This is the year...40...and headed to Africa: 27 February 2011...Another humbling experience

Hey y'all!

Wow...Sundays in Djibouti are my favorite! I haven't been scuba diving much this month. So I decided I needed to yesterday. The plan was to take out the Juliet (the faster of the dive boats), hit a couple wrecks and be back early afternoon. We received a message later in the day on Saturday that Dolphin Excursions needed to change the start of our trip from 0800 to 1030. That was odd...but a welcome surprise to those of us who never sleep in on Sunday!

So my day got off to an interesting start. You know how you develop routines in your life, and one little things just throws that all off? Well, since we were pushed back to head off the base later..we showed up to the Galley for breakfast at an odd time. Breakfast was over and Sunday brunch hadn't quite started yet. Ugh...what to eat now? I joked that we should go through the McDonald's Drive-thru on the way to the boat! HA HA There is no fast food in Djibouti. I ended up eating a tuna sandwich...not what a girl needs on a Sunday morning.

Anyway, we headed off base. Adrian, who was in our vehicle, was unable to withdraw cash from the ATM on base, so we headed into town to find the one machine that takes Master Card. WOW - that was an adventure. With all the protesting going on in town these days, there were people out and about everywhere. Which is also interesting, since in Djibouti Fridays are actually their Sundays. But we had quite a time trying to maneuver through all the people in the streets and vehicles blocking roads just to get to the bank. And of course, as soon as you stop your vehicle, out of no where comes the people who want to "wash" your car for money, or just plain beg you for money. Then they run next to you as you are pulling away. Reminds me again of Mexico. But we finally were able to get out of the square and headed to the pier.

Once we arrived at the pier, the Juliet was not there yet. Hhmm....that's odd. So we are thinking that Dolphin Excursions took an early morning group out. But we see the Juliet coming into the harbor. As it appraoches, it's not hard to see the men onboard with large guns in hand! WHAT THE HELL? That's a sight I've never seen at the Fishermen's Pier. At this point, Safwan shows up - he's one of our dive instructors. He explains that the Juliet will not be used for a while by us for diving trips after today. The "local security forces" are paying loads of money to use the Juliet for Harbor Security patrols! Hence the men packing heat on the Juliet as they pulled into the pier. Should we be nervous about this, now I am thinking? It's a different world over here, I tell you.

So then we wait. The other 2 guys going with us have not arrived yet. I saw them leaving from the base...so not sure what is up. They arrive about 1045 and explain how as they were coming around to the road for the pier, the police have just closed the road. They had to turn around and go all the way back through town, and they ran into the same kind of crowd we did when we went to the bank. So it was a mess. But we finally made it out of port.

The next, and most humbling part of this trip, is what we see in the harbor. Tethered to a large Navy vessel is the Quest sailboat...the boat owned by those 4 Americans who were recently murdered by the Somali Pirates. What a beautiful sailboat it is! And what security forces the Navy has parked in the harbor and around the vessel. As we approach the harbor, the Navy patrol boats come out to check and see what we are up to. I just can't even imagine what it was like for those people on that boat! How awful those Pirates are! Just horrible! The bodies of the Americans were processed through the base here as well this past week before they were sent home. I wonder what they will do with that boat? One of the guys with us is able to zoom in his camera to see the boat much closer. He says there are a number of people on the sailboat - maybe FBI, and of course Navy personnel. We all just look at it as we pass through and talk about how the pirates should just be blown out of the water! As of last week, Somali Pirates were holding 33 vessels with 791 hostages, not to mention the millions of dollars of cargo they are holding as well! Incredible!

We continue out to sea...our first stop is the Salem Break wreck sight. It is such a beautiful day in Djibouti! Couldn't have been more perfect! We all gear up and jump in the water! My friend Matt, Barry (USAF) and myself are the first 3 to go. We descend along the anchor line of the Juliet to the top of the wreck. As I start to descend I begin to hear this odd noise coming from either my regulator or my tank! What is that? Now I have done over 25 dives thus far and have never heard anything like this! I am able to breath - which is a good thing...but it seems limited. And the noise is causing the lines to vibrate as well. I get Matt's attention and ask him to check it for me. He can hear it and feel the vibrations! I have never had an issue like this so I begin to panic just a touch. We are already at 90 feet! I signal to Matt I want to ascend and get this checked! So we head up...passing everyone else on the way! I get to the surface and know I will need to exchange my regulator for the extra one we brought. I feel like I have already wasted enough of Matt's time, so I send him back down and tell him I'll catch the next dive.

I get back on the Juliet and work with the Capt. to see if we can figure out what the issue is. Nope...no idea. So I switch out my regulator and decide to lay out and get some sun. Gorgeous day! Once everyone else is back up, Safwan comes to ask me what happened. I explain it to him...so he lets me know we are headed to Canyon (a beuatiful reef dive spot we like to dive) so everyone can eat some lunch and relax before the next dive. He takes my bad regulator and says he'll take me down for a dive there and check the regulator out. I love the Canyon....we saw tons of fish and of course the reef is lovely. He is unable to pinpoint the issue with the regulator, so we ascend and get some lunch. After lunch, we head to the Rafael wreck sight.

The visibility at the Rafael is pretty good today. This is the same wreck we dove on Wed. night last week - wow what a difference it makes when it is calmer outside! The current was still strong down to about 30-35 feet...but nothing like the other night! We had a great dive there.

After diving, a bunch of us head to Melinik Square for some fabulous pizza at The Mask restaurant and some Gelato for dessert. What a great day!

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those Americans who were murdered on the Quest.

I'm coming home soon! 10 days to go before I am BOG at IAD! Can't wait to see so many of you! Love and miss you all!

Muchos Besos!

BTW - I am trying to "borrow" some photos from yesterday's outing. When I get them, I will post them here.

Ciao!
Kathi

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