I'm on a BOAT!

Never thought I'd see the day.

Even that parrot made it on a boat - how cool is that? Unfortunately, this boat was competition. We ended up passing them in the final stretch though, so everything worked out.

Yeah, details. Meg has connections with this very extraordinary and extremely outgoing woman who is a long-time member at a yacht club. This woman landed us a spot on a boat for a Thursday night race series: very cool. What's cooler was the event itself. The wind was strong but not forceful, the sun was bright but not oppressive, and though competition got fierce at times, it was generally laid back. As in Cape Town, the backdrop to this race was breathtaking. The mountains dropped to foothills which, sprinkled with palm trees, rolled right into the water. The swift breeze carried with it a freshness I have experienced nowhere before; it was the Pacific salt water mixed with flowers and plant life that can be found on these islands alone. Absolutely stunning.

Meg took me grocery shopping at the Marines base a couple days ago and thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of job searching while we were there. The job search was unsuccessful but I did get signed up with a dive club through the military base. I have my first dive first thing tomorrow morning at Shark's Cove. It's my first dive in about 355 days, so I'm a little bit nervous that my skills will noticeably not match my certification level. Today I also scheduled a dive for Sunday morning with one of the guys at the dive shop I'm working with (Aaron's Dive Shop). I'm bubbling over with excitement despite any concern about familiarity with diving. Also it's my first time diving in the US and the first time diving with the imperial system which I'm very unfamiliar with. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Stay tuned!