Today is Boat Day, Kris has two fun diver customers who are staying at one of the Plush Resorts where Simon has a small office. As these are upmarket divers he was smartly turned out in a green uniform and was personally collecting them from their hotel with their very own air conditioned taxi (they also paid a lot more than the rest of us on the boat) I was collected along with the other clients at the Dive shop and driven to the harbour in the Dive minibus.
All the staff, drivers, instructors and boat crew, were now referring to me as 'Kris's Mom', which I found quite endearing and didn't correct with my given name. As the boat left the harbour we had the usual orienteering of facilities and the safety plan, given that day by Joe. Only our Posh guests were allowed on the upper deck but there was loads of room out front and by being related to 'staff' I also got to sit out the back with Kris and the others.
The trip out to sea was wonderful. Warm breeze, small swells just to make it interesting and a whole new set of sights to marvel at. Just off the mainland, opposite the harbour, is a huge island that has been developed into a water theme park. Complete with its own 'HOLLYWOOD' style sign, it is linked to the mainland by a long cable car system.
Our boat was dwarfed by the huge pylons climbing out of the sea, the cars hanging to the cables overhead seemed tiny as we motored below them. Next came the flotilla of lobster farms.
Tiny shacks of corrugated tin and wood balanced on floating rafts, surrounded by large square pots, laced together with rope, forming small floating islands. Hundreds of these mini islands bobbed gently up and down as the boats and tides formed waves to rock them to and fro. TV ariels attached to tin roofs confirmed their occupancy, washing hung on impromptu lines strung here and there in the morning sun. On some people were up and about, waving to us as we passed. Other 'islands' lay deserted, wind gently blowing their flags and washing.
We passed a few more land islands before Octopush Rock came into view. A tiny outcrop of rock complete with yet another tiny shack of tin and wood perched precariously to the side of the cliffs. In the distance I could see other similar structures on other rocks and isles. Matt explained to me they were where the people lived during the bird nest collecting season.
He also pointed out that there were no large birds around. In fact once he mentioned it I realised I had seen no large birds since my arrival. He wasn't sure of the reason but I later found out that any largish birds seen, were caught and put in cages for for sale and entertainment or eating. Over the years the wild bird population had ceased to exist. There were loads of tiny birds flying around but anything over the size of a sparrow caused a stir in the street as people looked and pointed in surprise.
We moored alongside one other dive boats and I kept myself out of the way as people kitted up and jumped overboard with their relevant guides and instructor. Kris had already sorted out a mask, fins and snorkel for me so once everyone was safely in the water I donned my kit and slid gracefully into the sea.
The visibility was well over 15m allowing me to see the sea bed clearly. Beautiful coral reefs climbed upwards to the sun, tiny fish browsing their sides, large parrot fish picked chunks from their ends and schools of young barracuda swam around me. Below I could see the divers, multitudes of bubbles rose in clouds to the surface. I swam through them enjoying the sensation of being tickled as they embraced me. I could recognise Matt and Amanda but could see no sign of Kris. He had been the first to enter the water with his charges and was possibly long gone from the boat area by now. I swam out toward a protruding rock, the water swirled as the waves raced over and around it. Below the surface huge black sea urchins with neon blue dots dominated the scene.
Flat saucer like coral formed multi layers, like that of fungus on a tree, down the side of the rock. Small fish of every colour darted here and there in the current. I dove down a few times for a closer look, swimming along the bottom until I needed to return to the surface for air. The difference in water temperature from surface to depth was quite extreme and I realised how soft and fragile I had become in my old age!
I returned to the boat just as Kris was returning with his guests. A whole hour had passed in what seemed like a few minutes. Lunch was served up front, chicken curry with rice and loads of fresh fruit and baguettes. I took some bread, a bowl of fruit and wandered off to sit at the back of the boat. Kris and the others were not permitted to eat until after the second dive, this allowed the customers to eat their fill, leaving the crew to finish all the left overs. I shared out my fruit as to eat when they could not seemed unfair. It was still only 10.30 so hunger wasn't an issue but it was nice to cleanse the palette after breathing through a snorkel for so long.
We sat in the sun warming up after so long in the water. Kit had been rinsed and stored, people had been thrown overboard, as they are and soon it was time to motor around the bay to Moray Beach. This time I approached Kris as he was about to enter the water. Would he and his guests mind if I followed them on the surface while they dived. They all said this would be fine but Kris added that I should be careful of motor boats moving around as I would be going out of the usual snorkelling area. I promised to be careful and watched them jump in.
Kris was just doing the final check when the boat next door started his engine giving both Kris and his guests the fright of their lives. I quickly donned my kit and jumped in after them as they sank below the surface.
This dive was much more interesting as I dove down to the sea bed when Kris signalled there was something special to see. A Lion fish guarded his patch of sand, then a moray eel shot away as we passed. I was getting the occasional sting from the tiny jellyfish that floated just beneath the surface but nothing to bother about and the colours that oscillated down their sides once they made their presence known, more than made up for their defence mechanisms. We travelled further out to sea, the sandy bed giving way to coral and rock. I played once again in the bubbles coming up to the surface, simply enjoying the fact that I was here, far out to sea, enjoying life.
Suddenly I was being stung left, right and centre. Thousands of tiny jellyfish filled the water. This was now becoming unpleasant so I decided to return to the shore. Not wishing Kris to worry about my sudden absence I dove down to what I discovered later was 10 meters and swam along side him signalling that I was going inshore. He signalled 'OK' and I swam off at an angle to miss the cloud of stings above me.
I snorkelled around in the shallows for a while until I noticed the divers returning to the boat. The water was so warm in the shallows I hadn't noticed the time go by again. Once on board the engines were started and we motored back towards the mainland and the harbour. While Matt, Joe and Amanda helped Son unload the experiment, I said my goodbyes and got back onto our mini bus waiting to pick us up for the return journey to the dive shop. Kris left with his 'special guests', saying we would meet up when-ever that evening.
It was still only 1.30pm but back at the apartment I realised how much I had caught the sun on my back while I had been floating around. A hot hot shower followed, to take away the sting and an easy afternoon was spent on the balcony reading in the shade.
As the sun lost its intensity I ventured out into the streets of Nha Trang for a stroll. I walked for about a mile along the coast road towards the harbour before crossing into the palm trees to walk back along the beach. People were now out and about, also enjoying the cooling air. Men marched determinedly with weight in their hands doing their evening workouts as they marched. Younger men played volleyball over nets strung between palm trees and ladies sat talking, as children ran along the beach.
The last of the sun shone across the sea giving it its famous path of gold. The sands were washed clean of footprints as I strolled along, more waves washed them away behind me as I went. This is the way life should be lived, I though to myself, I am just so suited to this style of living!!
Kris had mentioned during our travels, that he wanted to get his British pension sorted out. When I had asked if he was planning on coming home, he had answered 'Hell NO!' but a UK pension paid directly into a bank account, he explained, could easily be accessed from where ever he was in the world and one could live very well on a British Pension in a place like Asia!!
When had my son become so sensible I had asked myself! With this thought roaming around in my head I wandered the beach – I had only another 18 years until I could collect my pension. My dream of living for a year on an Indian Beach came flooding into reality as I planned the how's and where's!
I wasn't ready to return to Kris's or my place so I pulled out my note book, sat down on the warm sand and wrote Vicky a long letter about living out in the sun on our pensions when we were ready to retire!!
The sun had well and truly set by the time I got back to the dive centre, Kris wasn't there as he was on duty at the Posh Resort until 8pm. I chatted to Chi then walked the 100meters to the cyber cafe and sent my long letter to Vicky for her thoughts.
Kris text me at 8pm and we set off to Guava's for the evening. Darren and Chin, the owners greeted me enthusiastically as we entered. The Viet are very tactile and greetings always consist of at least an embracing arm clasp and are usually followed by a full embrace and kisses to cheeks for both men and women. I found the greetings both enjoyable and reassuring and looked forward to meeting more and more people.
John Paul joined us for our evening meal - originally from Harrogate, he has been abroad working 'somewhere' longer that he has been in the UK. We retired to Cyclo's for our evening meal via the ATM as Kris was now all spent out and it was my turn to pay for dinner! The meal was wonderful yet again, JP ordering some sort of Hot Pot over flames, Kris a Pizza with Cheesy garlic bread and me, tofu and sweetcorn in garlic with rice.
Kris had taken a booking that afternoon for two Open Water Courses the next day. This would involve a morning in the class room and the afternoon in the pool doing the confined dives. I would be able to go out on the dive boat the day after but for the next day I was to do what ever I wanted. With this thought in mind we eventually said good night to JP – with more hugs and kisses – and had an early-ish night! Well it wasn't quite midnight yet !!!
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