Day 46: Thirties Are The New Twenties

Vela Luka, Croatia

Andy kept reassuring me that thirties are the new twenties. I think he’s more concerned with my psychological well-being now that I hit the big 3-0.

I spent the day working as usual. It started off with dive-leading two New Zealanders and a French. My performance was horrid! I breezed through my first full dive brief with no problem. But during the first dive, I had trouble descending into the water for reasons beyond me. It was so embarrassing! Steve, one of the New Zealanders who’s a Divemaster, had to direct and help me descend. So there I was, the dive guide, struggling on the surface, while my divers were down in the water. I want to put the blame on my new dive suit/shortie being more bouyant, the new BCD I was using that’s way too big for me, the choppy water….. but honestly, these all shouldn’t matter. I should be able to adjust to whatever gears I had on

Good thing the rest of the day went pretty well. Steve and his other NZ mate, Paul, came over during the evening and we all had beers in front of the dive center. After we closed up the center, everybody headed to Billy’s house for my birthday party It’s strange to think that I spent my birthday with people that I had known for a month and a half at most. Some I just met for a couple of days. But then again, these folks are mad cool! It’s an honor to be able to spend time with each and every one of them :]