for wetsuits and all that jazz. Then we went to a beach in north Miami. It was a nice calm beach, with families and such. Then we decided to take a stroll down the beach before we headed out. As we were walking along the water, Ryan points out a guy wearing a pink thong. My first thought was that we were at a gay beach. (I’ve been to one in FL when I had my marine biology class…it was the prof’s doing, not mine). Anyway, I looked past him and saw a large naked old guy. I told Ryan that we were on a nude beach and we needed to turn around. In the process of doing that, I spotted another nude old guy about 20 feet from me. Yuck! We got out of there fast. As we were walking back to the original beach we saw a sign that said, “clothes must be worn past this point”. We wish we would’ve seen the sign warning us that clothing was optional. It was a tiny sign way up on the beach. That night we went down to South Beach and ate at Senor Frogs. Food isn’t that great there and costs way too much. Never again.

On Tuesday we had our first dives. The first site was about 22 feet and the second site about 18 feet. On this day we did all of our skills so the second day we could just dive and not have to do any skills for the certification. We saw a ton of fish, which I can’t tell you what they are. So much for learning anything in my marine biology class. J We say two brilliantly colored lobsters. They were white and blue. Very cool. Ryan saw a shark when we were doing our compass skills. I was behind him and I am really thankful I didn’t see it because I probably would’ve freaked out. Poor Ryan got sick on his second dive. It was probably a combo of seasickness/swallowing too much salt water/dehydration/swimming in surge. So the big question is, was I scared? Heck yeah! On the first dive when we rolled out of the boat and swam to the anchor line, I felt like I didn’t have any breath and that my regulator wasn’t giving me enough air. One I got down I was fine. It is just freaking bobbing up and down on 3 foot waves in the ocean, about to go under for 30 minutes and breathe out of a tank.

On Wednesday our first dive was at 60 feet. Down there we saw a ton of fish and a brittle star. I was starting to get a hang of everything by that dive. For the second dive we were at a place that was about 20 feet deep. Here we saw puffer fish!!! My favorite! We say two smaller ones that were puffed out, and then one HUGE one, about 2-2.5 feet long. He was huge! Poor Ryan got sick again and I was miserable because I had to go to the bathroom so bad and I couldn’t make myself go in the water. (Aren’t you all glad I’m sharing this) Finally I did and was able to enjoy the rest of the dive. There was a lot of live coral on the bottom so I’m glad that dive was last. By that time I was able to keep myself very controlled and not accidentally hit the bottom. We passed with flying colors and are now SCUBA certified!

We ate at some other places that week: Bennegin’s, Outback Steakhouse, some 70’s dinner across from the beach called Jonny Rocket’s, and a great bar called Wet Willie’s.

On the last day we went to the Miami Seaquarium. We got in free since I’m hooked up with the MN Zoo. Then the admissions dude had a trainer give us a tour. On that we saw some exhibits and then behind the scenes for a few minutes of a tank with the juvenile dolphins, who were all playing with various toys. Listen to this. We even got to feed and touch a manatee! We got to go right over the tank and put these protein pebbles in their mouths. Their whiskers would tickle your fingers. They are amazing animals. I had never seen one before and now I got to feed one! I am very thankful for everything I get to experience. Ryan got to feed also, which was super cool. We then saw the dolphin show and the sea lion show. After the sea lion show we got to stay after to get our picture taken with a sea lion. Then we saw the killer whale/pacific white-sided dolphin show. Why they have that combo, you got me. After that we headed to the beach in south beach. Not my cup of tea. Too many spring breakers. At least we only saw one topless sunbather. I like the calm family beaches. Not the beaches where everyone is super close to you. We didn’t stay too long. So Miami was fun, but I don’t know if I’d choose to go back again.

So I am technically done with my internship. I am heading into work today though. I first was going to help out with another intern’s waterwork. I called work yesterday and Ayla is sick, so they have to net her to feed her. If there is enough gear, they asked if I wanted to SCUBA dive with them to net her. I’ll let you know if I get to do it or not. The other intern can’t do her waterwork today because of this sickness and the pregnant dolphin, Rio, is acting really crabby.